Hello,
We apologize for the issue you are facing with the sitemap on your client’s site. The error message indicating that the sitemap has format errors could be due to several reasons. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot and resolve the issue:
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Check the Sitemap Header: Ensure that the sitemap file is using the correct header. It should look like this:
Make sure the namespace in the header ends with 0.9 and not .9.
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Quotation Marks: Ensure you are using straight single or double quotes to enclose XML attributes. Curly quotes can lead to errors.
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Check for Errors in the Sitemap: Use a tool like httpstatus to check the status code of your sitemap. If the status code is 200, ensure that all variations of the XML sitemap are redirected to the final variation.
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Clear Cache: If you have caching enabled on your site, clear your website cache and try submitting the sitemap again in Google Search Console.
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Plugin Conflicts: Sometimes, other plugins can cause conflicts. You can use the Health Check plugin to identify any potential conflicts.
If these steps do not resolve the issue, please reply to this ticket, and a human agent from the Rank Math Support team will assist you further.
Thank you for raising this concern!
Sources:
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math
Hello,
The /sitemap.xml is properly redirecting to Rank Math’s default /sitemap_index.xml, and that is not an issue.
Since your sitemaps are already submitted in your Google Search Console, then the site auditing tool you’re using must be reporting a false positive result.
Looking forward to helping you.
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.
