Blank Sitemap page and 403 Errors

Hello,

We apologize for the issue you are facing with the blank Sitemap page and the 403 errors. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot this issue:

1. Check for Plugin or Theme Conflicts

If your sitemap shows a blank page, it might be due to a conflict with another plugin or theme. You can use the Health Check plugin to identify any conflicts.

2. Flush Permalinks

Sometimes, flushing permalinks can resolve issues with sitemaps. To do this:

• Go to your WordPress admin area.
• Navigate to Settings → Permalinks.
• Click the “Save Changes” button without making any changes.

3. Check .htaccess File

If you are still encountering a 403 error, it may be necessary to add rewrite rules to your .htaccess file. You can learn how to edit your .htaccess file using Rank Math here.

Here’s a sample code to add:

# START of Rank Math Sitemap Rewrite Rules
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^sitemap_index.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=1 [L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]+?)-sitemap([0-9]+)?.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=$1&sitemap_n=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^([a-z]+)?-?sitemap.xsl$ /index.php?xsl=$1 [L]
# END of Rank Math Sitemap Rewrite Rules

4. Exclude Sitemaps from Caching

If you are using a caching plugin, ensure that the sitemap files generated by Rank Math are excluded from being cached. This is important as caching can interfere with the sitemap functionality. You can find more information on how to exclude sitemaps from caching here.

Professional Setup Service

Since you mentioned that you are not very technical, we recommend considering our professional setup service. This service is offered by our team for users who want to ensure their plugin setup is fully correct and adheres to the latest SEO standards. Please note that this service requires a PRO subscription.

If you need further assistance, please reply to this ticket, and a human agent from our support team will take over and provide more detailed help.

Thank you for raising this concern!

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