Upon checking here, it appears you do indeed have a blank sitemap — https://kb.yoast.com/kb/my-sitemap-is-blank-what-s-wrong/
On checking the source code, it also appears as blank. You may have a static file, theme or plugin conflict. Please check for theme or plugin conflicts and, if no conflicts are found, FTP into your site to locate and remove any static sitemap files.
You can refer to this KB article on how to check for plugin conflicts — https://kb.yoast.com/kb/how-to-check-for-plugin-conflicts/
Hi @mikes41720
Thank you for your reply, but as I already mentioned I have tried the conflict checks and still get the same issue.
Where would I find static sitemap files within FTP?
The Yoast sitemap is generated on the fly so you won’t find any physical sitemap file on your server. But if it’s a sitemap generated by a different plugin, most of the time it’s saved in your WordPress root folder.
It’s a Yoast sitemap. Any idea what I do now? Report a bug to Yoast?
Any help appreciated right now. I have followed all the guides on the knowledge bank and am still getting the same issue.
I do not have any conflicts according to the guide and no static files in my root folder.
I am not using another plugin that uses a xml site map or that caches.
Can you please confirm you are using the most recent Yoast v8.1? You can learn more about updating here: https://kb.yoast.com/kb/how-can-i-update-my-free-plugin/
If you update to the most current version of Yoast SEO, does this resolve the blank sitemap issue?
I am using the most up to date yoast and I have also asked Godaddy to flush the cache and this still has not helped
If you find any JavaScript errors related to Yoast SEO or if there is a conflict with a plugin or a theme, you can create a new GitHub issue for our developers. Please report the issue to a third party developer as well.
If you didn’t find any conflicts or errors, we think the issue is specific to your site. We’d need to investigate further but are unable to do so on these forums. You can purchase Yoast SEO Premium and receive our Premium email support and we can help you further.
I have found no conflicts and have asked the theme designer to take a look, but they say there is little they can do as it’s an issue with the plugin.
I have followed all guidance on the KB and checked all other parties to see if an issue. I can’t see why I should have to purchase a premium service to fix an issue that seems pretty clear it’s to do with the plugin. I shall just look at a work around
One thing I have just seen when looking at it again in health check mode, it says
Some files are not writable by WordPress:
xmlrpc.php
Would this have anything to do with it?
Hi @bertvangoo,
Thank you for getting back to us.
The xmlrpc.php file is unrelated, it’s possible that a security plugin changed the permissions on that file. Are you sure there is no existing file in the root folder of your website called sitemap_index.xml? If so, please try enabling and disabling the XML Sitemap feature by going to SEO → General → Features in your WordPress dashboard.
Does this fix your issue?
Tried disabling then enabling several times after trying other methods and changes.
The files I have –
wp-includes
wp-admin
wp-content
index.php
wp-blog-header.php
xmlrpc.php
wp-links-opml.php
wp-mail.php
wp-cron.php
wp-load.php
wp-settings.php
robots.txt
wp-trackback.php
licenses.txt
gd-config.txt
readme.html
wp-activate.php
wp-comments-post.php
wp-signup.php
wp-config.php
wp-login.php
.htaccess
Hi {%customer.firstName%},
Thank you for getting back to us.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t say for sure why Yoast SEO isn’t able to generate the sitemap at /sitemap_index.xml
We do know that the sitemap is being generated correctly (check this URL), but something is preventing the plugin from generating it at the correct address.
Please also try setting these redirect rules and let us know if the issue persists.
In addition, also try going to Settings → Permalinks and click save changes without actually changing anything.
Thank you. I have tried the redirect and didn’t work. I have also tried another SEO plugin, which also didn’t work, so I will call the GoDaddy support line one more time as to me this indicates that that it is not the plugin if two of them produce the same issue?
If the Sitemap from another SEO plugin doesn’t work as well, it could be caused by something else as well. Please feel free to get further information and support from your web host and server admin.
