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Free Sitemap URL Extractor

Enter a domain, and we'll find its sitemaps and extract the URLs for you.

About Sitemap URL Extraction

An XML sitemap is a file that lists the important pages on your website, helping search engines like Google find and crawl them more efficiently. It acts like a roadmap for your site, ensuring that search engine bots can discover all relevant content, including pages that might be missed through normal crawling.

Extracting the URLs directly from a sitemap provides a definitive list of pages the website owner *intends* for search engines to index. This is invaluable for various SEO analyses and website management tasks.

What is an XML Sitemap?

  • An XML file listing URLs for a site.
  • Can include metadata like last modification date, change frequency, and priority.
  • Helps search engines understand site structure and discover new or updated content faster.
  • Commonly found at `/sitemap.xml` or listed in the `robots.txt` file.
  • Large sites often use a sitemap index file linking to multiple individual sitemaps.
Learn more about the Sitemap Protocol

Why Extract URLs from Sitemaps?

Manually browsing a website doesn't guarantee finding all pages, especially on large sites. Extracting URLs from the sitemap provides a comprehensive list for targeted analysis and action:

SEO & Content Strategy

  • Complete Content Audits: Get a full list of pages submitted to search engines to evaluate content quality, identify gaps, or find outdated information.
  • Technical SEO Checks: Systematically check submitted URLs for status codes (200, 301, 404), indexability issues, or canonical tag problems.
  • Internal Linking Analysis: Understand the site's structure as presented to search engines and identify opportunities for better internal linking.

Competitive & Migration Tasks

  • Competitor Analysis: Quickly grasp the scope and structure of a competitor's website content strategy.
  • Website Migration Planning: Create a definitive list of URLs needing redirection during a site redesign, domain change, or platform migration.
  • Data Input: Use the URL list as input for other SEO tools (e.g., rank trackers, crawlers, backlink checkers).

How to Use This Tool

Using the Sitemap URL Extractor is designed to be straightforward:

  1. Enter Domain:

    Type or paste the target website's domain (e.g., `example.com` or `www.example.com`) into the input field. The tool automatically formats it to the root domain (e.g., `example.com`).

  2. Find Sitemaps:

    Click the "Find Sitemaps" button. Our backend service attempts to locate the sitemap(s) by checking common locations like `/sitemap.xml`, `/sitemap_index.xml`, and the `Sitemap:` directive in the domain's `robots.txt` file.

  3. Select Sitemap:

    If one or more potential sitemaps are found, they will appear in the dropdown menu. Select the specific sitemap (or sitemap index) you wish to process. If it's a sitemap index, the tool will attempt to fetch URLs from the sitemaps listed within it.

  4. View & Copy URLs:

    The tool automatically fetches and displays all the <loc> (location/URL) tags found within the selected sitemap file(s). The total count is displayed, and you can easily copy the entire list to your clipboard using the "Copy URLs" button.

Sitemap Best Practices

Ensure your sitemap effectively guides search engines by following these best practices:

  • Keep it Updated: Use server-side tools or CMS plugins to automatically regenerate your sitemap when content is added, removed, or significantly changed. Stale sitemaps can confuse search engines.
  • Submit to Search Consoles: While not strictly required (if listed in `robots.txt`), submitting your sitemap URL (or sitemap index URL) directly via Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools ensures they are aware of it.
  • Include Only Canonical & Indexable URLs: Your sitemap should only list the final, preferred (canonical) URLs that you want search engines to index. Exclude duplicates, non-canonical versions, redirected URLs, and pages blocked by `robots.txt` or `noindex` tags. Ensure URLs return a 200 OK status code.
  • Use Consistent, Absolute URLs: All URLs must be fully qualified (including `http://` or `https://`) and use the same version (e.g., `www` vs. non-`www`) as your preferred domain.
  • Manage Size Limits: Individual sitemap files must be no larger than 50MB (uncompressed) and contain no more than 50,000 URLs. For larger sites, create multiple sitemaps and list them in a sitemap index file.
  • Reference in `robots.txt`: Add a line `Sitemap: https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml` (use your actual sitemap URL) to your `robots.txt` file. This helps bots find it easily.
  • Use UTF-8 Encoding: Ensure your sitemap file is UTF-8 encoded.
  • Validate Your Sitemap: Use online sitemap validators to check for formatting errors before submitting.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

If the tool encounters problems, consider these common causes:

Sitemap Not Found

  • Incorrect Domain: Double-check the domain spelling.
  • Non-Standard Location: The sitemap might be at an unusual URL not checked by the tool (e.g., `/sitemap_pages.xml`). Check the site's `robots.txt` file (e.g., `domain.com/robots.txt`) for a `Sitemap:` directive.
  • No Sitemap Exists: Some websites, especially small ones, might not have an XML sitemap.
  • Access Restricted: The sitemap file might be blocked by server configuration or `robots.txt` itself (though this is counter-productive).

Extraction Error / Timeout

  • Very Large Sitemap: Extremely large sitemap files might exceed processing limits or timeouts.
  • Slow Server Response: The website's server might be slow to respond when the tool tries to fetch the sitemap.
  • Malformed XML: The sitemap file might contain syntax errors preventing it from being parsed correctly. Try validating it with an external tool.
  • Network Issues: Temporary network problems between our server and the target website. Try again later.
  • Sitemap Index Issues: If it's a sitemap index, one of the linked sitemaps might be invalid or inaccessible.

Empty Results / No URLs Extracted

  • Sitemap is Genuinely Empty: The sitemap file exists but contains no <url> entries.
  • Incorrect Format: The file might be intended as a sitemap but doesn't follow the standard XML sitemap protocol (missing <loc> tags).
  • Non-Standard Sitemap Type: The URL might point to an RSS/Atom feed, or a specialized sitemap (like image or video sitemaps) which might not contain standard web page URLs in the expected format.

Incorrect URLs Extracted

  • Relative URLs: Although discouraged by the protocol, a sitemap might mistakenly contain relative URLs instead of absolute ones.
  • Encoding Issues: Special characters in URLs might not be properly encoded in the sitemap file.
  • Typos in Sitemap: The sitemap file itself might contain typos or incorrect paths in the <loc> tags.