Sitemap could not be read

I understand that Rank Math (and many SEO systems) often set X-Robots-Tag: noindex on sitemap files by default, as a measure to prevent the sitemap itself from being indexed. That is typically considered acceptable behaviour, and many documentation threads from your team affirm this.

However, in my case, this noindex header appears to be interfering with Google Search Console’s ability to discover child URLs. My GSC report currently shows “0 discovered URLs”—which is not consistent with a sitemap that is properly readable.

The server error logs show that Rank Math is trying to query a missing database table called rank_math_analytics_objects, which is part of its Analytics module. This means the Analytics feature isn’t fully installed or has become corrupted, causing repeated database errors every time a page loads. While it may not directly affect normal SEO output, it can interfere with how Rank Math generates data—potentially including sitemaps or headers—so it should be repaired or the Analytics module disabled until fixed.

Please help me investigate these issues further.

Thanks for checking this over for me.

I’ve been troubleshooting this for a while, and although the sitemaps validate fine and return 200 OK when viewed in the browser, they continue to show “Couldn’t fetch” in Google Search Console.

After running KeyCDN performance tests, I found that:

The sitemap URLs return 200 OK from the UK and Europe.

They return 401 Unauthorized from the US and Asia.

That makes me think the issue is at a server or firewall level, where requests from non-European regions (like Googlebot’s US IP ranges) are being blocked.

Could you please confirm whether Rank Math’s sitemap generator handles regional requests any differently, or if you’d also consider this a server-side access restriction rather than a plugin or configuration problem?

I just want to be sure I’m not overlooking anything before asking the host to whitelist Googlebot IP ranges globally.

Thanks again for your help — this one’s been a bit of a puzzle!

Hi team,

I’m following up regarding the sitemap fetch issue that’s been ongoing since the summer.

After extensive testing over the last few months — including multiple rounds of troubleshooting with my developer and hosting provider — we’ve now completely ruled out server-level restrictions, firewalls, or caching as the cause. All sitemap URLs return 200 OK globally and validate without issue.

The only consistent variable left is the X-Robots-Tag: noindex header that Rank Math adds to sitemap files by default.

I understand this is intentional behaviour, but in our case it appears to be preventing Google from reading the sitemap index and child sitemaps. The “Couldn’t fetch / General HTTP error” message in Google Search Console occurs immediately after Google encounters this header.

To recap what has already been done:

– Server firewall (StackProtect) disabled — confirmed global 200 OK responses.
– Cache and CDN layers flushed and bypassed.
– Rank Math cache disabled via rank_math/sitemap/enable_caching filter.
– Sitemaps tested via direct URL, validator, and header inspection — all valid, consistent XML.
– Tested under both Domain property and HTTPS URL prefix properties in Search Console — both produce identical fetch errors.

At this point, it appears that the X-Robots-Tag: noindex directive is being misinterpreted by Googlebot and causing the sitemap to fail processing.

Could you please escalate this for a technical review by your development team and confirm whether there is a supported way to disable or override the X-Robots-Tag header for sitemap files?

Given the length of time this issue has persisted and the amount of time both myself and the developer have invested in diagnosing it, we’d really appreciate a more definitive resolution or a plugin-level adjustment to allow users to manage this header.

Thank you again for your time — this is now the only unresolved link in the chain.

Best regards,
Lucy Hoad