HELP Please – Sitemap error and access to HTML tag for Verification

#860682
  • Resolved Andy Hopkins

    1 year, 3 months ago

    Rank Math free

    Hello, I am having a sitemap error pop up on my Google search console. It is saying that the sitemap can be read, but has errors. When I expand it says: “sitemap is HTML then reads Your Sitemap appears to be an HTML page. Please use the supported sitemap format instead.” Then it lists examples: Line 2 Tag: HTML.

    How do I fix this error and correct the sitemap for my website?

    I am also having an issue re-accessing my HTML tag on google search console to add to the backend of the webmasters tool in rank math.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    Thank you.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • RankBot

    1 year, 3 months ago

    Hello,

    We apologize for the issue you are facing with your sitemap. The error message you are seeing indicates that the sitemap submitted to Google is being recognized as an HTML page instead of the required XML format. Here are some steps you can take to resolve this issue:

    1. Check Your Sitemap URL: Ensure that you are submitting the correct XML sitemap URL. It should be in the format: https://yourdomainname.com/sitemap_index.xml.

    2. Validate Your Sitemap: Use a sitemap validation tool to check if your sitemap is correctly configured. You can use the Validate XML Sitemap tool for this purpose. If there are issues, it will help identify them.
      An example displaying how to validate a sitemap

    3. Ensure Posts Are Set to Index: If all your posts are set to noindex, your sitemap may appear empty. Go to Rank Math SEO → Titles & Meta and ensure that the Index checkbox is enabled for your posts.
      Index Titles and Meta settings

    4. Check for Plugin Conflicts: Sometimes, other plugins can interfere with the sitemap generation. You can use the Health Check plugin to identify any conflicts.

    5. Clear Cache: If you are using caching plugins, clear the cache to ensure that the latest version of your sitemap is being served.

    Regarding the HTML tag for verification in Google Search Console, you typically need to add a meta tag to the “ section of your website’s HTML. If you are unable to access it through Rank Math, you may need to manually add it via your theme’s editor or a custom code plugin.

    If you continue to experience issues after trying these steps, please reply to this ticket, and a human agent from the Rank Math Support team will assist you further.

    Thank you for raising this concern!

    Sources:
    Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math
    Troubleshooting the “Couldn’t Fetch” Error in Google Search Console » Rank Math

    Adetayo

    1 year, 3 months ago

    Hello,

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

    Can you please share your sitemap URL with us so that we can check the issue further for you?

    Please follow the steps below and see if that works for you.

    1. Flush the Sitemap cache by following this video screencast:
    https://i.rankmath.com/pipRDp

    2. Exclude the Sitemap files of the Rank Math plugin in your caching plugin. The cache could be via a plugin or from the server. For plugins or Cloudflare, please follow this article:
    https://rankmath.com/kb/exclude-sitemaps-from-caching/

    3. If the above steps don’t seem to work, kindly apply the following filter to your site.

    add_filter( 'rank_math/sitemap/enable_caching', '__return_false');

    Here’s how you can add filter/hook to your WordPress site:
    https://rankmath.com/kb/wordpress-hooks-actions-filters/

    Once done, clear your website cache and resubmit the /sitemap_index.xml in the Search Console.

    Let us know how it goes. Looking forward to helping you.

    Thank you.

    RankBot

    1 year, 2 months ago

    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.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The ticket ‘HELP Please – Sitemap error and access to HTML tag for Verification’ is closed to new replies.