Sitemap not working correctly (HTML output instead of XML)

#1038329
Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • 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

    David Bachetti
    Rank Math free

    It’s still not working, I tried everything.

    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.

    David Bachetti
    Rank Math free

    Hello,

    Thank you for the asnwer. First of all only /page-sitemap.xml isn’t working: Gogole says: Invalid sitemap address
    Please enter a valid path to a sitemap in your site.

    And if I add the whole: https://www.ibag.biz/page-sitemap.xml
    First Google Says:
    Sitemap submitted successfully

    But then right after Google says:
    Sitemap could not be read!!!
    Status: Sitemap could not be read

    Thanks for your help!
    David

    Hello,

    We tested your page-sitemap and it appears to be valid all through:
    https://i.rankmath.com/i/Bh3WLj
    https://i.rankmath.com/i/S0KJvL

    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, is there any feedback? RankMath isn’t working! For all of the client’s it is a issue. Please help us ASAP.

    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.

    Hello,

    Since we did not hear back from you for 15 days, we are assuming that you found the solution. We are closing this support ticket.

    If you still need assistance or any other help, please feel free to open a new support ticket, and we will be more than happy to assist.

    Thank you.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

The ticket ‘Sitemap not working correctly (HTML output instead of XML)’ is closed to new replies.