Hello,
I apologize for the issue you are facing with your Rank Math sitemap. The error you described seems to be related to incorrect URLs in your sitemap, causing Google Search Console to flag them as invalid.
To address this problem without manually editing the XML file, you can follow these steps:
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Check for Plugin Conflicts: Ensure there are no conflicts with other plugins affecting the sitemap generation. You can use the Health Check plugin to identify any conflicts.
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Flush Permalinks: If Google can’t access your sitemap index, you may need to flush permalinks. Simply go to the Permalinks page in your WordPress dashboard and click "Save Changes."
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Verify Sitemap Format: Make sure your sitemap file uses the correct header format as shown below:
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Check for Special Characters: Ensure that only straight single or double quotes enclose XML attributes, as using curly quotes can cause errors.
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Redirect Sitemap Variations: If the status code for your sitemaps is 200, redirect all XML sitemap variations to the final variation of the XML Sitemap.
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Clear Website Cache: After making any changes, clear your website cache and try submitting your sitemap in Google Search Console again.
If these steps do not resolve the issue, please let us know, and we will assist you further.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Sources:
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Rank Math support.
We’re sorry to hear that you’re having some trouble with your sitemap. We’ve seen this error before – it seems like the images or background images of the blurbs that you’re using in Divi are being added to the sitemap by Rank Math.
We suggest that you contact the Divi team and ask them if they have a solution for this issue, where you can exclude these images or background images of blurbs from the sitemap. They may have a filter or a setting that can help you with this.
As a temporary workaround, you can disable the Images in Sitemap option in Rank Math > Sitemap Settings > General. This will remove all the images from the sitemap, but it will also prevent any unwanted images from being added.
We hope this helps. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact us anytime.
Thank you for choosing Rank Math. We hope you enjoy using our plugin.
Hello,
Since we did not hear back from you for 15 days, we are assuming that you found the solution. We are closing this support ticket.
If you still need assistance or any other help, please feel free to open a new support ticket, and we will be more than happy to assist.
Thank you.
