Google News Setup

#627805
  • Resolved Anonymous

    2 years ago

    Rank Math free

    Dear RankMath Support Team,

    I have some trouble setting up my website for Google News. My sitemap url shows the “error on line 3 at column 6: XML declaration allowed only at the start of the document” error. And I also can`t connect RankMath to Google Analytics with the Setup Wizard. In the Connect Google Services setup I get a red dot for Search Console and Analytics. In the Search Console field I don’t have the normal url of my website, but sc-domain:mpegh.com. Reconnecting doesn’t change that.
    Before I used the RankMath Setup Wizard I have connected the website on Google Search Console by adding a domnain property.

    Best regards,
    Fabian Zürcher

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

    2 years ago

    Hello,

    Thank you for contacting Rank Math and bringing your concern to our attention. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this issue may have caused you.

    Please note that you may need to choose the property https://domain.com/ and not the sc:domain.com upon connecting your site.

    The URL-prefix property also helps keep your sitemap in sync with Google Search Console as we submit it automatically for you. In addition, the domain property won’t work correctly on some sections of the Analytics module such as the IndexStatus.

    In this case, please follow our guide here to create the URL Prefix property
    https://rankmath.com/kb/google-site-verification/#num-1-1-open-google-search-console

    Prefix

    Then reconnect your site on your WordPress dashboard > Rank Math > General Settings > Analytics.

    Regarding your news sitemap, please share the sitemap URL so we can check it as well.

    Looking forward to helping you.

    Thank you.

    Anonymous

    2 years ago

    Rank Math free

    Hi Reinelle,

    thank you very much for your help. I managed to solve the property problem. It works right now.
    Here are my sitemap urls.
    Pages: https://mpegh.com/sitemap_index.xml
    Posts: https://mpegh.com/post-sitemap.xml

    Reinelle

    2 years ago

    Hello,

    Glad that helped.

    Upon checking your sitemaps, the error message you are seeing indicates that there is some extra content before the XML declaration of your sitemap file.

    This could be caused by a plugin, theme, or server configuration issue that is adding whitespace, comments, or other output before the sitemap is generated.

    Most likely a plugin has added blank whitespace at the beginning or end of its code.

    You can check this link for more information:
    https://rankmath.com/kb/fix-sitemap-issues/#xml-text-declaration

    Let us know how this goes.

    Thank you.

    Anonymous

    2 years ago

    Rank Math free

    Hi,

    it seems that the Rank Math SEO plugin is causing the sitemap error. I deactivated all plugins one by one to see which plugin is causing the error. By deactivating the Rank Math SEO the sitemap url did load.

    Best regards,
    Fabian

    Rakibuzzaman Siam

    2 years ago

    Hello,

    Can you please confirm if you’re using any extra plugin for your sitemap? If so, then we suggest you to disable the sitemap module of the Rank Math plugin from WordPress Dashboard > Rank Math > Dashboard > Modules.

    However, if you’re using only the Rank Math plugin for your sitemap then we might need to take a closer look at the settings. Please edit the first post on this ticket and include your WordPress & FTP logins in the designated Sensitive Data section.

    Please do take a complete backup of your website before sharing the information with us.
    Sensitive Data Section

    It is completely secure and only our support staff has access to that section. If you want, you can use the below plugin to generate a temporary login URL to your website and share that with us instead:

    https://wordpress.org/plugins/temporary-login-without-password/

    You can use the above plugin in conjunction with the WP Security Audit Log to monitor what changes our staff might make on your website (if any):

    https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-security-audit-log/

    Looking forward to helping you.

    Thank you.

    RankBot

    1 year, 12 months ago

    Hello,

    Since we did not hear back from you for 15 days, we are assuming that you found the solution. We are closing this support ticket.

    If you still need assistance or any other help, please feel free to open a new support ticket, and we will be more than happy to assist.

    Thank you.

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

The ticket ‘Google News Setup’ is closed to new replies.