Additionally, i have checked the sitemap at xml-sitemaps.com usimg the sitemap validator and it show s at no issues.
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Rank Math, and sorry for any inconvenience caused.
I checked the sitemap, it is working fine. The couldn’t fetch error, is in most cases simply due to a bug in the Search Console.
Check this article for more information:
https://rankmath.com/kb/couldnt-fetch-error-google-search-console/
Hope this helps and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need our assistance with anything else.
I have followed that through and the 4 versions of the sitemap are returning connection time out errors
https://ibb.co/Trvskfx
the website as a whole is working correctly
Hello,
I checked the sitemap, it is working fine on our end.
Please resubmit the sitemap_index.xml in the Google search console and wait for Google to recrawl the sitemap.
Let us know how it goes.
We look forward to helping you.
I have deleted and resubmitted the main sitemap and the result is still Couldn’t Fetch. General HTTP error. Screen shots below
https://ibb.co/D9ZPLH8
https://ibb.co/HgnrMmL
Hello,
I’ve checked your sitemaps, and they are already redirecting to the final version. Your robots.txt also seems fine.
Could you please remove the sitemap and try submitting this URL instead /?sitemap=1? Here’s a link for more information:
https://rankmath.com/kb/couldnt-fetch-error-google-search-console/#num-6-rename-the-sitemap-file
Once done, give Google some time to recrawl your site and check if the issue still persists.
I hope that helps.
Thank you.
I have tried that option, It syill shows has couldn’t fetch but I’ll leave for a couple days to see what happens.
Hello,
Sure, and in the meantime, if there’s anything else that we can assist you with, please let us know.
Thank you.
Its now 6 days since i changed the sitemap name as suggested above and it is still showing as couldn’t fetch.
Any further ideas?
Hello,
I tested the variations of your website using https://httpstatus.io/ and the HTTPS + WWW variation of your website has a double 301 redirection applied.
Here’s a screenshot: https://i.rankmath.com/yUmmj7
There should only be a single 301 redirection on the nonpreferred variations of the website. That is, the preferred variation should return a 200 status and non-preferred variations should return a 301 + 200 status.
You can get in touch with your web host regarding this and they would be able to fix this.
Also, could you please check the coverage report under your Google Search Console account to see if there are any errors shown?
Looking forward to hearing back from you.
Thank you.
I have spoken to the hosting company how assure me that the the htaccess file appears fine but when you check httpstatus.io now there are 2 double redirects.
I have checked search console and it shows that the sitemap was last read on the 7th September. There have been no changes to the site that time except that the domain name was from from one provider to another.
Coverage report in search console reports no errors – just that teh number of valid pages has fallen from circa 500 to 28 since sepetember that daily impressions fallen from 1500 to almost 0
Hello,
I tested and now along with the HTTP + WWW version, the HTTP version is also having a double 301 redirection. Here’s a screenshot: https://i.rankmath.com/1jOqoM
Please ensure that only a single 301 redirection is present in the non-preferred variations of the website.
Once done, please clear your website and server’s cache (if any) and remove all the sitemaps from your Google Search Console account and submit only the main sitemap (/sitemap_index.xml).
Further, give Google some time to crawl your website again and see if the issue gets fixed.
Hope this helps.
Thank you.
I have fixed one of the double redirects as per the screenshot https://snipboard.io/X4zMOr.jpg
this the exactly how all my other sites are showing with no issues with the sitemap.
I have resubmitted sitemap and google is still unable to fetch.
Hello,
Please ensure that your sitemap is not heavily cached, you can check it with your host if there is any server-level caching software such as Cloudflare that is still caching your sitemap. You may refer to this guide: Can you please follow these steps?
https://rankmath.com/kb/exclude-sitemaps-from-caching/
Kindly flush your sitemap caching as well by following this video guide: https://i.rankmath.com/pipRDp
After doing so, please re-submit your sitemap to GSC again.
Let us know how that goes. Looking forward to helping you.
Thank you for the reply.
I have followed those instructions to the letter and i still get the error google couldn’t fetch the sitemap.
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.
