Validating your Sitemap

Google uses an XML schema to define the elements and attributes that can appear in your Sitemap file. You can download this schema from the links below:

For Sitemaps: http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9/sitemap.xsdFor Sitemap index files: http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9/siteindex.xsd
There are a number of tools available to help you validate the structure of your Sitemap based on this schema. You can find a list of XML-related tools at each of the following locations:http://www.w3.org/XML/Schema#Toolshttp://www.xml.com/pub/a/2000/12/13/schematools.html
In order to validate your Sitemap or Sitemap index file against a schema, the XML file will need additional headers. If you're using the Sitemap Generator, these headers are already included.
If you are using a different tool for creating your sitemaps, the header in the XML file should look like the examples below.
Sitemap:
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9
http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9/sitemap.xsd">

...


Sitemap index file:
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9
http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9/siteindex.xsd">

...