[4] Start tag expected, ‘<' not found on line 2

#111934
  • Resolved Ivan Suazo

    3 years, 4 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hello,

    I’ve reviewed many forums on Rank Math regarding this sitemap error but couldn’t find a fix:

    “[4] Start tag expected, ‘<‘ not found on line 2”

    I received this message in the XML validation results on xml-sitemaps.com. I’m not familiar with code – in case this is a coding error – so I’m hoping you could help.

    The sitemap I’m attempting to set up in Google Search Console is:

    https://qwertydelight.com/post_tag-sitemap.xml/

    I’m using SG optimizer active plugin to exclude URLs including the one above. I’ve purged cache, re-saved permalinks in WP settings, checked that Rank Math is indexing robots meta… and I have active posts with assigned tags.

    I have four other sitemaps that are running successfully except for this one.

    Anything else I can do to fix this?

    I look forward to hearing back.

    Thank you!

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Michael Davis

    3 years, 4 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hello,

    Thank you for contacting Rank Math and sorry for any inconvenience that might have been caused due to that.

    Please ensure you have not set your tags to noindex individually and in Rank math > Titles & Meta > Tags

    If so, 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.
    Sensitive Data Section

    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.

    Ivan Suazo

    3 years, 4 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hello,

    I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?

    Thank you.

    Michael Davis

    3 years, 4 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hello,

    The provided access seems to have expired. Please extend this to at least a week so we can have ample time to troubleshot this.

    Looking forward to helping you.

    Ivan Suazo

    3 years, 4 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hello,

    I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?

    Thank you.

    Michael Davis

    3 years, 4 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hello,

    I checked your site but I can no longer replicate this issue, your tag sitemap leads to 404(check the screencast I have added in the sensitive section). This is because all your tags are set to noindex individually in the advanced tab of Rank math meta box and globally in Rank math > Titles & Meta > Tags.

    You will have to make sure they are set to index for then clear your cache to have their sitemap generated.

    Hoping this helps you. Thank you.

    Ivan Suazo

    3 years, 4 months ago

    Rank Math free

    That worked.

    Thank you!

    Uzair

    3 years, 3 months ago

    Hello,

    We are super happy that this resolved your issue. If you have any other questions in the future, know that we are here to help you.

    If you don’t mind me asking, could you please leave us a review (if you haven’t already) on https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/seo-by-rank-math/reviews/#new-post about your overall experience with Rank Math? We appreciate your time and patience.

    If you do have another question in the future, please feel free to create a new forum topic, and it will be our pleasure to assist you again.

    Thank you.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

The ticket ‘[4] Start tag expected, ‘<' not found on line 2’ is closed to new replies.