Sitemap not working correctly (HTML output instead of XML)

Hello,

We apologize for the issue you are facing with your sitemap returning HTML instead of valid XML. This can often happen due to a few common reasons. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot and resolve the issue:

1. Check for Plugin Conflicts: Sometimes, other plugins can interfere with the sitemap generation. You can use the Health Check plugin to identify any conflicts.

2. Verify Your Sitemap URL: Ensure that you are submitting the correct sitemap URL to Google Search Console. The correct URL should be `https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/validate-xml-sitemap.html.

3. Check Server Configuration: If your server is misconfigured, it might serve an HTML page instead of the XML sitemap. Make sure your server is set up correctly to handle the sitemap requests.

4. Review .htaccess or Nginx Configurations: If you are using Apache, check your .htaccess file for any rules that might be affecting the sitemap. For Nginx, ensure that the rewrite rules are correctly set up in your configuration file.

5. Disable Caching Plugins: If you are using caching plugins, try clearing the cache or temporarily disabling them to see if that resolves the issue.

6. Check for Custom Canonicals: If you have set custom canonical URLs for your posts, they may not appear in the sitemap. Consider removing them to see if it helps.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, we recommend replying to this ticket with any additional details or errors you encounter, and a human agent from our support team will assist you further.

Thank you for bringing this concern to our attention!

Sources:
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math
Troubleshooting the “Couldn’t Fetch” Error in Google Search Console » Rank Math

Hello,

Both of your sitemaps are validated. You can also use this tool to check that:
https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/validate-xml-sitemap.html

You should remove all your submitted sitemaps and resubmit your main sitemap only /sitemap_index.xml.

Once done, give Google some time to recrawl your sitemap and wait for the “Last read” date column to be updated as well.

Looking forward to helping you.

Hello,

We tested your page-sitemap and it appears to be valid all through:

Please check that the date shown in the “last read” column is updated(current). If it is not, you will have to give Google a while to crawl your sitemap and update its status.

You can share screenshots of the error if the column is updated, but the issue persists.

You can use this tool to upload and share the generated link here: https://imgur.com/upload

Look forward to helping you.

Thank you.

Hello,

Apologies for the delay, as this ticket seems to have been stuck in our drafts section for some reason.

We have validated your /page-sitemap.xml using the tool, but it is still working fine.

Please note that Google does not process all sitemaps, not necessarily because something is wrong with them. Even a perfect sitemap may not be processed by Google.

Most of the time, it’s still sitting in the queue waiting for processing. Remember, Google is processing millions of sitemaps daily, and sometimes it takes time to get to yours.

But Google never completes some sitemaps because it doesn’t think they are worth the effort.

Moreover, the Search Console sometimes shows ‘Pending’ as ‘couldn’t fetch’ incorrectly.

You can check the replies of Google experts for the Couldn’t Fetch issue (especially for the TLDs except for .com) on the following threads:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/thread/29055233/missing-xml-sitemap-data-in-google-search-console-for-tld-domain?hl=en
https://support.google.com/webmasters/thread/31835653/sitemap-couldn-t-fetch-sitemap-couldn-t-be-read-by-google-search-console?hl=en

Looking forward to helping you.