Hello,
We apologize for the issue you are facing with the drop in indexed pages in Google Search Console (GSC). This can be concerning, and we appreciate you bringing it to our attention.
A significant drop in indexed pages can occur due to various reasons, including:
- Sitemap Issues: If parts of your sitemap were deleted or not properly submitted, it could lead to a decrease in indexed pages. Ensure that your sitemap is complete and correctly configured. You can refer to our guide on fixing sitemap issues for more details.
- Crawling Errors: Check if there are any crawling errors reported in GSC, such as 404 errors or server errors (5xx). These can prevent Google from indexing your pages. You can find more information on how to fix these errors in our guide on fixing indexing issues.
- Content Quality: Google may choose not to index pages that it deems low quality or duplicate content. Ensure that your content is unique and valuable.
- Algorithm Updates: Sometimes, changes in Google’s algorithms can affect indexing. You can check if your site was impacted by an algorithm update by referring to our guide on Google algorithm updates.
If you are experiencing technical issues on your site, please include your site URL in your reply so we can assist you better. Additionally, if you would like a thorough review of your settings and sitemap, we recommend considering our professional setup service available at Rank Math Services, which requires a PRO subscription.
Thank you for raising this concern, and we look forward to helping you resolve it!
Hello,
Thank you for your query and we are so sorry about the trouble this must have caused.
Please follow the steps below:
1. 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/
2. 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/
3. Remove all your sitemaps from your Google Search Console and re-submit only the index sitemap (https://website.com/sitemap_index.xml)
If the issue persists, we might need to take a closer look at the settings. Please edit the first post on this ticket and include your WordPress & FTP logins in the designated Sensitive Data section.
Please do take a complete backup of your website before sharing the information with us.
It is completely secure and only our support staff has access to that section. If you want, you can use the below plugin to generate a temporary login URL to your website and share that with us instead:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/temporary-login-without-password/
You can use the above plugin in conjunction with the WP Security Audit Log to monitor what changes our staff might make on your website (if any):
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-security-audit-log/
We really look forward to helping you.
Hello,
I tried what you suggested, but it didn’t help.
I should add another piece of info: my xml version of sitemap doesn’t contain parts which I pasted above, but html version of sitemap contain everything.
Can maybe that help in problem solving?
Hello,
In this case, head over to your website files /uploads/rankmath/, and delete any XML files from that path.
If the issue persists, then we may need to investigate this issue further. Please provide your WordPress and FTP logins in the sensitive data section.
Looking forward to helping you.
Hi Reinelle,
I’m sorry for a late response, but now I deleted XML files from that path (/uploads/rankmath/) and now everything works.
Thank you for your help!
Best regards
Matija
Hello,
Glad that helped.
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.
