Google search console sitemap

#192302
  • Resolved Valuationsimples
    Rank Math free

    Hi,

    About a month ago I installed RankMath on my website. I followed the detailed instructions on how to install and set it up. I do, however, have a couple of questions.

    As my website is a subscription-based financial education platform, I opted for some pages to be NoIndex as they require a subscription and login.

    When I go to my Google Search Console and select Coverage, I get 8 errors and 1 problem as can be seen in the sensitive data section. Most of the URL examples listed have been updated and have been classified as index.

    Could you kindly confirm if these errors on Google Search Console is an issue I need to worry about? If so, could you provide me with guidance on how to address them?

    Thank you in advance for your time.

    Regards,
    Anthony L. Brydon

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 18 total)
  • Hello,

    Thank you for contacting Rank Math and bringing your concern to our attention. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this issue may have caused you.

    I’ve checked those pages, and it seems that they are already set to index. You can also verify using this tool:
    https://smallseotools.com/meta-tags-analyzer/

    Your sitemap and robots.txt seem fine as well.

    However, upon further checking your sitemap, it seems that you haven’t verified the www (or non-www) version of your website. I’ve attached a screenshot in the sensitive data section.

    Please ensure that only 1 version of the sitemap is working (200 Ok status), and the rest are redirecting to it. You can also use this tool to check. Please follow the steps in this link:
    https://rankmath.com/kb/couldnt-fetch-error-google-search-console/#5-check-for-the-correct-version-of-the-sitemap

    Also, please make sure that this option is not checked (disabled) on your WordPress > Settings > Reading
    Reading

    Once done, remove all the sitemaps submitted in your GSC, then resubmit your main sitemap only /sitemap_index.xml, and give Google some time to recrawl your site.

    I hope that helps. Thank you, and please don’t hesitate to contact us anytime if you need further assistance with anything else.

    Hi Reinelle,

    Thank you for getting back to me. I’m somewhat of a beginner with this, so I might need some extra guidance.

    How do I ensure that only 1 version of the sitemap is working (200 Ok status), and the rest are redirecting to it?

    Anas
    Rank Math business

    Hello,

    You can test all the variations of your URLs with httpstatus.io. I have checked your sitemap URLs with httpstatus.io and it looks like two of the variations of the URL are returning 200 OK status.
    sitemap

    Only one of the 4 variations should show a 200 status code. The 3 remaining ones should show 301 and 200.

    Please set up proper redirection through the .htaccess file to resolve this issue.
    Here is a guide for your reference:
    https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/9770/38/how-to-use-htaccess-to-redirect-to-https-in-cpanel/

    If you are not sure how to do it, you can get in touch with your web host.

    Once done, remove all the sitemaps from the search console and submit the sitemap_index.xml in the search console.

    Looking forward to helping you.

    Hi Anas,

    I have reached out to my host customer support and they will have to escalate it.

    Just to make sure I understand. The first three links in the screen shot (https://i.rankmath.com/jFvsls) should have the status 301 and 200 and redirect to the fourth link.

    Hello,

    Thank you for keeping in touch with us.

    Only one (whichever variations you prefer or you have set) of the 4 variations should show a 200 status code. The 3 remaining ones should show 301.

    Hope that helps and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need our assistance with anything else.

    Hi Jeremy,

    Apologies for the back and forth. I reached out to my host provider and I have added their reply to the Sensitive Data section. I suspect they did not resolve my issue. Could you please confirm whether that is the case. If the issue has not been resolved, I reach out again to them.

    Thanks!
    Anthony L. Brydon

    Hello,

    Thank you for the follow-up.

    I’ve checked your web host’s reply and they haven’t addressed the redirection of your sitemap. Your explanation above is already correct.

    Also, upon checking your robots.txt, it seems that they have modified it that only Googlebot can crawl your site.
    Robots

    However, once your sitemap’s version is already fixed, you can then follow the steps in your host’s reply to resubmit your sitemap.

    Looking forward to helping you.

    Thank you.

    Hi,

    After a lot of back and forth with my website provider, I was informed that the issue has been resolved. Could you kindly confirm that is the case?

    Brian
    Rank Math free

    Hello,

    Thank you for getting back to us.

    The sitemap versions still remained the same as what you had before. As I can see your main site URL bears the non-www version. Therefore the sitemap with the https://www should be redirected as well to have a 301.

    This code inserted to your .htaccess will redirect your http:// to https:// while your https://www is redirected to https://

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /
    
    RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example\.com$ [OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.example\.com$
    RewriteRule .* https://example.com%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
    
    RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.example\.com$
    RewriteRule .* https://example.com%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

    If the hosting provider did fix the issue you can then proceed to resubmit the sitemap to your GSC and see if these errors are noticed again.

    Please let us know how this goes after the update. We are looking forward to helping you.
    Thank you.

    Actually, I ventured into my .htaccess myself (I’m new at this) and found the print screen that can be found in the sensitive data section.

    I put a question mark in the area I assume my host provided updated. If I’m correct, it’s somewhat different from the code Brian sent. Can I just delete it update it with what Brian sent me?

    Hello,

    Thank you for the follow-up.

    The www version of your sitemap is still not being redirected. I’ve attached a screenshot in the sensitive data section for your reference.

    Yes, you can try the redirect code that my colleague provided above for your sitemaps to have the final version.

    Please also make a backup of your .htaccess since it’s a sensitive file before making any changes.

    I hope that helps.

    Thank you, and looking forward to helping you.

    Just to confirm, should I delete the existing section I highlighted in the “.htaccess screenshot”?

    Anas
    Rank Math business

    Hello,

    I tried accessing your website but the site cannot be reached.

    Yes, you can replace that code in .htaccess file with the one my colleague provided in a previous reply. I’ll suggest you get in touch with your web host to edit that file correctly.

    I have tested the code with https://technicalseo.com/tools/htaccess/
    test

    The final URL will be: https://valuationsimples.com/

    That should fix all the issues.

    I hope this helps. Looking forward to helping you.

    Hi Brian,

    Thank you for your ongoing support. I think that my interaction today with my host provider was helpful.

    If possible could you check that the redirect were done correctly. If I’m not mistaken, the https://www redirected to https:// is still pending. Is that the case?

    Hi Anas,

    I contacted my host 9 times and they have done it wrong every single time. My patience with them is running out. So I will:
    1) Backup the file;
    2) Delete the highlighted section in the “htaccess screenshot” identified in the sensitive data section
    3) Replace the code I deleted in (2) with the following code sent over by Brian:

    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteBase /

    RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^valuationsimples\.com\.br$ [OR]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.valuationsimples\.com\.br$
    RewriteRule .* https://valuationsimples.com.br%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

    RewriteCond %{HTTPS} =on
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.valuationsimples\.com\.br$
    RewriteRule .* https://valuationsimples.com.br%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

    I not sure about the “.\” in the “.br”. Could you kindly confirm?

    Thank you again for all your patience…I’m very new to this.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 18 total)

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