Hello,
Thank you for your query and we are so sorry about the trouble this must have caused.
Checking the content of the post and page sitemap, besides the homepage, I see this URL being added in both sitemaps: https://giocone.com/games/
Can you please confirm if this is a main archive of a custom post type?
Please also check if you have any post/page that has the same permalink as your games custom post type.
Looking forward to helping you with this one.
https://imgur.com/a/kRmLQXJ
I used to have a Games category and tag, but haven’t had them for a while.
Hello,
The games page is an archive page of your posts and that’s why it is included in the post sitemap to inform Google about the same. The archive pages of the post types are added to the post type sitemaps as per Google’s guidelines so there is nothing to be worried about.
If you want to remove the archive page from the post sitemap, you can modify and use the following filter: https://rankmath.com/kb/filters-hooks-api-developer/#change-remove-archive-url
Hope that helps. Let us know if you need any other assistance.
This doesn’t explain why I have the same page in both posts and pages.
Hello,
https://giocone.com/games/ is a page and that’s why it is included in the page sitemap. You have selected this page as the archive of your posts in the Reading settings of WordPress and that’s why it is also included in the post sitemap as the archive of the posts.
The archives of the post types should be included in their sitemap according to Google’s guidelines and that’s why the URL is present in both page and post sitemaps.
Hope this clarifies your doubts. Don’t hesitate to get in touch in case you need our assistance with anything else.
Is this duplicate URL an SEO problem?
Hello,
Thank you for your reply. I understand your concern about having the same page in both post and page sitemaps. However, as my colleague explained, this is not an SEO problem and it is actually following Google’s guidelines.
Duplicate content is bad for SEO when it causes confusion for search engines or users about which version of the page is the original or canonical one. This can happen when the same content appears on different domains or on different URLs within the same domain.
In your case, the games page is a single page that serves as the archive of your posts. It is not duplicated on any other URL. The reason it appears in both sitemaps is because it belongs to both categories: it is a page and it is a post archive. This does not mean that Google will see it as two different pages or penalize you for duplicate content.
I hope this clarifies your doubts and reassures you that your site is not in trouble. If you have any other questions or issues, please let us know. We are always happy to help.
Thank you for choosing Rank Math!
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.
