Sitemap gives 404

Thanks! I’ve just uninstalled the Adaptive Images for WordPress plugin and emptied the caches. The Adaptive Images for WordPress .htaccess code was removed automatically, so now I only have these codes:

# BEGIN W3TC Browser Cache
# BEGIN W3TC Page Cache core
# BEGIN WordPress

The sitemap is still showing blank when I save the permalinks or 404 when I save the ‘Check this box to enable XML sitemap functionality’ option ??

Ok then what you need to eliminate next is that W3TC is causing the problem. Do that by deactivating the W3TC plugin and make sure that W3TC htaccess caching code is removed from your root htaccess file. Next check if the problem is a permalink problem. I assume you should be using custom permalinks: ie Post name or Custom Structure (with valid structure tags). Finally you want to make sure that you have setup Yoast correctly by rechecking all of your Yoast settings.

I just reread what you posted at the beginning of this topic and you have invalid Permalink structure tag code: /%postname% is not valid. /%postname%/ is valid. You need both a forward and trailing slash for structure tags.

And that Permalink structure tag problem might also explain why the Adaptive Images for WordPress plugin’s htaccess code was missing the rest of the URI in the RewriteRule. Also not sure exactly how W3TC does everything that it does, but invalid structure tag code could also cause a problem with the .htaccess code that W3TC creates depending on which W3TC caching option settings you are using.

OK, so I uninstalled/reinstalled the W3TC, I uninstalled/reinstalled the Yoast SEO plugin and I installed a fresh copy of the theme. (they kept the original settings though). If I am logined in the error is still there. If I go in Chrome incognito or Safari I either get the correct sitemap or I get this
https://www.travelersuniverse.com/post-sitemap.xml 2015-08-10T23:19:12+00:00 https://www.travelersuniverse.com/page-sitemap.xml 2015-08-10T23:36:34+00:00 https://www.travelersuniverse.com/attachment-sitemap.xml 2015-08-12T08:24:39+00:00 https://www.travelersuniverse.com/category-sitemap.xml 2015-08-10T23:19:12+00:00 https://www.travelersuniverse.com/post_tag-sitemap.xml 2015-08-10T23:19:12+00:00

It doesn’t matter if I use /%postname% or /%postname%/ the result is the same.

OK, so I uninstalled/reinstalled the W3TC, I uninstalled/reinstalled the Yoast SEO plugin and I installed a fresh copy of the theme. (they kept the original settings though). If I am logined in the error is still there. If I go in Chrome incognito or Safari I either get the correct sitemap or I get this
https://www.travelersuniverse.com/post-sitemap.xml 2015-08-10T23:19:12+00:00 https://www.travelersuniverse.com/page-sitemap.xml 2015-08-10T23:36:34+00:00 https://www.travelersuniverse.com/attachment-sitemap.xml 2015-08-12T08:24:39+00:00 https://www.travelersuniverse.com/category-sitemap.xml 2015-08-10T23:19:12+00:00 https://www.travelersuniverse.com/post_tag-sitemap.xml 2015-08-10T23:19:12+00:00

It doesn’t matter if I use /%postname% or /%postname%/ the result is the same.

Actually the sitemap displays correctly in incognito only the first time it is loaded after emptying the caches. After that it displays the code I pasted above. I have a feeling this is a caching problem generated by the W3TC. Not conclusive, though, since uninstalling the W3TC did not improve the situation.

It looks like after numerous tests the problem lies with the W3TC plugin, and in particular with the Page Cache option. If I disable it, the sitemap shows up just fine. Any idea what might be causing this? Thanks a million for your patience.

Oh, and I’m still using /%postname%. Is this a problem? Why is this not valid? I’ve seen it used on other websites…

I’ve been meaning to ask you… Apparently my sitemap links to over 30 files that no longer exist on the server (most of them are images that I took down a couple of months ago). How can I remove them from the sitemap? In webmasters tool it says these files are linked to either from the sitemap or the feed or both… Thanks!

Yep, intermittent problems are typically related to cache, Internet/ISP connectivity, something installed in your Browser (add-on/extension) or computer. Contact the W3TC folks to answer the Page Cache question or do some Google searches to see if you can find the answer. Most likely this is not going to be a one size fits all thing so you will probably not find an answer. ie your host server is going to be different than the other 20,000+ host servers worldwide. So maybe asking your host support about using W3TC Page Cache on their/your server would be the best approach.

In the past using invalid structure tags caused 404 errors, but I think that WordPress may now be auto-correcting/auto-fixing or allowing this. Not really sure about that these days.
https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Using_Permalinks#Structure_Tags

If you are talking about a Yoast sitemap then you would need to ask Yoast about that. If you are talking about another sitemap then post a link to it.

It’s the Yoast sitemap, the one that’s been giving the 404 error – travelersuniverse.com/sitemap_index.xml. I’m going to open a new topic for this. Thank you for all you help and time ??