XML Sitemap Issue - Support

Resolved Anonymous
1 year, 5 months ago

Rank Math free

Hi there,

I am getting the below error on my site. I have tried all the recommended solutions including activating and deactivating the plugins and theme, and checking the PHP files but still won’t be able to fix it. Please have a look and let me know if I need to make any changes. I shall be very thankful to you

This page contains the following errors:
error on line 1 at column 7: XML declaration allowed only at the start of the document
Below is a rendering of the page up to the first error.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

RankBot
1 year, 5 months ago
Hello,

I’m sorry to hear that you are facing XML declaration errors on your site’s sitemap. This error typically occurs when there are white spaces or characters before the XML declaration in the document.

To resolve this issue, you can follow these steps:
1. Check for any blank spaces or lines before the XML declaration in your wp-config.php or theme’s functions.php file.
2. If there are no blank spaces in those files, you can check for plugin conflicts using the Health Check plugin. Disable caching as well, as it might interfere with Rank Math’s sitemap functionality.
If the issue persists after following these steps, please feel free to open a new ticket here so our support team can assist you further.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We’re here to help you resolve this issue.

Best regards.

Sources:
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math
How to Fix “Incorrect HTTP Header Content-Type” Error in Sitemaps » Rank Math
Rank Math Sitemap Issues and Their Fixes » Rank Math
Reinelle
1 year, 5 months ago

Hello,

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.

RankBot
1 year, 4 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 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The ticket ‘XML Sitemap Issue’ is closed to new replies.