Unable to edit sitemap - Support

Resolved Dean Parker
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math free

I am seeing the error message: the robots.txt file is not writable.

The robots.txt link here is working: https://www.siamflooring.com/robots.txt

But I’m not able to edit that. And what is in that link is different to the robots.txt info in the Google search console.

On another note in Google console under the coverage part all pages are showing this message: Indexed, not submitted in sitemap.

Thanks for any help here.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 24 total)

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Jaideep Asrani
2 years, 4 months ago

Hello,

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

I can check that your robots.txt is working fine and is Rank Math generated default file. However, if you are seeing a message that the file is not editable then please follow this guide: https://rankmath.com/kb/cant-edit-robots-txt/

If you are able to edit the file but not able to remove the last disallow rule for wpo-plugins-tables-list.json then this isn’t related to your robots.txt not being editable. This rule is being added by the WP Optimizer plugin and they force this rule in the robots.txt file. You will not be able to remove that.

For sitemap issue: It seems like your sitemap is getting cached.

Can you please follow these steps?
1. Flush the Sitemap cache by following this video screencast:
https://i.rankmath.com/pipRDp

2. Exclude the Sitemap files of the Rank Math plugin in your caching plugin. The cache could be via a plugin or from the server. For plugins or Cloudflare, please follow this article:
https://rankmath.com/kb/exclude-sitemaps-from-caching/

3. Remove all previously submitted sitemaps from your GSC account and resubmit your main sitemap_index.xml again.

That should fix the issue. Please let me know if that does not. We are here to assist.

Dean Parker
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math free

I am still unable to edit the robots.txt file.

I have also done the changed for the sitemap but it’s still the same with all pages saying: “Indexed, not submitted in sitemap”

Abdullah Al Noman Prince
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math business

Hello,

It seems there is a static robots.txt file in your website’s root directory. Please delete or rename the existing robots.txt file to allow Rank math to generate this dynamically for your site.

If there are some permission issues on the Web Server then you need to contact the web host.

Would you please confirm that if Cloudflare is enabled on your site?

If yes then please check if the page rule is added correctly in Cloudflare and purge the cache from Cloudflare.

Here is a guide for your reference:
https://rankmath.com/kb/exclude-sitemaps-from-caching/#cloudflare

That should fix the issue.

Then clear your website and browser cache and follow this step.

Hope this helps. Looking forward to helping you.

Thank you.

Dean Parker
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math free

Do you mean delete this robots.txt file? https://www.siamflooring.com/robots.txt

…because I can’t find it to delete it.

Abdullah Al Noman Prince
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math business

Hello,

Please check your website’s root directory or contact the web host to check if there is any static robots.txt file that exists on your website’s root folder and ask them to delete it if that exists.

Looking forward to helping you.

Thank you.

Prabhat
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math agency

Hello,

Firstly, regarding Indexed, Not Submitted in Sitemap, it is not an issue, it only means that Google has already indexed the posts/pages but not through the sitemap.

It is possible that Google is crawling and indexing the post through the internal links on your website and not through the sitemap, and as a result, the crawl budget for your website is exhausted and Google is not able to discover the URLs through your sitemap.

As long as the posts/pages are getting crawled and indexed, there’s nothing to be worried about.

Regarding robots.txt, adding to my colleague’s response, if no static file is present, then the issue might be related to permissions on the server or some other plugin/theme might be generating the robots.txt.

Please get in touch with your web host and ensure that enough read/write permissions are given for the file:
https://rankmath.com/kb/cant-edit-robots-txt/#num-3-permission-issue-on-the-web-server

If the issue persists, we might need to take a closer look at the settings. Please edit the first post on this ticket and include your WordPress & FTP logins in the designated Sensitive Data section.

Please do take a complete backup of your website before sharing the information with us.

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.

Dean Parker
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math free

Hello,

I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?

Thank you.

Reinelle
2 years, 4 months ago

Hello,

It seems that you have missed adding the host/server for your FTP. Could you please add it to the login details?

Meanwhile, I’ve checked your site, and it seems that Rank Math is also unable to edit your .htaccess file.

In this case, please check your wp-config.php file for this line and set it to false:

define (‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, true);

If it’s not there, please add this line in that file:

define (‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, false);

I hope that helps.

Thank you.

Dean Parker
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math free

Hello,

I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?

Thank you.

Dean Parker
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math free

I’m not too sure what you mean by host/server for your FTP, but I’ve added what I think you mean.

I also edited the wp-config file as you suggested but the site showed a 500 error so removed it again.

Thanks.
Jeremy
2 years, 4 months ago
Hello,

I tried accessing your FTP but I can’t seem to connect to your server.

Please add the FTP logins in the sensitive data section in the following format:
```
Host:
Username:
Password:
Port:
```
If you are not sure, you may ask the correct FTP credentials from your hosting provider.

Looking forward to helping you.
Dean Parker
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math free

Hello,

I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?

Thank you.

Abdullah Al Noman Prince
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math business

Hello,

I tried to log in to your server but it seems it is not your website’s root directory. Please provide the FTP details of your website’s root directory following the instruction shared by my colleague here.

Looking forward to helping you.

Thank you.

Dean Parker
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math free

I asked my host about this & got this reply…

I’m afraid I’m not familiar with how your site is set up here, so I wouldn’t really be able to say for sure. If it’s that you want to give this developer access to just the siamflooring.com site, I believe you have an FTP account set up for that under the username s***********@u***********************

Sorry I am not a web developer, and hard to get the info you need. Please tell me what I need to do to help you here?

Abdullah Al Noman Prince
2 years, 4 months ago

Rank Math business

Hello,

While accessing your server through FTP we are unable to access your root directory’s files.

Please have a look at the screenshot shared in the sensitive data section.

In this case, could you please provide us with cPanel access?

Looking forward to helping you.

Thank you.

RankBot
2 years, 3 months ago

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 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 24 total)

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The ticket ‘Unable to edit sitemap’ is closed to new replies.