Sitemap not being read in Google Search Console

  • Resolved mcdzine

    (@mcdzine)


    2 years, 10 months ago

    Hi everyone,

    I have seen there are a few others with similair issues and I wanted to add mine here as well.

    The Issue:
    Google Search console refuses to recognise or crawl my Yoast SEO sitemap. I have used yoast before on other clients websites, however with mine it was original on AIOSEO, and I made the move to Yoast due to easier less invasive UI etc. That point aside I decided to update my search console with Yoasts corrected sitemap. Lo and behold google no longer can read the sitemap.

    The error in question from google:
    Sitemap can be read, but has errors

    Parsing error

    1 instance

    We were unable to read your Sitemap. It may contain an entry we are unable to recognize. Please validate your Sitemap before resubmitting.

    Examples
    Line 1`

    What I have done so far to try to correct the issue:
    All attempted fixes within the following URLS that was provided by your help center, including:

    • changing the HTACCESS with added redirects (and then removing them when they didn’t do anything)
    • checking the non-pretty link
    • clearing all cache (I believe only from WP FASTEST CACHE and Cloudflare), both after changing to default theme and turning off plugins, and back again once everything was turned back on
    • setting to default wordpress 2022 theme
    • and turning off all plugins (except yoast)
    • and all server settings seem standard otherwise.

    Attempted URLS in Google Search Console:
    https://mcdzine.com/?sitemap=1
    https://mcdzine.com/sitemap_index.xml
    (double checked validity too and all came up clear)

    So if there is any support you can help me with I would greatly appreciate it.

    • This topic was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by mcdzine.

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
  • Plugin Support Maybellyne

    (@maybellyne)

    Hello Mcdzine,

    Thanks for reaching out regarding your Yoast-generated XML sitemap. I am sorry about the error from the Google Search Console and certainly understand how frustrating it is that the sitemap can be read, but has errors. And you have not been able to resolve this after trying the typical troubleshooting steps I’d have recommended.

    First, though may not be related, your site is running Yoast SEO v18.2; can you please update to v18.6?

    I checked the sitemap in a sitemap validator and there are no errors. And no directive in the robots.txt file is an issue.

    You mentioned using WP Fastest Cache. It could be that the sitemap is being cached. Or there is a setting in your security plugin (if you have one) that is blocking Google from fetching the sitemap. Can you have a look at that?

    Furthermore, can you please try resubmitting the sitemap? Be sure to submit only sitemap_index.xml and nothing else. This guide explains more: https://kb.yoast.com/kb/submit-sitemap-search-engines/.

    Then monitor the results to see if the issue is resolved. It can take some time before Google can report on the crawled URLs after you re-submit your sitemap, especially for large sites like yours. Google Search Console reports are not real-time.

    Thread Starter mcdzine

    (@mcdzine)

    Hi Maybellyne,

    Thank you so much for replying, I have done what you asked and made sure the file is not being cached as well. I added an exception to that specific URL in WP FASTEST CACHE, (cloudflare should be fine irregardless of that but to be sure I cleared that too).

    In addition, yes I updated Yoast just now to the latest version, and also made sure that any security settings in ALL IN ONE WORDPRESS SECURITY don’t block google bots.

    However upon submission of the sitemap, it seems the error still occurs from google.

    Aside from waiting to see if google does validate it or not. Is there any further fixes that can be done?

    Via email even I could create a specific user for your developers if need be so they can go in manually and have a look into my websites back-end if need be.

    Thank you once again, in advance.

    Plugin Support Michael Ti?a

    (@mikes41720)

    Hi @mcdzine

    We’re viewing the page source of https://mcdzine.com/sitemap_index.xml as well as all of the 3 sub-sitemaps and it all seems to be in order.

    Did you make sure to remove ALL submitted sitemaps and make sure to only submit /sitemap_index.xml to Google Search Console? Is it still reporting the same ‘Sitemap can be read, but has errors – Parsing error’ upon submission? Could you provide us with a screenshot (using snipboard.io or imgur.com) of what specific part of the code GSC is reporting as being unable to read?

    We cannot correspond through email to take a closer look at your site, but only through these public forums. If you want premium personal support, you may want to consider Yoast SEO Premium.

    Thread Starter mcdzine

    (@mcdzine)

    Hi Guys,

    It seems after a few days (after my last post), either google tried recrawling it, and recognised it since. Took longer than estimated though. Must be their bots crawl and verification rate.

    But thank you for checking.

    And to answer yes I can verify I removed EVERY reference of previous sitemaps. And only had this one. Either way the problem seems to have resolved from googles own ineptitude/slowness.

    Thank you for the assistance guys!

    You’re welcome! I’ll be marking the ticket as resolved.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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