sitemap issue

Hello,

I apologize for the issue you are facing with your sitemap. The "could not fetch" error in Google Search Console can be frustrating. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot and resolve this issue:

1. Validate Your Sitemap

First, ensure that your sitemap is correctly configured. You can validate your sitemap using the Validate XML Sitemap tool. Enter your sitemap URL and click VALIDATE SITEMAP. If it returns a success message, your sitemap is configured correctly.

2. Ensure the Sitemap is Located in the Root Folder

Make sure your sitemap is located in the root folder of your WordPress installation. The correct URL should look like this:
`https://rankmath.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/increase-links-per-sitemap-1.jpg

3. Check Indexing Settings

Ensure that your posts are set to index. Go to Rank Math SEO → Titles & Meta and check that the Index checkbox is enabled in the Robots Meta settings.

4. Flush the Cache

If your sitemap appears outdated, you may need to flush the cache. Navigate to Rank Math SEO → Sitemap Settings, increase the value of Links Per Sitemap by one, and then save your settings. After that, go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes to apply the current settings.

5. Exclude the Sitemap From Caching

Make sure that your sitemap is not being cached. You can refer to this knowledgebase article on ensuring that your sitemaps are excluded from caching.

6. Add the Correct Version of Your Sitemap to Google Search Console

Ensure you have added the correct version of your sitemap to Google Search Console. You can do this by navigating to Indexing → Sitemaps in Google Search Console and pasting your sitemap URL there.

If you have followed all these steps and are still experiencing issues, please reply to this ticket, and a human agent from our support team will assist you further. Thank you for raising this concern!

Sources:
Troubleshooting the “Couldn’t Fetch” Error in Google Search Console » Rank Math

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Rank Math support.

Please try to follow the steps below and see if that works for you.

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. If the above steps don’t seem to work, kindly apply the following filter to your site.

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

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

Once done, clear your website cache, remove all the submitted sitemaps, and resubmit only the index sitemap in the Search Console.

Let us know how it goes. Looking forward to helping you.

Thank you.

Hello,

As per Google support, they are still investigating it internally, so we recommend giving them some time.

Meanwhile, if you have any other concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact us anytime so we can assist you further.

Looking forward to helping you.