Sitemap Index Not Discovering Pages in Google Search Console

#1047880
  • Resolved Finklr

    1 month, 2 weeks ago

    Rank Math free

    Dear Rank Math Support Team,

    I hope you’re doing well.

    I’m facing an issue with the sitemap functionality on my WordPress website (https://www.finklr.com) using the Rank Math SEO plugin.

    Here’s a summary of the issue:

    The main sitemap index is located at:
    https://www.finklr.com/sitemap_index.xml

    This index file is accessible in the browser and properly lists the sub-sitemaps (e.g., pages).

    However, when I submit this sitemap to Google Search Console, it shows a “Success” status, but 0 pages are discovered.

    On the other hand, when I submit an individual sitemap like /page-sitemap.xml, Google successfully discovers pages (e.g., 17 pages found).

    What I’ve already checked:

    The sitemap index and child sitemaps are not blocked in robots.txt.

    All sitemap URLs load correctly in the browser without any 404 or errors.

    No caching plugins are installed or active on the website.

    Despite all this, Google seems to ignore the sitemap index and does not crawl or discover the pages from it.

    Could you please assist in identifying why this issue is happening and guide me on how to resolve it?

    Looking forward to your support.

    Best regards,
    Finklr Team
    Website: https://www.finklr.com

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • RankBot

    3 months, 3 weeks ago

    Hello,

    We apologize for the issue you are facing with the sitemap functionality on your website. Thank you for providing detailed information about the problem.

    Since your sitemap index is accessible and correctly lists the sub-sitemaps, but Google is not discovering pages from it, here are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot this issue:

    1. Validate Your Sitemap: Use the Validate XML Sitemap tool to ensure that your sitemap is correctly configured. This can help identify any potential issues with the sitemap structure.
      An example displaying how to validate a sitemap

    2. Check Sitemap Submission: Ensure that you are submitting the correct sitemap URL in Google Search Console. The correct URL should be https://yourdomainname.com/sitemap_index.xml. If you haven’t already, try resubmitting the sitemap after validating it.
      Add the sitemap to Google Search Console

    3. Wait for Google to Crawl: Sometimes, it may take time for Google to crawl and index the pages from the sitemap index. You can check back after a few days to see if there are any updates.

    4. Check for Custom Canonicals: If you have set custom canonical URLs for your posts, ensure that they are not affecting the visibility of those pages in the sitemap. Rank Math includes a self-referencing canonical by default, so removing custom canonicals may help.

    5. Review Robots.txt: Double-check your robots.txt file to ensure there are no unintended rules that might be blocking Google from crawling your sitemap index or its child sitemaps.

    If you’ve gone through these steps and are still experiencing issues, we recommend replying to this ticket with any additional details or errors you might encounter, and a human agent from our support team will assist you further.

    Thank you for your patience, and we hope this helps resolve your issue!

    Sources:
    Troubleshooting the “Couldn’t Fetch” Error in Google Search Console » Rank Math
    Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math

    Ike

    3 months, 3 weeks ago

    Hello,

    Thank you for your query and we are so sorry about the trouble this must have caused.

    It appears that Google was able to process your sitemap without any issues.

    However, there are no URLs being discovered yet. Please note that each time Google uses a sitemap to find a URL, the count of the discovered URLs increases by one. Sitemaps are only one of the few methods Google uses to discover your URLs.

    When the count of the Discovered URLs is zero or does not match your actual sitemap in your Google Search Console, it means Google didn’t use the sitemap to find the URLs.

    It mostly happens when you have good internal linking.

    Here’s a link for more information:
    https://rankmath.com/kb/zero-discovered-urls-through-sitemap/

    What you can try right now is to flush the sitemap and resubmit it.

    Please follow the steps below:

    1. Flush the Sitemap cache by following this video screencast:
    https://i.rankmath.com/pipRDp

    2. Exclude the Sitemap files of the Rank Math plugin in your caching plugin. The cache could be via a plugin or from the server. For plugins or Cloudflare, please follow this article:
    https://rankmath.com/kb/exclude-sitemaps-from-caching/

    3. Apply the following filter code to your site.

    add_filter( 'rank_math/sitemap/enable_caching', '__return_false');

    Here’s how you can add filter to your WordPress site:https://rankmath.com/kb/wordpress-hooks-actions-filters/

    4. Remove all sitemaps from your GSC and resbumit only the primary one (https://yourwebsite.com/sitemap_index.xml)

    Hope that helps and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need our assistance with anything else.

    RankBot

    1 month, 2 weeks ago

    Hello,

    Since we did not hear back from you for 15 days, we are assuming that you found the solution. We are closing this support ticket.

    If you still need assistance or any other help, please feel free to open a new support ticket, and we will be more than happy to assist.

    Thank you.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The ticket ‘Sitemap Index Not Discovering Pages in Google Search Console’ is closed to new replies.