sitemap.xml not redirecting to sitemap_index.xml

Hello,

Thanks for contacting us, and sorry for any inconvenience that might have been caused due to that.

If /sitemap.xml is not redirecting to the default /sitemap_index.xml, you may need to apply this fix on your site:

For Nginx: https://rankmath.com/kb/sitemap-404-error/#num-3-2-1-add-rewrite-rules-to-nginx-server
For Apache: https://rankmath.com/kb/sitemap-404-error/#num-3-2-2-add-rewrite-rules-to-apache-web-server

You may also ask your hosting provider to do that for you.

Let us know how it goes. Looking forward to helping you.

Thank you.

Hello,

Rank Math generates Sitemap on the fly when you enable that module, and we rely on redirects enabled by your server software to accomplish that. If the redirection with the sitemap doesn’t work, you may have to add some rewrite rules to them in order to function sitemaps properly. The rules I’ve shared above, should work in your case as well.

However, it’s not necessary to have a 301 redirection from /sitemap.xml to /sitemap_index.xml, since the actual sitemap is being generated at /sitemap_index.xml. Which perfectly fulfills the required job of sitemap. That won’t have any negative impact on your SEO, and you can simply submit /sitemap_index.xml to GSC. That should work fine without any issues.

Looking forward to helping you.

Thank you.

Hello,

# If you’re using an Nginx server, you need to add the following rewrite rules to fix this:

# START Nginx Rewrites for Rank Math Sitemaps
rewrite ^/sitemap_index.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=1 last;
rewrite ^/([^/]+?)-sitemap([0-9]+)?.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=$1&sitemap_n=$2 last;
rewrite ^/([a-z]+)?-sitemap\.xsl$ /index.php?xsl=$1 last;
# END Nginx Rewrites for Rank Math Sitemaps

Here’s an article you can check: https://ubiq.co/tech-blog/rewrite-url-parameters-nginx/

# If you’re using an Apache web-server, you need to add the following rewrite rules to fix this:

# START of Rank Math Sitemap Rewrite Rules
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^sitemap_index.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=1 [L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]+?)-sitemap([0-9]+)?.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=$1&sitemap_n=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^([a-z]+)?-?sitemap.xsl$ /index.php?xsl=$1 [L]
# END of Rank Math Sitemap Rewrite Rules

Here’s how you can edit .htaccess file using Rank Math:
https://rankmath.com/kb/edit-htaccess/

Please do take a backup before editing your .htaccess file.

If that seems to be complicated for you, please get in touch with your hosting provider to see if they can do that for you.

Let us know how it goes. Looking forward to helping you.

Thank you.