Sitemap Canno’t Be Read on Google Search Console

Hello,

We apologize for the issue you are facing with your sitemap in Google Search Console. It sounds like there may be a few potential reasons for the "Couldn’t Fetch" error. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot and resolve the issue:

1. Validate Your Sitemap

First, ensure that your sitemap is correctly configured. You can use the Validate XML Sitemap tool to check for any errors in your sitemap.

2. Check Sitemap Location

Make sure your sitemap is located in the root folder of your WordPress installation. The URL should look like this:
`https://rankmath.com/blog/clear-cache-in-wordpress/

3. Ensure Posts Are Set to Index

If all your posts are set to noindex, your sitemap will be empty. Go to Rank Math SEO → Titles & Meta and ensure that the Index checkbox is enabled for your posts.

4. Flush Permalinks

Sometimes, flushing permalinks can resolve issues with sitemaps. Go to Settings → Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard and click Save Changes without making any changes.

5. Clear Cache

If you have caching enabled, make sure to clear your website cache. You can refer to this article on how to clear cache in WordPress.

6. Exclude Sitemap from Caching

Ensure that your sitemap is excluded from caching. You can find more information on how to do this in our knowledgebase article on excluding sitemaps from caching.

7. Check Cloudflare Settings

Since you mentioned using Cloudflare, ensure that there are no firewall rules or settings blocking access to your sitemap.

8. Resubmit Your Sitemap

After performing the above steps, go back to Google Search Console and resubmit your sitemap URL.

If you continue to experience issues after trying these steps, please reply to this ticket with any additional details or errors you encounter, and a human agent from our support team will assist you further.

Thank you for raising this concern, and we hope these steps help resolve the issue!

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

Hello,

Please share the screenshot of your sitemap section so we can check. You can upload screenshots using this tool and add the link here.

Meanwhile, please follow these steps to flush your sitemap cache:

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. Disable the transient cache for the sitemap by applying this filter. This will make sure that your XML sitemap always reflects the latest changes on your site:

/** 
 * Filter if XML sitemap transient cache is enabled.
 *
 * @param boolean $unsigned Enable cache or not, defaults to true
 */
add_filter( 'rank_math/sitemap/enable_caching', '__return_false');

If you’re not sure how to add this code, you can follow this guide:
https://rankmath.com/kb/wordpress-hooks-actions-filters/

Looking forward to helping you.