Hello,
I’m sorry to hear that you are facing issues with your sitemap at https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000746.htm?utm_campaign=RankMath and you are receiving the error message: “This page contains the following errors: error on line 1 at column 7: XML declaration allowed only at the start of the document.”
Based on the error message you provided, it seems like there might be an issue with the XML declaration in your sitemap file. To resolve this issue, you can follow these steps:
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Check for BOM (Byte Order Mark): Ensure that there is no Byte Order Mark at the beginning of your sitemap file. You can use a text editor like Notepad++ to check and remove any BOM characters.
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Validate Your Sitemap: You can use the Validate XML Sitemap tool to confirm if your sitemap is correctly configured. Make sure to enter your sitemap URL into the tool and click VALIDATE SITEMAP.
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Exclude Sitemap from Caching: If your sitemap is being cached, it might cause issues. You can follow our tutorial on how to exclude your sitemap from being cached to ensure it stays up to date.
If after following these steps the issue persists, please let us know by assigning this ticket to a human agent using the available buttons so we can further assist you.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention, and we appreciate your patience while we work on resolving this issue for you.
Sources:
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math
Troubleshooting the “Couldn’t Fetch” Error in Google Search Console » Rank Math
How to Fix “Incorrect HTTP Header Content-Type” Error in Sitemaps » Rank Math
