Sitemap 404 and 500 Internal Server Error after adding Rank Math

Hello,

We apologize for the issues you are facing with the sitemap on your website. It sounds like you’ve taken several steps to troubleshoot the 404 error, and we appreciate your detailed description of the situation.

Since you are encountering a 404 error for the Rank Math sitemap after adding the rewrite rules, here are a few additional steps you can try:

1. Flush the Sitemap Cache: After adding the rewrite rules, ensure you flush the sitemap cache. You can do this by navigating to Rank Math SEO → Sitemap Settings and changing the Links Per Sitemap setting. After that, click on Save Changes. Then, go to Settings → Permalinks in your WordPress admin area and hit Save Changes again, even if you didn’t make any changes. This will help refresh the permalinks and may resolve the issue.
   
   
   

2. Check for Server Configuration: Since your hosting provider mentioned that the rewrite rules caused a misconfiguration, it might be worth checking if there are any specific server settings or restrictions that could be affecting the functionality of Rank Math. If you’re using an Nginx server, ensure that the correct rewrite rules are added to your Nginx configuration as well.

3. Disable Caching Plugins Temporarily: While you’ve already excluded the sitemap from caching, it might help to temporarily disable any caching plugins (like Breeze) to see if that resolves the issue.

4. Ensure Pages Are Set to Index: Make sure that your posts and pages are set to index in the robots meta tag. If any pages are set to noindex, they will not appear in the sitemap, which could lead to a 404 error.
   
   You can check this by navigating to Rank Math SEO → Advanced tab in the post editing screen.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, we recommend replying to this ticket with your site URL and any additional details about your server setup. A human agent from our support team will be able to assist you further and provide more tailored guidance.

Thank you for your patience, and we hope to resolve this issue for you soon!

Sources:
Why the Sitemap_Index.xml is Throwing a 404 Error » Rank Math
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math

Hello,

If your server is Nginx, then this is the code you should add to your config file:

# START Nginx Rewrites for Rank Math Sitemaps
rewrite ^/sitemap_index.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=1 last;
rewrite ^/([^/]+?)-sitemap([0-9]+)?.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=$1&sitemap_n=$2 last;
rewrite ^/([a-z]+)?-sitemap\.xsl$ /index.php?xsl=$1 last;
# END Nginx Rewrites for Rank Math Sitemaps

You can get in touch with your web host for assistance if you’re unser about the process.

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,

We have checked your website and noticed that you currently have only one post, which is still in draft.

Please note that Rank Math includes only published posts and pages in the sitemap, and they must be set to index with a self-referencing canonical URL. Since there is nothing to add to the sitemap at the moment, it is returning a 404 error.

Once you publish posts and pages on your website, the sitemap will start working automatically.

We hope this clarifies the situation. Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions.

Thank you.

Hello @james-miller-1093,

Thank you so much for your contribution. Yes, the 500 error code is usually caused by incorrect server configuration, and your suggestion is very helpful for other users who might be experiencing such issues.

@bravomylady,

We can see that your sitemap is now working.

Let us know if you still need our assistance with your issue.