Hello,
We apologize for the issue you are facing with your sitemap returning an X-Robots-Tag: noindex despite the HTTP status being 200. This can be quite frustrating.
Given that you have already set the X-Robots-Tag to index, follow in your .htaccess file, it’s important to ensure that there are no other conflicting rules or settings that might be overriding this configuration. Here are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot this issue:
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Check for Conflicting Plugins: Even though you mentioned that no caching plugins are interfering, please double-check if there are any other plugins that might be affecting the headers sent by your server. You can temporarily disable all plugins except Rank Math to see if the issue persists.
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Server Configuration: Since you are on an Apache server with LiteSpeed, ensure that there are no server-level configurations that might be setting the X-Robots-Tag to noindex. You may need to consult with your hosting provider to verify this.
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Inspect Response Headers: Use tools like cURL or online header checkers to inspect the response headers of your sitemap directly. This will help confirm if the X-Robots-Tag is indeed being set as expected.
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Review Rank Math Settings: Go through the Rank Math settings to ensure that there are no options enabled that might be affecting the indexing of your sitemap.
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Custom Code: If you have added any custom code snippets in your theme or functions.php file, review them to ensure they are not inadvertently setting the X-Robots-Tag to noindex.
If after these checks the issue still persists, please reply to this ticket with any additional findings or changes you made, and a human agent from our support team will assist you further. Thank you for your patience!
Sources:
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math
How to Fix Submitted URL Marked ‘NoIndex’ Error » Rank Math
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Rank Math support and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
You shouldn’t be worried about the “No: “noindex” detected in the HTTP header “X-Robots-Tag” error, as it’s completely fine and normal to have noindex tag on your sitemap URLs.
Because, by default, sitemap URLs are set to noindex as it is not meant to be indexed and appear in the search results. The sitemap should only be submitted in the sitemaps section in the Search Console.
The reason is that we don’t want Google to index the sitemap itself; we only want them to index the pages and posts that are listed on the sitemap. The sitemap is just a way to tell Google what pages and posts you have on your website, not a page that you want to show up in search results.
Meanwhile, the account used to open this ticket is a Free account, but it appears that you are using the PRO version of Rank Math.
Can you please search for and forward a receipt from FastSpring.com or provide the email address used for the purchase? This will help us locate your account and verify your PRO subscription.
Do not hesitate to let us know if you need our assistance with anything else.
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.
