Hello,
I apologize for the issue you are facing with Google not fetching your sitemap. It can be frustrating when things don’t work as expected. Since you’ve already followed the instructions in the article, let’s go through some additional troubleshooting steps that might help resolve the "Couldn’t fetch" error:
1. Validate Your Sitemap
Make sure your sitemap is correctly configured. You can use the Validate XML Sitemap tool to check for any issues. If there are no issues detected, it should confirm that your sitemap is valid.
2. Ensure the Sitemap is Located in the Root Folder
If you manually created the sitemap, ensure it is located in the root folder of your WordPress installation. The URL should look like this:
https://yourdomainname.com/sitemap_index.xml
3. Check Index Settings
Ensure that your posts are set to index. You can do this by going to Rank Math SEO → Titles & Meta and making sure the Index checkbox is enabled for your posts.
4. Flush the Cache
If your sitemap appears outdated, try flushing the sitemap cache by increasing the value of Links Per Sitemap in Rank Math SEO → Sitemap Settings and then saving your settings. After that, go to Settings → Permalinks and click Save Changes to apply the current settings.
5. Exclude the Sitemap From Caching
Make sure your sitemap is not being cached by following the instructions in this article on excluding sitemaps from caching.
6. Add the Correct Version of Your Sitemap to Google Search Console
Ensure you have added the correct version of your site to Google Search Console. You can refer to the steps in the article you mentioned to verify this.
If you’ve gone through these steps and are still experiencing issues, please reply to this ticket with your website URL so we can assist you further. A human agent from our support team will take over and provide more specific help.
Thank you for raising this concern, and we hope to resolve it for you soon!
Sources:
Troubleshooting the “Couldn’t Fetch” Error in Google Search Console » Rank Math
Hello,
Could you please share your sitemap URL with us so that we can check the issue further for you?
Looking forward to helping you.
Thank you.
Hello, here is the sitemap link: https://prugner.co/sitemap_index.xml
That is the weird part. It seems ok on the link, but Google is not fetching it.
Hello,
We have validated your sitemap using the tool, but it is still working fine:
https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/validate-xml-sitemap.html
Please note that Google does not process all sitemaps, not necessarily because something is wrong with them. Even a perfect sitemap may not be processed by Google.
Most of the time, it’s still sitting in the queue waiting for processing. Remember, Google is processing millions of sitemaps daily, and sometimes it takes time to get to yours.
But Google never completes some sitemaps because it doesn’t think they are worth the effort.
Moreover, the Search Console sometimes shows ‘Pending’ as ‘couldn’t fetch’ incorrectly.
You can check the replies of Google experts for the Couldn’t Fetch issue (especially for the TLDs except for .com) on the following threads:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/thread/29055233/missing-xml-sitemap-data-in-google-search-console-for-tld-domain?hl=en
https://support.google.com/webmasters/thread/31835653/sitemap-couldn-t-fetch-sitemap-couldn-t-be-read-by-google-search-console?hl=en
Looking forward to helping you.
Hello,
We are glad we could address your concern.
Please feel free to create a new forum topic if you do have another question in the future.
It will be our pleasure to assist you again.
Thank you.
