Hello,
Thanks for contacting us and sorry for any inconvenience that might have been caused due to that.
Please follow this guide to troubleshoot the issue with the Couldn’t Fetch error: https://rankmath.com/kb/couldnt-fetch-error-google-search-console/
Let us know how that goes. Looking forward to helping you.
Hell Jaideep,
I have done the following steps:
-Valditated that the siemap itself is OK (at Validate XML Sitemap).
-Made the “flush the cache” step (3rd step) of your guide;
-Excluded the site from caching on cloudflare and wp-optimize plugin (hopefully correctly).
Still, upon resubmission to GSC- the status is “couldn’t fetch”. I am not sure how to check if the sitemap is still being cached.
Maybe I should note that previously the sitemap was accessible to GSC. It was read for the last time about two weeks ago. When I noticed it, I saw that the sitemap address was indeed unreachable for some reason, but the problem dissapeared after re-saving the permalinks settings. Yet, the problem on GSC persists- probably the console reaches a cached copy?
Thanks again,
Clodie
Hello,
I checked the sitemaps and they’re loading properly. I also validated the sitemaps with the Sitemap Validator Tool and no issues are found. Initially, the sitemaps don’t seem to be getting cached.
As you’ve resubmitted the sitemaps, please wait until Google crawls the website again and see if the issue gets fixed.
The fixes are validated when Google crawls the website, since the sitemaps are just being re-submitted, it’ll take some time for Google to re-crawl the website and validate the fix.
Hope that helps.
Thank you.
Hello,
I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?
Thank you.
Hello there and thank you for your reply,
Two days have passed and the sitemap status at GSC is still the same.
If it helps, I noticed in the 404 errors log (part of the Redirection plugin) that certain attempts to reach the sitemap have led to 404 errors, as in the image I have added to the sensitive area. Strangely, when I click the link it does lead to the sitemap and I do not receive any 404 errors.
Any idea what might be the problem?
Thnaks again,
Clodie
Hello again,
Just updating that in the meantime I am trying to use a sitemap created with another plugin to see if the problem is resovled.
Clodie
Hello,
Since you have switched different plugin for the sitemap. Do let us know how it goes.
Looking forward to helping you. Thank you.
Hi and thanks for your reply,
The problem still persists with the new sitemap (I’m adding the new url to the sensitive area).
Any idea what can be done next?
Clodie
Hello,
I’ve checked your sitemap, and it seems that you haven’t verified the www (or non-www) and HTTP (or HTTP) version of your website. Please refer to the screenshot attached in the sensitive data section
Please ensure that only 1 version of the sitemap is working (200 Ok status), and the rest are redirecting to it. You can also use this tool to check.
Please follow the steps in this link:
https://rankmath.com/kb/couldnt-fetch-error-google-search-console/#5-check-for-the-correct-version-of-the-sitemap
You may also get in touch with your web host for assistance with this kind of redirect.
I hope that helps.
Thank you, and please don’t hesitate to contact us anytime if you need further assistance with anything else.
Hi and many thanks,
I asked my host service to redirect the url variations all to https://examplesite.com/sitemap.xml – and verified that the redirects work.Then I deleted the former submission of the map from GSC and resubmitted it. Unfortunately, I still receive the “couldn’t fetch” error.
Any other possible source of the problem?
Many thanks for your patience and help,
Clodie
Hello,
I tried to check your sitemap URL as a GoogleBot User agent and found out the your sitemap has error. I even checked with this online tool.
Here is the screenshot for your reference:
https://i.rankmath.com/Ujqz2G
Please follow this troubleshooting guide to fix the issue:
https://rankmath.com/kb/fix-sitemap-issues/#xml-text-declaration
Looking forward to helping you. Thank you.
Thanks for your reply,
I have revereted back to RankMath sitemap. It is validated, it is not being cached, and all URL variations redirect to https://examplesite.com/sitemap_index.xml .
Still at GSC, after resubmission, I receive the “couldn’t fetch” error.
Is there anything else that can explain that?
Thanks for your help and patience,
Clodie
Hello,
I have checked the Sitemap and you have still not verified the www (or non-www) and HTTP (or HTTP) versions of your website.
Please refer to this response and fix that.
Once this is done, please resubmit the Sitemap and check.
If you need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thank you
Hello,
I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?
Thank you.
Hello,
I am sorry if it wasn’t clear- as I reverted back to RankMath sitemap, its address is again https://examplesite.com/sitemap_index.xml .
As can be seen in the image I have now added in the sensitive area under the title “httpstatus”, all variations redirect to one variation.
After resubmission, the problem still persists.
Thanks for your help, I hope a solution for this issue could be found.
Clodie
