Hello,
Thank you for contacting Rank Math and bringing your concern to our attention. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this issue may have caused you.
Your homepage should be included in your sitemap if you have set it to index. I’ve checked your sitemap, but your homepage seems to be missing.
For initial troubleshooting, please make sure that your sitemap is not cached. Please follow these steps:
1. Ensure you’re using the latest version of your plugins/theme including Rank Math
2. Flush the Sitemap cache by following this video screencast:
https://i.rankmath.com/xXXhDt
3. Exclude the Sitemap files of the Rank Math plugin in your caching plugin. The cache could be via a plugin or from the server:
https://rankmath.com/kb/exclude-sitemaps-from-caching/
If the issue still persists, here’s a list of the common reasons why a URL is not included in your sitemap:
https://rankmath.com/kb/url-not-in-sitemap/
Once done, remove all your submitted sitemaps in your Google Search Console account and resubmit your main sitemap only /sitemap_index.xml then give Google some time to recrawl your site. This should also fix your number 2 question.
I hope that helps.
Thank you, and please don’t hesitate to contact us anytime if you need further assistance with anything else.
Hey Reinelle,
Thanks for your reply.
I cleared the cache as per your screencast and added the code snippet to htaccess.
As far as I can see, there’s no caching plugin, which leads me to believe that the caching is done on the server side.
For that, if I’m not mistaken, I will need to ask the client for login details for their hosting company and speak with the support there. Is that right?
Meanwhile, I’ve resubmitted the sitemaps to GSC and will see if anything changes.
If I share the login details for the WP site, are you able to confirm that there’s no way to access the cache via the WP backend?
I don’t know if it takes time for the code snippet added to htaccess to propagate somehow, but as of right now, the page sitemap still only has 2 URLs and neither is the homepage:
sitemap_index.xml
https://lighttherapy.org/page-sitemap.xml
Hello,
If I share the login details for the WP site, are you able to confirm that there’s no way to access the cache via the WP backend?
Yes, we can check that. You can provide the login details in the Sensitive data section.
I don’t know if it takes time for the code snippet added to .htaccess to propagate somehow, but as of right now, the page sitemap still only has 2 URLs and neither is the homepage:
Changes to the .htaccess file are immediate. We suggest you please wait for Google to recrawl your website.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any other questions.
I already submitted the login details. See the sensitive info section and please take a look ASAP. Thank you <3
Hello,
I tried to login into your website’s admin area but the login credentials don’t seem to be working.
Please have a look at the screenshot in the sensitive data section of this ticket and verify the login details so that we can further investigate the issue.
Looking forward to helping you.
Thank you.
Hello,
I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?
Thank you.
The username was missing “@gmail.com” at the end.
Just to be clear, I’ve updated the info. Would love it if you guys got a chance to check today. I need to get it figured out ASAP as it seems to be affecting the site’s rankings.
Thanks
I have to try switching to Yoast in case it’s a problem with your plugin.
Gonna wait until you’ve taken a look before I try switching to Yoast.
Hello,
I’m sorry for the unexpected delay.
It seems that you have marked this ticket as already resolved. However, I’ve reopened this so you can add the information in the sensitive data section.
Looking forward to helping you.
Thank you.
Hello,
I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?
Thank you.
I have re-added the sensitive data.
