Sitemap could not be read General HTTP

Hello,

I’m sorry to hear that you are facing issues with your sitemap in Google Search Console. The error message "Sitemap could not be read – General HTTP error" indicates that Google encountered an issue while trying to access your sitemap.

To address this problem, you can follow these steps:

1. Rename the Sitemap File: According to Google’s John Mueller, changing the name of the sitemap file can sometimes resolve issues. You can try renaming your sitemap file by following the steps mentioned in this knowledgebase article.

2. Fix Sitemap Issues: Ensure that your sitemap is correctly configured by validating it using the Validate XML Sitemap tool. Make sure your sitemap is located in the root folder and that your posts are set to index. You can find detailed instructions on how to fix sitemap issues in this article.

If after following these steps the issue persists, please reply to this ticket, and a human agent from the Rank Math Support team will assist you further.

Thank you for reaching out with your concern.

Sources:
Troubleshooting the “Couldn’t Fetch” Error in Google Search Console » Rank Math
Why the Sitemap_Index.xml is Throwing a 404 Error » Rank Math
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math

Hello,

In this case, please follow these steps to flush your sitemap cache:

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. Disable the transient cache for the sitemap by applying this filter. This will make sure that your XML sitemap always reflects the latest changes on 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/

Once done, remove all your submitted sitemaps and resubmit your main sitemap only.

After that, give Google some time to update the “Last Read” date column after crawling your URLs.

Looking forward to helping you.

Hello,

You won’t need the Rank Math PRO subscription for those steps to complete.

Please follow all the steps and remove all your sitemaps from your GSC. Once done, resubmit your main sitemap index only:
https://rankmath.com/kb/submit-sitemap-to-google/

Looking forward to helping you.