Noindex issue for sitemap files, confirmed not server-side

#1102940
  • Resolved Fanbrowse

    1 week, 1 day ago

    Rank Math free

    Hello,

    I am writing to report an issue with the sitemap functionality in Rank Math. My XML sitemaps are returning an X-Robots-Tag: noindex in the HTTP header, which prevents them from being fetched by Google Search Console.

    I have already completed all the steps in your troubleshooting guide at https://rankmath.com/kb/error-submitted-url-marked-noindex/.

    Here are the key findings from my extensive troubleshooting:

    Server-Side Excluded: My hosting provider (SiteGround) has confirmed that the noindex tag is not a server-level issue. They provided curl results showing that the tag is only present on the dynamically generated sitemap files and not on other files or the homepage.

    No Code Snippets: I have checked my theme’s functions.php file and all code snippets for any filters that might be adding the noindex tag.

    No Plugin Conflicts: I have deactivated all other plugins and re-tested, but the noindex tag persists on the sitemap.

    Checked all Settings: I have reviewed all Rank Math SEO settings, including Sitemap Settings, Global Meta, and all post type and taxonomy options, and found no active noindex settings.

    The issue seems to be a specific bug within the Rank Math sitemap module on my setup that is incorrectly applying the noindex tag. This is a critical issue as it prevents my entire website from being indexed.

    Please advise on how to resolve this. I am available to provide temporary admin access if needed.

    Thank you for your assistance.

    Best regards,

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • RankBot

    1 week, 1 day ago

    Hello,

    We apologize for the issue you are facing with the sitemap functionality in Rank Math. It sounds like you’ve done a thorough job troubleshooting the problem, and we appreciate your detailed report.

    Since you’ve confirmed that the noindex tag is not a server-side issue and have checked for conflicts with other plugins and settings, it does seem like there may be a specific bug affecting your setup.

    Here are a few additional steps you can take to troubleshoot further:

    1. Check Rank Math’s Titles & Meta Settings: Ensure that there are no default noindex settings applied to your sitemap. Navigate to WordPress Dashboard → Rank Math SEO → Titles & Meta and review each tab to confirm that noindex is not set for your sitemap or any relevant post types.

    2. Search Engine Visibility: Make sure that the Search engine visibility option is unchecked in WordPress. You can find this under Settings → Reading. If this option is checked, it may prevent search engines from indexing your site.

    3. Sitemap Caching: If you have any caching plugins active, ensure that they are not caching the sitemap with the noindex tag. You might want to clear all caches after making changes.

    4. Resubmit Your Sitemap: After confirming all settings, try resubmitting your sitemap in Google Search Console to see if the issue persists.

    If these steps do not resolve the issue, we recommend replying to this ticket and providing temporary admin access so that a human agent from our support team can investigate further and assist you directly.

    Thank you for your patience, and we look forward to resolving this issue for you soon!

    Fanbrowse

    1 week, 1 day ago

    Rank Math free

    To rule out a server-side problem or WordPress configuration, I temporarily deactivated Rank Math and installed another plugin, the “XML Sitemap Generator for Google.” After activating it, a new sitemap was created, and the noindex tag was no longer present in its headers. Everything worked as expected. This test confirms that the issue is specific to the Rank Math plugin on my website’s configuration.

    I would prefer to continue using your plugin and hope you can help me resolve this.

    I am available to provide temporary admin access if needed.

    Thank you for your assistance.

    Ike

    1 week, 1 day ago

    Hello,

    Thank you for reaching out to us.

    Can you please confirm if you’re inspecting your sitemap URL in your Google Search Console and getting this error? If so, then it is normal and you don’t have to worry. You’ll get the error if you inspect your sitemaps because, by default, sitemaps are set to noindex as they are meant to be crawled and not to be displayed on search results pages.

    That URL of the sitemap of the website should return a noindex status code because you wouldn’t want to index the sitemaps from your website, but rather only the pages that are inside the sitemap.

    That directive on the sitemap prevents it from appearing on SERPs but it doesn’t prevent Google from crawling the pages on it and indexing them.

    If you test any sitemap, even from big websites you’ll see that all of them use this directive to be sure it’s not getting included on SERPs.

    Even our own sitemap includes that:
    Sitemap

    To submit the sitemap to the correct place on GSC you should follow the steps in this tutorial: https://rankmath.com/kb/submit-sitemap-to-google/

    Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any other questions.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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