Oh and btw the error is: Your Sitemap appears to be an HTML page. Please use a supported sitemap format instead.
Hello,
Thanks for getting in touch with us.
It sounds like you are serving a cached version of your sitemap to Google and your visitors.
You must add all the sitemap file locations to the exclusion list in your Cache plugin so that the sitemaps are never cached. These are the files you must add to the exclusion list:
sitemap_index.xml
post-sitemap.xml
page-sitemap.xml
category-sitemap.xml
product-sitemap.xml
This is required since Sitemaps are already cached internally by Rank Math and we flush them everytime you post something new and with our cache – you won’t see the issue you are seeing in Google.
Hope that helps and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need our assistance with anything else.
Hi todd,
Thanks for your promt reply; moreover, I got the following questions:
1 Should I add those exceptions in the w3 total cache minify tab aswell? or just in the page cache?
2 I am still getting the error on GSC; however, I believe I do not have any post/category/post-tag in my website. might this be the reason for the error?
Thanks
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Rank Math and sorry for any inconvenience that might have been caused due to that.
– You should only add these exceptions on the page cache settings.
– Yes this is likely reason why the error is coming about. To clear these sitemaps please perform these steps:
1. Head over to WordPress Dashboard > Settings > Permalinks
Hit the save button once.
2. Go to WordPress Dashboard > Rank Math > Sitemap Settings
Hit the save button once.
That should fix the issue.
If it doesn’t, please do let us know so we can look at this further.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your reply; moreover, I followed your instructions and now I am getting the following information on my GSC sitemap tab.
/post_tag-sitemap.xml Unknown 4 May 2020 5 May 2020 Couldn’t fetch 0
/category-sitemap.xml Unknown 4 May 2020 5 May 2020 Couldn’t fetch 0
/post-sitemap.xml Unknown 4 May 2020 5 May 2020 Couldn’t fetch 0
Sitemap could not be read
General HTTP error
1 instance
We encountered an error while trying to access your Sitemap. Please ensure that your Sitemap follows our guidelines and can be accessed at the location you provided, and then resubmit.
Examples
HTTP Error:
404
Sitemap is HTML
1 instance
Your Sitemap appears to be an HTML page. Please use a supported sitemap format instead.
Hello,
Just to be sure, do you have just sitemap_index.xml sitemap in Google Search Console, true? You don’t have to add in Google Search Console any other, so if you have them, you can delete them.
Looking forward to help you.
Hi Alberto,
Thanks for your follow up; moreover, I removed those and just left the http://www.easymoveservices.com.au/sitemap_index.xml which is giving an error that states the sitemap couldn’t be fetch due to a 404 error.
Nevertheless, the sitemap_index url is working fine but one of it’s subdivision which is http://www.easymoveservices.com.au/page-sitemap.xml works 2 out of 5 times; moreover, in the 3 times it does not work it causes a 404 or a message appears stating”this caused a critical error”
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Rank Math today.
​​​We might need to take a closer look at the settings. Please edit the first post on this ticket and include your FTP and WP logins in the designated Sensitive Data section.
It is completely secure and only our support staff has access to that section. If you want, you can use the below plugin to generate a temporary login URL to your website and share that with us instead:
https://wordpress.org/plugins/temporary-login-without-password/
You can use the above plugin in conjunction with the WP Security Audit Log to monitor what changes our staff might make on your website (if any):
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-security-audit-log/
We really look forward to helping you.
Hello,
I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?
Thank you.
Additionally, I believe its important to mention that I am using “AMP for WP” plugin with its Elementor extension.
Thanks
Hi,
I do not see any error. The sitemaps are working fine for me.
Also, in your ticket, you mentioned this:
/post-sitemap.xml Unknown 4 May 2020 5 May 2020 Couldn’t fetch 0
So, that is an error from 4 days ago. You must allow Google to re-crawl and see the updated sitemap.
We only report the 404s. We do not have information on how or why they are generated. You can get further insight into them by enabling the advanced monitor at WordPress Dashboard > Rank Math > General Settings > 404 Monitor.
https://i.rankmath.com/RLnjMD
That will give you more information like referrer and user-agent. You can use that information to track down the source or find out if it is just bots generating those errors.
You can also fix these errors by redirecting them to a related page on your website:
https://rankmath.com/kb/fix-404-errors/
Or, you can add them to the exclusion list at WordPress Dashboard > Rank Math > General Settings > 404 Monitor > Exclude Paths
https://i.rankmath.com/O2vmci
Hope that helps and please do not hesitate to let us know if you need our assistance with anything else.
Hi Todd,
The error is still occurring; please refer to the screenshot.
https://prnt.sc/sdnjd7 – The error is only happening with <Moved to Sensitive Data section>
-
This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by
Alberto. Reason: Edit moving private data to the sensitive data section
Hello,
I checked the site and after that I deleted the sitemaps cache and flushed the permalinks. After that the page-sitemap.xml is loading fine (and every other sitemap).
Could you check it?
Looking forward to help you.
And now its working good… Even on my smartphone!
Thank you so much guys!!
Hello,
We are super happy that this resolved your issue. 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.
