Free Sitemap URL Extractor: Get Every URL from an XML Sitemap

How to extract URLs from a sitemap

1. Enter a domain (example.com) to let the tool find the sitemap, or paste a sitemap URL directly.
2. Click "Extract URLs". Large sites can take up to a minute.
3. Filter and export. Type a path such as /blog/ to narrow the list, then download CSV or TXT.

How this extractor works

1. Finds the sitemap. It reads the site's robots.txt for Sitemap: lines. If there are none, it tries /sitemap.xml, /sitemap_index.xml, /wp-sitemap.xml and /sitemap-index.xml.
2. Follows sitemap indexes. If a file is an index of other sitemaps, it opens each one, up to 3 levels deep and 50 files.
3. Unzips and parses. It handles .xml.gz files and reads each <loc> and <lastmod>.
4. Cleans the list. Duplicates across files are removed and counted, and URLs on a different host are flagged.

You also get a list of every sitemap file it read, with its type, entry count and any errors, which is useful for spotting broken sitemaps.

What is an XML sitemap?

An XML sitemap is a file, usually at /sitemap.xml, that lists the URLs on a site. Each entry has a <loc> (the URL) and can include <lastmod>, <changefreq> and <priority>. There are two kinds of file:

• URL set (<urlset>): lists page URLs.
• Sitemap index (<sitemapindex>): lists other sitemap files. WordPress, Yoast and Rank Math all use one.

Google says smaller sites (about 500 pages or fewer) that are well linked internally may not need a sitemap, while large sites and new sites with few external links benefit most.

Sitemap rules and limits

How Google uses your sitemap

• It's a hint, not a command. Google says submitting a sitemap is merely a hint and doesn't guarantee that every URL will be crawled or indexed.
• priority and changefreq are ignored. Google states it ignores both values, so don't spend time tuning them.
• lastmod only counts if it's honest. Google uses it when it's consistently and verifiably accurate. Plugins that stamp every URL with today's date teach Google to ignore it.
• Only list canonical, indexable URLs. Redirects, 404s, noindexed pages and duplicates send mixed signals.

What to check in your sitemap

Once you have the URL list, these are the problems worth looking for:

• Broken files. Any sitemap in the "files checked" list with an error or a non-200 status.
• Duplicates. The same URL in several sitemaps, often from plugins overlapping.
• Wrong host. http vs https or www vs non-www URLs mixed in one sitemap.
• Pages that shouldn't be there. Filter for /tag/, /author/, ?s= or test pages.
• Pages that are missing. Filter for your key sections and make sure the important pages appear.
• Fake lastmod dates. If every URL shows today's date, fix the setting in your SEO plugin.
• Unindexed pages. Spot-check important URLs with our Google Index Checker.

Common sitemap problems and how to fix them

These are the issues we see most often when extracting sitemaps from real sites:

Where common platforms put the sitemap

If the tool can't find the sitemap automatically, try the default location for the platform:

SEO uses for a sitemap URL list

• Content audits: export every URL into a sheet and add traffic, word count and status.
• Site migrations: capture the full URL list before you move, to build redirect maps.
• Competitor research: see how a competitor structures their content and how often they publish.
• Link-building prospecting: list a publisher's category pages to find the right topic for a guest post.
• Internal linking: find older posts to link to new content.
• Index coverage checks: compare the sitemap list with the pages Search Console reports as indexed to find gaps.

A quick audit workflow: extract the URLs, download the CSV, then sort by last-modified date. Pages that haven't changed in years are candidates for an update, a merge or removal. Paste your most important URLs into the Google Index Checker to confirm they're in Google, and check a sample with the Schema Checker to make sure your templates output valid structured data.

About this tool

• Limits: up to 50 sitemap files, 3 index levels and 50,000 URLs per check; files up to 50 MB.
• What it reads: XML URL sets and sitemap indexes, plain or gzipped. RSS feeds and HTML sitemaps aren't parsed.
• Privacy: results aren't stored. Private and local addresses are blocked.
• Display: the first 200 URLs are shown on screen; the CSV and TXT downloads include all of them.

Frequently asked questions