Hello,
We apologize for the issue you are facing with your sitemap in Google Search Console. The "Couldn’t fetch" error can occur for several reasons. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot and resolve the issue:
1. Validate Your Sitemap
Make sure your sitemap is correctly configured. You can use the Validate XML Sitemap tool to check it. If your sitemap is valid, you should see a success message.
2. Ensure the Sitemap is Located in the Root Folder
Your sitemap should be located in the root folder of your WordPress installation. The URL should look like this:
https://yourdomainname.com/sitemap_index.xml
3. Check Index Settings for Posts
Ensure that your posts are set to index. Go to Rank Math SEO → Titles & Meta and enable the Index checkbox in the Robots Meta settings.
4. Flush the Cache
If your sitemap appears outdated, you may need to flush the cache. Increase the value of Links Per Sitemap by one in Rank Math SEO → Sitemap Settings, then save changes.
5. Add the Correct Sitemap URL to Google Search Console
Make sure you are submitting the correct sitemap URL in Google Search Console. If you haven’t already, try adding it as:
https://yourdomain.com/?sitemap=1
6. Check for Caching Issues
Ensure that your sitemap is not being cached by any caching plugins or server settings. You can refer to this article on ensuring that your sitemaps are excluded from caching.
If you’ve tried these steps and are still experiencing issues, please reply to this ticket with your site URL so we can assist you further. Thank you for raising this concern!
Sources:
Troubleshooting the “Couldn’t Fetch” Error in Google Search Console » Rank Math
This is an automated reply from Rank Math Support Bot. Your ticket has been assigned to a human agent and we will get back to you shortly.
Hello,
Thank you for contacting us and sorry for any inconvenience that might have been caused due to that.
We checked your sitemap and we can see it is working properly without any issues.
In this case, please try to follow the steps below and see if that works for you:
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/
Once done, clear your website cache, remove all the submitted sitemap, and resubmit only the /sitemap_index.xml in the Search Console.
Let us know how it goes. Looking forward to helping you.
Hi, I really can’t solve the problem despite having followed all your instructions. Can you help me?
Hello,
We checked all your sitemaps and we can’t seem to find any issues.
Can you please share an updated screenshot of the sitemap report in your Google Search Console account?
Please also click on a specific sitemap with an error and share the screenshot of the detailed error message here.
Looking forward to helping you.
Buongiorno,
Riuscite a risolvere il problema? Perché sta crollando il traffico in modo esponenziale. Ma non è possibile perdere tutto il lavoro di anni per una cosa del genere. Url che fino a qualche giorno fa erano nella prima pagina di google ora non esistono più e neanche con l’indirizzo completo. Attendo un cortese riscontro e soluzione prima possibile. Avete accesso al sito e non capisco cosa vi serva ancora. Se volete l’accesso a google nessun problema. Grazie
Good morning,
Are you able to solve the problem? Because the traffic is collapsing exponentially. But it is not possible to lose all the work of years for something like this. Urls that until a few days ago were on the first page of google now no longer exist and not even with the full address. I await your kind feedback and solution as soon as possible. You have access to the site and I do not understand what you still need. If you want google access no problem. Thank you
