Title: Sitemaps Issues Last modified: September 8, 2022 --- # Sitemaps Issues * [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * (@deeveearr) * [3 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/) * I’m having problems with the sitemap produced by SEOPress. * There were no problems at all with the sitemap produced by Yoast: * [See Yoast Sitemap](https://imgur.com/BZ1zRds) * …and it was produced within a few minutes of uploading with no errors. * SEOPress’s sitemap is slightly different though: * [See SEOPress Sitemap](https://imgur.com/SoLjPkt) * Many many many errors that I cannot trust will disappear, as the error messages themselves are throwing up things to fix. * Again I’m going back to Yoast until this rather important issue is addressed. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 23 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/page/2/?output_format=md) * Plugin Author [Benjamin Denis](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * (@rainbowgeek) * [3 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-15995315) * Hi, * make sure to flush your permalinks after activating / include / exclude content from sitemaps settings. * Go to WP > Settings > Permalinks to flush them. * This should solve the Couldn’t fetch issue. * About the other errors, we can see in the source code of this one: * view-source:[https://midlandsmaidens.com/page-sitemap1.xml](https://midlandsmaidens.com/page-sitemap1.xml) * Some code are added by another plugin. * 2 solutions: * – disable shortcode execution: [https://www.seopress.org/support/hooks/enable-disable-execution-of-shortcodes-in-xml-image-sitemaps/](https://www.seopress.org/support/hooks/enable-disable-execution-of-shortcodes-in-xml-image-sitemaps/) – disable image sitemaps (SEO, XML Sitemaps, General tab, uncheck Enable Image sitemaps) * This guide can also help you: * [https://www.seopress.org/support/guides/xml-sitemap-blank-page/](https://www.seopress.org/support/guides/xml-sitemap-blank-page/) * Thread Starter [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * (@deeveearr) * [3 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-15995359) * I’ve just been tinkering with the SEOPress sitemap, and clicking onto the PAGE sitemap (from the sitemap index) gave me this result: * [Critical Error](https://imgur.com/9DcDYCX) * So whats the crack here? * I’m trying to get away from Yoast and all I’m getting are excuses about shortcodes( that Yoast handles with no problems)? * Dunno, maybe Yoast is better than SEOPress after all… * Oh and by the way, all of the above ‘solutions’ were tried by myself this morning. * Thread Starter [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * (@deeveearr) * [3 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-15995684) * Just something from your last reply: * > `About the other errors, we can see in the source code of this one: > view-source:[https://midlandsmaidens.com/page-sitemap1.xml](https://midlandsmaidens.com/page-sitemap1.xml) > Some code are added by another plugin.` * The URL actually sends you to page-sitemap.xml rather than page-sitemap1.xml, but I’ve not got a problem with that. * The sitemap you’ve chosen to view is a Yoast sitemap, listing all 46 of my website pages, all containing a date stamp of when it was last modified, (the date stamp was the next issue I was going to bring up with SEOPress). * Could you clarify which code or codes are added by another plugin and why it would affect the sitemap? * Plugin Author [Benjamin Denis](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * (@rainbowgeek) * [3 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16004840) * Hi, * > The sitemap you’ve chosen to view is a Yoast sitemap, listing all 46 of my > website pages, all containing a date stamp of when it was last modified, (the > date stamp was the next issue I was going to bring up with SEOPress). * No this was our xml sitemap when we have checked the source code^^ * But now, this is the Yoast one. * So we simply can’t debug it if we can’t see our sitemap enabled on your site. * Thread Starter [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * (@deeveearr) * [3 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16005405) * Hi [@rainbowgeek](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * As you can imagine, as soon as I saw the critical errors generated by the SEOPress sitemap, I went straight back to Yoast. * Plugin Author [Benjamin Denis](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * (@rainbowgeek) * [3 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16011993) * Hi [@deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * I understand. * If you can create a staging site to replicate the error, I would suggest to follow these 2 solutions mentioned in my previous post: * – disable shortcode execution: [https://www.seopress.org/support/hooks/enable-disable-execution-of-shortcodes-in-xml-image-sitemaps/](https://www.seopress.org/support/hooks/enable-disable-execution-of-shortcodes-in-xml-image-sitemaps/) – disable image sitemaps (SEO, XML Sitemaps, General tab, uncheck Enable Image sitemaps) * Thx * Thread Starter [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * (@deeveearr) * [3 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16012723) * Hi [@rainbowgeek](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * So