Sitemap can be read, but has errors

Hello,

We apologize for the issues you are facing with the Rank Math plugin. Thank you for detailing your concerns. Let’s address each of your issues point-by-point:

1. "Could Not Fetch" Error in Sitemap

This error can occur for several reasons. Here are some steps to troubleshoot:

• Validate Your Sitemap: Use the Validate XML Sitemap tool to ensure your sitemap is correctly configured.
• Check Sitemap Location: Ensure your sitemap is located in the root folder of your WordPress installation, typically at https://yourdomainname.com/sitemap_index.xml.
• Flush Permalinks: Go to Settings → Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard and click Save Changes to refresh your permalinks.
• Check Robots.txt: Ensure that your sitemap URL is not blocked by any rules in your robots.txt file. You can check this under Rank Math SEO → General Settings → robots.txt.

2. Posts Not Automatically Submitted for Indexing

If your posts are not being submitted for indexing automatically, ensure that:

• Indexing Settings: Check that your posts are set to index. Go to Rank Math SEO → Titles & Meta and ensure the Index checkbox is enabled for your posts.
• Sitemap Submission: After publishing a post, make sure to manually submit the sitemap again in Google Search Console if it doesn’t update automatically.

3. Sitemap Processing Error on URL Inspection Tool

If you’re encountering a sitemap processing error when submitting URLs:

• Check for Custom Canonicals: If you have set custom canonical URLs for your posts, they may not appear in the sitemap. Consider removing these custom canonicals to allow Rank Math to generate them correctly.

• Ensure Correct Header in Sitemap: Make sure your sitemap file uses the correct XML header:

• Clear Cache: If you are using any caching plugins, clear the cache after making changes to ensure that Google sees the latest version of your sitemap.

If these steps do not resolve your issues, we recommend replying to this ticket with your site URL so that a human agent from our support team can assist you further.

Thank you for bringing these concerns to our attention, and we hope this helps you resolve the issues!

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us. We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused.

Please follow the steps below for initial troubleshooting:

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/

If the issue persists then try disabling the transient cache for the sitemap. This will make sure that your XML sitemap always reflects the latest changes on your site. Kindly add this code snippet to your site:

/** 
 * Filter if XML sitemap transient cache is enabled.
 *
 * @param boolean $unsigned Enable cache or not, defaults to true
 */
add_filter( 'rank_math/sitemap/enable_caching', '__return_false');

If you’re not sure how to add this code, you can follow this guide: https://rankmath.com/kb/wordpress-hooks-actions-filters/.

After you add the code, please clear any cache on your site or server and then remove the submitted sitemaps on GSC and submit only the main sitemap (sitemap_index.xml) again. You might need to wait a while for the last read column to be updated.

If you’re still facing issues with the sitemap, please let us know – we are happy to investigate further.

Hello,

You can copy and paste this code to your rank-math.php file:

/** 
 * Filter if XML sitemap transient cache is enabled.
 *
 * @param boolean $unsigned Enable cache or not, defaults to true
 */
add_filter( 'rank_math/sitemap/enable_caching', '__return_false');

Also, don’t forget to include the opening PHP tag like in this image (Line 1 only):

Looking forward to helping you.

Hello,

The code from the screenshot is just an example and we have pointed out where to insert the following code:

/** 
 * Filter if XML sitemap transient cache is enabled.
 *
 * @param boolean $unsigned Enable cache or not, defaults to true
 */
add_filter( 'rank_math/sitemap/enable_caching', '__return_false');

Use that code I just shared.

If you are still having issues applying the code, we can do it for you. Please edit the first post on this ticket and include your WordPress and FTP logins in the designated Sensitive Data section.

Please do take a complete backup of your website before sharing the information with us.

It is completely secure and only our support staff has access to that section. If you want, you can use the below plugin to generate a temporary login URL to your website and share that with us instead:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/temporary-login-without-password/

You can use the above plugin in conjunction with the WP Security Audit Log to monitor what changes our staff might make on your website (if any):

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-security-audit-log/

We really look forward to helping you.