Sitemap 404 errors

Hello,

We apologize for the issue you are facing with the 404 errors on your sitemap index. A 404 error indicates that the sitemap index or individual sitemaps cannot be found, which can be caused by several factors. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot and potentially resolve the issue:

1. Flush Permalinks: Sometimes, simply saving your permalink settings can resolve 404 errors. Go to Settings > Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard and click Save Changes without making any changes.

2. Check Rewrite Rules: Ensure that your server has the correct rewrite rules in place. If you are using an Apache server, you may need to add specific rewrite rules to your .htaccess file. You can find guidance on how to do this in our article on adding rewrite rules.

3. Caching Plugins: If you are using a caching plugin, make sure to exclude the sitemap files from being cached. Caching can sometimes cause issues with dynamic content like sitemaps. You can learn more about excluding sitemaps from caching here.

4. Check for Plugin Conflicts: Sometimes, other plugins can conflict with Rank Math. You might want to check for any conflicts using the Health Check plugin.

5. Review Your Sitemap Settings: Make sure that your sitemap settings in Rank Math are configured correctly. You can refer to our guide on configuring sitemaps for assistance.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, we recommend replying to this ticket with your site URL so that a human agent from our support team can assist you further. Thank you for raising this concern, and we hope to help you get it resolved soon!

Sources:
Why the Sitemap_Index.xml is Throwing a 404 Error » Rank Math
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » 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 a filter/hook to your WordPress site:
https://rankmath.com/kb/wordpress-hooks-actions-filters/

Once done, clear your website cache and check the sitemap again.

Let us know how it goes. We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you.

Hello,

We checked all the sitemaps. They are opening fine and returning the 200 status code when checked.

Hope that helps, and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need my assistance with anything else.