Hello,
We apologize for the issue you are facing with submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console. The "Couldn’t fetch" error can be frustrating, but there are several steps you can take to troubleshoot this issue:
1. Validate Your Sitemap
Make sure your sitemap is correctly configured. You can use the Validate XML Sitemap tool to check for any issues. If your sitemap is valid, it should return a success message.
2. Ensure the Sitemap is Located in the Root Folder
If you manually created the sitemap, ensure it is located in the root folder of your WordPress installation. The URL should look like this:
https://yourdomainname.com/sitemap_index.xml
3. Check Indexing Settings
Ensure that your posts are set to index. Go to Rank Math SEO → Titles & Meta and make sure the Index checkbox is enabled for your posts.
4. Flush the Cache
If your sitemap appears outdated, you may need to flush the sitemap cache. Increase the value of Links Per Sitemap by one in Rank Math SEO → Sitemap Settings, then save changes. After that, go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes to apply the current settings.
5. Exclude the Sitemap From Caching
Make sure your sitemap is not being cached. You can refer to this 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 URL variation of your site in Google Search Console. You can check this in your WordPress dashboard under Settings → General.
If you’ve gone through these steps and are still experiencing issues, please reply to this ticket with your site URL so we can assist you further. A human agent from our support team will take over and provide more specific help.
Thank you for raising this concern, and we hope these tips help resolve your issue!
Sources:
Troubleshooting the “Couldn’t Fetch” Error in Google Search Console » Rank Math
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us. We apologize for any inconvenience that may have been caused.
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,
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.
