Google Search Console can’t read my sitemap

Hi, yes the “noindex”is there to prevent the sitemap itself from appearing in search results but the “follow” assures that all links in the sitemap are followed.

Did you add the sitemap to search console just recently (today) or a while ago? Search console can be slow to update so you could just wait a day… Or has it been reporting this for a longer time? If so, has it been all the time or only sometimes?

I see no issues with your sitemap, nor the news sitemap. All response headers are fine, at least when I check the sitemaps. But the response headers for a search engine crawler can be different depending on specific server setup or other plugins. What you could do is some of the following tests:

1. add another sitemap index in search console, using the alternative URL /?feed=sitemap and add one of the inner sitemaps like /sitemap-posttype-page.xml and see if those get the same notifications.
2. go to the URL Inspection tool in search console and enter your sitemap index URL there. Then follow with the Live Test button (on the right). You will get a notice “Page cannot be indexed:?Excluded by ‘noindex’ tag” but that is expected, look at the results for “Crawl allowed?” (it should be: Yes) and “Page fetch” (should be: Successful)
3. add the Google News sitemap /sitemap-news.xml and see if it also gets a “can’t be read” notice. If your site is not in Google News, you will get a warning about that, but you can ignore it, unless you want to be in Google News (then follow the instructions on your Settings > Google News admin page).

Let me know ??

By the way, I did notice a response header X-Qc-Cache: hit. It should not be a problem for this issue but if you find that new posts are indexed slowly or inconsistently, then consider excluding your sitemap URL from being cached…

Hello Rolf,

• I started adding my sitemap URL 21 Septembre 2023, after that 3 more times
• 1. Tested a sub URL = same problem
• 2. There is no “YES” there is N.V.T. instaid (dutch for N/A – Not Apply) – how to fix this?
• 3. News sitemap = same problem

Regards, Lode

Ha Lode, zegt ‘t bij “Pagina ophalen” wel “Geslaagd” of ook NVT? Als ik een externe check doe, dan krijg ik https://search.google.com/test/rich-results/result?id=IdZUogdCAsRITXE9qROZHw met:

Crawl toegestaan? Ja
Pagina ophalen Geslaagd

en ook de HTTP-REACTIE lijkt in orde.

… de vraag is misschien: waarom is het voor jou anders?

Dag Rolf, vreemd toch bij mij staat alles als N.V.T. Hier de link : https://search.google.com/search-console/inspect?resource_id=sc-domain%3Avelofever.cc&id=3ZBniM1ZDd4aF5LQE3JZ2Q

Ik ben niet zeker of deze gaat werken als je niet bent ingelogd?

Waarom indexeert Google dan mijn sitemap niet… Hoe kan dit nu en hoe los ik dit op. Bij mijn andere sites werken de sitemap URL’s wel. Dus volgens mij kan het niets zijn in Google Search Console zelf… De structuur is gelijkaardig. Ik heb ook getest met en zonder WWW. ok dit helpt niet.

Grtn L

Ik heb ook getest met en zonder WWW. ok dit helpt niet.

Helaas, dit zou mijn volgende suggestie geweest zijn. Geen idee wat het dan nog kan zijn. Ik ben bang dat ik hier geen verder antwoord meer op heb, behalve dan misschien… [ik ga terug in het Engels voor overige lezers van dit forum]

Try this: disable (!) the option “XML Sitemap Index” on Settings > Reading and submit the WordPress core sitemap /wp-sitemap.xml in Search Console. Does that URL also get a “Sitemap can’t be read” notification?

Ok Rolf, Thx for support – also this action didn’t resolved the problem. I think we tried everything. I also looked up the issue on the Google Help Forum, same advice…

It is also mentioned that Google’s robot doesn’t necessarily always visit the sitemap… There will be no other option than to manually submit all pages for indexation…

It is the weirdest thing. I never saw this happening before… Sorry I could not be of any help :/

One last thing you could try is completely remove the property from your Search Console account following instructions from https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9357768 and then add it completely fresh. But maybe that is only a lot of work to see the same message again…