x-robots-tag: noindex causing issues in Google indexing

Hello,

I apologize for the issue you are facing with the x-robots-tag: noindex header affecting your sitemap indexing. To clarify, Rank Math does not automatically add the x-robots-tag: noindex header to your sitemap unless it has been explicitly configured to do so.

Here are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot this issue:

1. Check Server Configuration: Ensure that there are no server-level configurations (like in your .htaccess file or server settings) that might be adding this header.
2. Plugin Conflicts: Sometimes, other plugins may interfere with headers. You can check for conflicts using the Health Check plugin.
3. Custom Code: If you have added any custom code to your theme or site that modifies headers, review that as well.

If you continue to experience issues, please reply to this ticket with any additional details or changes you’ve made, and a human agent from the Rank Math Support team will assist you further.

Thank you for bringing this concern to our attention!

Sources:
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math

Hello,

Please note that the sitemaps are by default set to Noindex as they are meant to be crawled and not to be displayed on search results pages.

You should only submit your sitemap to the sitemap section of your GSC account:
https://rankmath.com/kb/submit-sitemap-to-google/

In case, you still want to index your sitemap, you can use the following filter on your website:

add_filter( 'rank_math/sitemap/http_headers', function( $headers ) {
	if ( '/sitemap_index.xml' !== $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] ) {
		return $headers;
	}
	unset( $headers['X-Robots-Tag'] );
	return $headers;
} );

Here’s how you can add filter/hook to your WordPress site: https://rankmath.com/kb/wordpress-hooks-actions-filters/

After applying the filter, please clear your sitemap cache by following this screencast: https://i.rankmath.com/pipRDp

Hope that helps and please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any other questions.
 
Thank you.

Hello,

This means Google didn’t use the sitemap to find your content URLs.

It mostly happens when you have good internal linking or use the Instant Indexing plugin.

In this case, you either have to wait for the search engines to completely crawl the sitemaps or let it be since sitemaps are just a backup crawling mechanism for search engines. Usually, the URLs are discovered via other means such as internal links or backlinks.

Here’s a link for more information:
https://rankmath.com/kb/zero-discovered-urls-through-sitemap/

Looking forward to helping you.