I created a staging site, unchecked the Search Engine Visibility in the WordPress Reading page, and applied BOTH of the solutions mentioned above. * No critical errors this time, but exactly the same error messages inside Google Search Console, vis-a-vis: * [THESE ERRORS](https://imgur.com/BJPTu7J) * As you can see, ALL of the pages couldn’t be fetched, neither could the posts, staff or portfolio items, every one of which now had errors. * I reckon this system needs some work doing on it! * Search Engine Visibilty re-enabled so as not to mess up my main website. * This by the way, is a screenshot of what’s happening in my PAGE sitemap: * [PAGE SITEMAP](https://imgur.com/toqooqX) * …showing that the ‘last mod’ is not working throughout the website. * Plugin Author [Benjamin Denis](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * (@rainbowgeek) * [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16023338) * Hi [@deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * unfortunately, the errors reported by Google are incomplete. * We have to see the source code of the sitemaps to understand the issue. * You can send us by mail the domaine name of your staging site if you prefer ( contact[at]seopress[dot]org). * Thank you for your help! * Thread Starter [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * (@deeveearr) * [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16023541) * Hi [@rainbowgeek](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * I just sent you an email, including the domain name of the staging site. * Plugin Author [Benjamin Denis](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * (@rainbowgeek) * [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16033787) * Hi, * We have checked your xml sitemaps on your staging site. * All sub-sitemaps are returning content, so no 404 error. * However, the lastmod tag in always empty. * Do you use a plugin to massively import your content? * Do you know if you use this filter: * ‘seopress_sitemaps_index_lastmod’ * Please let us know, * Thx * Thread Starter [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * (@deeveearr) * [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16033854) * hi [@rainbowgeek](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * Good point – I’m using a plugin and a code snippet to remove the Yoast timestamp. * I’ll delete and deactivate those, and let you know. * Thread Starter [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * (@deeveearr) * [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16033896) * Right, I’ve deactivated and stopped the code running. * What’s the ‘index_lastmod’ thing about? * As it is, there are still 436 errors in total on the SEOPress site map. * Plugin Author [Benjamin Denis](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * (@rainbowgeek) * [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16038031) * We use the last modification date from each post provided by WordPress to fill the lastmod tag for our xml sitemaps. * [https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/build-sitemap?hl=en#xml](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/build-sitemap?hl=en#xml) * This tag is required by Google. The issue on your site is that it’s empty. * Probably because you have a code that filter this value in your theme or from a must-use plugin. * Thread Starter [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * (@deeveearr) * [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16038062) * Hi [@rainbowgeek](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rainbowgeek/) * I would’ve replied earlier but I’m superstitious and don’t like the thirteenth reply. * I looked up your docs and found a code snippet for ‘last mod’ and added it this morning. * I placed it onto my main website and it’s been running for around 8 hours as we speak. * We’ll see how it goes, and you can mark the thread as resolved. * Thanks for the assistance! * Thread Starter [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * (@deeveearr) * [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/#post-16038226) * Before you mark as resolved – it isn’t. * I’ve been watching these SEOPress sitemaps for the past 8 hours, going from successfully submitted, then the sub-sitemaps one by one getting errors even with the ‘last- mod’ snippet enabled. * Sorry, but I’m going to have to move back to Yoast, as I cannot trust how SEOPress handles the sitemaps. Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 23 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘Sitemaps Issues’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/wp-seopress/assets/icon-128x128.gif?rev=3158903) * [SEOPress - AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-seopress/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-seopress/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-seopress/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-seopress/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-seopress/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wp-seopress/reviews/) * 23 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [deeveearr](https://wordpress.org/support/users/deeveearr/) * Last activity: [3 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/sitemaps-issues-2/page/2/#post-16067697) * Status: not resolved