XML Sitemap File Too Large

What This Means

The XML sitemap file exceeds 50 megabytes in size (uncompressed). The sitemaps.org protocol, which Google follows, specifies a maximum size of 50MB per sitemap file.

Why It Matters for SEO

A sitemap exceeding the 50MB limit may not be fully processed by search engines. URLs beyond the size limit may not be discovered from the sitemap. This issue typically only affects very large sites (tens of thousands of pages with verbose sitemap entries including lastmod, changefreq, and priority attributes).

What the Platform Checks

The platform measures the uncompressed file size of each sitemap file. Fires when any sitemap exceeds 50MB.

How to Fix It

• Split the sitemap into multiple smaller sitemap files and reference them from a sitemap index file.
• A sitemap index file lists multiple sitemap files, each under 50MB (and under 50,000 URLs):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>\n<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">\n  <sitemap><loc>https://yourdomain.com/sitemap-posts.xml</loc></sitemap>\n  <sitemap><loc>https://yourdomain.com/sitemap-products.xml</loc></sitemap>\n</sitemapindex>

• Also reduce sitemap verbosity by omitting optional attributes (changefreq, priority) that provide minimal benefit and add significant file size.
• Submit the sitemap index URL in Search Console.