Update: I have tried deactivating all the plugins and the issue resolves itself once the caching plugin Swift Performance Light is deactivated. In this plugin’s caching settings, there is an area to put all the sitemap URLs to be excluded for Google. I have checked this area and all the URLs are correct but the problem still exists. I would be grateful for any suggestions. At this stage, I am prepared to delete Swift Performance and go with WP Rocket. However, my pagespeed with Swift has been exceptional, but I don’t want to use it if it has a conflict with RankMath.
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Rank Math and sorry for any inconvenience that might have been caused due to that.
It seems that your sitemap is still getting cached even with the exception. I can suggest that you reach out to the guys from Swift Performance Light since they are better equipped to advise on this.
Looking forward to helping you. Thank you.
Hi Michael,
Thank you for your response, test the site, and diagnosing the problem. Having gone to the Swift Performance Lite Plugin WordPress Support Page, I noticed another user who had exactly the same issue a few months back. Unfortunately, there was no response to his issue from the developers. I also noticed there appeared to be a distinct lack of support to many of the plugin’s issues, which gave me concern.
As a result, I have decided to take the path of least resistance and have removed Swift Performance Lite. Instead, I have now signed up for Wp Rocket. Quick testing has shown that the sitmap issue is now ok with Wp Rocket. Although, I have to pay for this caching plugin, I feel this will be a better investment for the future with their better (and much easier access to) support. It’s a shame, because for a free plugin, the additional load speed gain with Swift Lite was amazing.
Thanks again for your help. The issue is now resolved. I look forward to moving forward with RankMath instead of Yoast.
Update: Solution Found!
Firstly, my apologies to the developers of Swift Performance Lite. Having just found some documentation on their website regarding plugin optimization settings, the reason the sitemap is still being cached is quite simple.
In their Caching>Exceptions area, you are required to enter in the URLs of each exception that you don’t want to be cached.
In order for it to work correctly, you just need to enter “sitemap” in the field INSTEAD of the full URL e.g. https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml. Save your settings and clear the cache again and this immediately solves the problem. Now you are able to see the RankMath sitemap correctly in any browser.
So, now I am now able to use Swift Performance Lite with RankMath perfectly and benefit from the super fast load times AND the great SEO! Thanks again for your support.
Hello,
We are super happy that this resolved your issue and also that you shared with us your solution (I am sure it will help a lot of users in the future!). If you have any other questions in the future, know that we are here to help you.
If you don’t mind me asking, could you please leave us a review (if you haven’t already) on https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/seo-by-rank-math/reviews/#new-post about your overall experience with Rank Math? We appreciate your time and patience.
If you do have another question in the future, please feel free to create a new forum topic, and it will be our pleasure to assist you again.
Thank you.
