A sitemap is larger than the official limit
In the reportSitemap exceeds an official limit
sitemap_over_limit · Issue
This appears when a sitemap holds more than 50,000 entries, or more than 50 MB before compression, the limits Google sets for one file. Google asks you to split a larger sitemap into several files. List the smaller files in a sitemap index and declare the index instead.
Severity: Medium. Fix it in your next round of site changes; until then, the addresses in an oversized file may not be read.
Why it matters
Google limits a single sitemap to 50 MB uncompressed or 50,000 URLs, and says a larger file must be broken into several sitemaps, which a sitemap index can bring together.
What to do
- Look at the finding: it names every oversized sitemap and shows the entry count or size for up to ten of them, with a count of the rest.
- Split the file into several sitemaps below both limits; most sitemap plugins can do this with a setting for entries per file.
- List the new files in a sitemap index, and point robots.txt at the index.
What we read
We collect the sitemaps your robots.txt declares, the files their indexes list, and, if those give no usable page, common addresses such as /sitemap.xml. For each file that answers 200 we count its entries — addresses in a sitemap, files in an index, lines in a text list — and measure its size after unpacking any compression.
A file is reported when it has more than 50,000 entries or more than 52,428,800 bytes, which is 50 MB. We stop reading at that size, so the finding shows where reading stopped, not the file's full size; a file found only at a guessed address that reaches that size before we recognise it as a sitemap is not assessed. A gzip file whose compressed download is itself over 50 MB is noted as not checked.
Example & evidence
Illustrative example — one sitemap, not a live audit.
https://bakery.example/robots.txt declares https://bakery.example/sitemap-products.xml, which answers 200 with 50,001 entries like this one:
<url><loc>https://bakery.example/products/sourdough-loaf-large-sliced/</loc></url>50,001 is one more than the limit, so the site is reported; the finding records the entry count for the file.
A possible correction: split it into sitemap-products-1.xml with 25,001 addresses and sitemap-products-2.xml with 25,000, list both in https://bakery.example/sitemap_index.xml, and point robots.txt at the index.
Confirm & check again
Check for yourself: open the sitemap and look at its size, or count its <loc> lines with a text editor; Search Console's Sitemaps report also flags files that are too large.
Check again: Full audit — run a new audit of the site; it reads every sitemap again. The finding is confirmed fixed only when no file is over either limit and every sitemap in the audit answers 200, can be read, lists at least one address and was reached within the file and depth limits.
Limits & sources
The check does not tell whether Google rejected or partly used the file, and it does not judge the addresses inside it. Files beyond 100 per audit or three levels of indexes are not read.
Confidence: High because the entries are counted and the bytes measured directly.
Sources
- Google, Build and submit a sitemap — limits a single sitemap to 50 MB uncompressed or 50,000 URLs, and asks for larger ones to be split. Checked 25 September 2026.
Editorial review: 29 September 2026