‘Your file appears to be an HTML page’ error in google search console!

#211191
  • Resolved Nitin Sethi

    3 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hi,

    I have been facing “Your file appears to be an HTML page” error in Google Webmaster Tools / search console.

    I have read the kb fixes too, but that is not the case.

    I have submitted the correct XML sitemap in the search console, in the suggested format.
    Done the Health check and it seems to be error free.
    Using Litespeed cache and have added the ‘googlebot’ user agent to robots.txt too.

    Many or most of the times, when I check the sitemap the ‘Detected’ date is not today’s / current even though there is a constant flow of content being published.

    The sitemap URL is also same as in wordpress.

    I have noticed that if I change the number of links in the sitemap, then it gets updated or shows the current date & time!! But I’m sure this cannot be the resolution.

    It is impacting the traffic badly.

    I would request if someone from Rankmath can please provide solution.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Anas

    3 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math business

    Hello,

    Thank you for contacting Rank Math, and sorry for any inconvenience caused.

    I logged in and checked the sitemap, it is working fine.

    The sitemap is correctly excluded from the cache, I have also validated the sitemap with https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/validate-xml-sitemap.html, it got validated without any errors:
    sitemap

    As you have a large number of posts on your website, the detected date might not show the current date as it takes time for Google to crawl the sitemap and the crawl budget might be getting exhausted.

    Please remove all the sitemaps from the search console and add sitemap_index.xml again and wait for Google to crawl the sitemap.

    I hope this helps. Looking forward to helping you.

    Nitin Sethi

    3 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math pro

    Hello Anas,

    Thanks for the quick turnaround.

    However, the point still remains, as I have already done these and get satisfied seeing the valid remark.

    I would like to draw your kind attention to the various circumstances in which I have been facing the issue. Like the sitemap showing ‘0’ links, when the above mentioned error occurs.

    Also what could be the reason for thr sitemap not getting updated.

    BTW, I have just amened the ‘crawl’ setting in litespeed 2 days back.

    I hope you’d understand my issue and revert with possible solutions.

    Thank You

    Anas

    3 years, 9 months ago

    Rank Math business

    Hello,

    The sitemap shows 0 links because when Google shows Your file appears to be an HTML page error, it means that Googlebot is not able to read the HTML sitemap and so it is not able to find any links in the sitemap.

    The sitemap is already excluded from caching and should be updated automatically.

    Please re-submit the sitemap and wait for some time and let Google crawl the sitemap.

    I hope this helps. Looking forward to helping you.

    RankBot

    3 years, 8 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 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The ticket ‘‘Your file appears to be an HTML page’ error in google search console!’ is closed to new replies.