Hello,
Thank you for contacting us.
Indexed, Not Submitted in Sitemap, it is not an issue, it only means that Google has already indexed the posts/pages but not through the sitemap.
It is possible that Google is crawling and indexing the post through the internal links on your website and not through the sitemap, and as a result, the crawl budget for your website is exhausted and Google is not able to discover the URLs through your sitemap.
As long as the posts/pages are getting crawled and indexed, there’s nothing to be worried about.
Hope this helps.
Thank you.
Thanks for the quick reply. That’s good to know.
Will this change at all in the future and they be added to the sitemap? Also, will new posts be added to the sitemap or just indexed separately?
Cheers
Matt
Hello,
Rank Math’s sitemaps already update whenever a new post/page/CPT is published.
However, currently, it seems like Google might be crawling your website through other means and not sitemaps and as a result, they’re unable to detect the URL in sitemaps. As mentioned previously, there’s nothing to be worried about here.
Google may change the way it is crawling your website and in that case, the URLs would automatically get detected in the sitemaps.
With that being said, could you share the URL of your website/sitemaps so that we can check and ensure that everything is working as expected?
Looking forward to hearing back from you.
Thank you.
Hello,
I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?
Thank you.
Hello,
I checked the sitemap, two variations of the sitemap are returning 200 status, you can check using https://httpstatus.io/:
Check screenshot in the sensitive data section.
Please ensure that only 1 version of the sitemap is working (200 status), and the rest are redirecting to it.
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 and redirect to the correct version.
Then, clear the website cache and resubmit the sitemap_index.xml in the Search Console.
I hope this helps.
Looking forward to helping you.
Hello,
I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?
Thank you.
Hi Anas,
Thanks for that. I’m not sure how another sitemap was added. I seem to recall it happening earlier in the month while going through my Rankmath settings.
Anyway, I’m struggling to carry out the fix you’ve suggested. I checked the article you sent me but can’t figure out how it relates to my issue.
Any other help would be appreciated.
Also, I’ve included an image, as I’m not sure what sitemap needs to be kept/re-directed/deleted.
Cheers.
Matt
Hello,
If you’re not sure, you can get in touch with your web host and they would be able to redirect the non-preferred variations to the preferred one. You can also share the guide provided by my colleague with your web host.
Also, I’ve included an image, as I’m not sure what sitemap needs to be kept/re-directed/deleted.
Once the above issue would be fixed, you can remove all the sitemaps from your Google Search Console account and then submit only one/main sitemap i.e, /sitemap_inde.xml.
Further, give Google some time to crawl your website again and see if the issue gets fixed.
Hope this helps.
Thank you.
Hi,
I’ve carried out the above instructions. Are you able to check everything is ok and done correctly, please?
Thanks
Hello,
I tested the variations of the website but now the HTTPS + WWW variation is returning a 404 error. You can have a look at the screenshot in the sensitive data section of this ticket for a quick reference.
Please get in touch with your web host regarding the issue.
Let us know how that goes.
Thank you.
My hosts have said this below, as I had www pointing at two different IP addresses.
“The reason it is giving 404 is that the www was pointed to two different IPs. That’s why the www version on https was not working. But now you have removed it is should work after the propagation is completed.”
Does this sound right? I didn’t touch any DNS settings, I only carried out the instructions you gave me above:
Hosts added a redirect, cleared cache, deleted other sitemaps, and added a new one on GSC.
edit: It should be propagated now, so could you please check again that everything is set up correctly.
Thanks. I appreciate it.
Hello,
I tested the all variations of your sitemap URL on httpstatus.io and they are all correctly redirecting to (site redacted upon user’s request).
I ran the sitemap through a sitemap validator and it passed.
Your sitemap should submit into Google Search Console successfully.
If you have questions, please let us know. We are here to help.
Thanks Nigel, that’s great. I’m glad it’s sorted.
On another note, if this conversation is public, is it possible to delete my domain from your previous reply?
Much appreciated.
Cheers
Hello,
Glad that helped. We have removed your site link from the last reply upon your request.
Please feel free to reach out to us again in case you need any other assistance.
We are here to help.
Thank you.
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.
