sitemap.xml is not generated (404) ?

Hi Patrick, the plugin does not seem to be activated. If you activate the plugin but have no sitemap on /sitemap.xml then you may check to see it the sitemap feed is there on /?feed=sitemap

If it’s not there either, then please let me know ??

Ok, I think I know where is the problem. I use a really restrictive htaccess and it probably block access to your sitemap. Can you tell me what folder/files need to be access?

Why does https://archeofact.ca/feed/ referenced in the source code as feed URL say “no feed available”? Is that a plugin doing that? Or custom code in your child theme?

This sitemap plugin generates feeds (in XML format) so it needs feeds to be active.

Note: it does need any special files or folders to be made accessible except maybe the files /wp-content/plugins/xml-sitemap-feed/views/styles/sitemap-index.xsl and /wp-content/plugins/xml-sitemap-feed/views/styles/sitemap.xsl

But those are only for human comfort (to see the sitemap in a nice format), they are not needed for the search engine robots. So if you leave them inaccessible, it will not matter for the spiders.

Also: it looks like you are using a static sitemap.xml file. As long as that file is present, the sitemap feed will only be accessible via /?feed=sitemap (URL for testing)

So my advise is to take these steps:
1. find out why normal feeds like https://archeofact.ca/?feed=rss or https://archeofact.ca/?feed=atom are not accessible and fix that.
2. check if the special sitemap feed on https://archeofact.ca/?feed=sitemap has become active (if not come back here)
3. delete the static sitemap.xml file in your site root folder
4. check the dynamic https://archeofact.ca/sitemap.xml url

Thanks for helping. We going somewhere…
I’m not a WP pro, I work mostly on Joomla…

I think the url https://archeofact.ca/?feed=rss is not working or return a text —> No feed available, please visit the homepage — because I have no WP Post available on this site. I have only WP Pages.

I made an exception in my htaccess to accept incoming from the —> wp-content/plugins/xml-sitemap-feed/views/ folder and now you can reach this URL —> https://archeofact.ca/?feed=sitemap

It seem to be ok. What do you think?

# XML Sitemap Last Changed
1 https://archeofact.ca/sitemap-home.xml 2019-02-15 01:03
2 https://archeofact.ca/sitemap-posttype-page.xml 2019-02-15 02:00

? Is it normal for the home page (in french & English) to appear in both “home” & “page” sitemap ?

? I guess —> https://archeofact.ca/?feed=sitemap is what I need to set in Google, Bing and others search engines?

I think the url https://archeofact.ca/?feed=rss is not working or return a text —> No feed available, please visit the homepage — because I have no WP Post available on this site. I have only WP Pages.

Normally, WordPress returns an empty feed then.

I made an exception in my htaccess to accept incoming from the —> wp-content/plugins/xml-sitemap-feed/views/ folder and now you can reach this URL —> https://archeofact.ca/?feed=sitemap

That surprises me. Sitemaps should be accessible without having access to the stylesheets. Is it the lightspeed server maybe that chokes on the fact it cannot fetch on referenced file? Never seen this before.

? Is it normal for the home page (in french & English) to appear in both “home” & “page” sitemap ?

That should be fixed in the next release but it’s not a problem as it is now. Search engines will not penalize your site for these double entries in your sitemap.

? I guess —> https://archeofact.ca/?feed=sitemap is what I need to set in Google, Bing and others search engines?

Could you check if there is a static file called sitemap.xml in your site root? If so, then delete it and remove the related rewrite rule from your htaccess. The dynamic sitemap should then become available on https://archeofact.ca/sitemap.xml

If that does not work, you can also submit https://archeofact.ca/sitemap_index.xml which is the same.

Thanks Ravan for your infos. This si precious for me because, as I say, I’m not a pro with WordPress and work with Joomla only.

That surprises me. Sitemaps should be accessible without having access to the stylesheets. Is it the lightspeed server maybe that chokes on the fact it cannot fetch on referenced file? Never seen this before.

— I’am using a firewall and htaccess maker that I use for year on Joomla made by Akeeaba (Admin Tools). The htaccess made by this component can be extremely restrictif. On Joomla, when installing plugins, sometimes, I have to give them permissions to work. Anything coming from —> wp-content/plugins/xml-sitemap-feed/views/ was giving a 403 (forbidden) until I made an access exception to the folder.

You will not find Akeeba Admintools on WP plugins saddly but they make available their fantastic Firewall an a backup system (Akeeba Backup) for WordPress. Akeeba Backup beat any existing WordPress backup system (I try) It’s easy and it work.

Normally, WordPress returns an empty feed then.

Thanks I will investigate.

Could you check if there is a static file called sitemap.xml in your site root? If so, then delete it and remove the related rewrite rule from your htaccess. The dynamic sitemap should then become available on https://archeofact.ca/sitemap.xml

If that does not work, you can also submit https://archeofact.ca/sitemap_index.xml which is the same.

I take out my hand made sitemap.xml but https://archeofact.ca/sitemap.xml is still not available, I think I know for what. I will come back after testing.
https://archeofact.ca/sitemap_index.xml Seem to work perfectly

I guess I have to change this line in my robot.text?
# XML Sitemap & Google News version 5.0.7 – https://status301.net/wordpress-plugins/xml-sitemap-feed/
Sitemap: https://archeofact.ca/sitemap.xml

to

# XML Sitemap & Google News version 5.0.7 – https://status301.net/wordpress-plugins/xml-sitemap-feed/
Sitemap: https://archeofact.ca/sitemap_index.xml

I try to add the exception in my firewall —>
wp-content/plugins/xml-sitemap-feed/views/ to the complete folder.
— https://archeofact.ca/sitemap.xml still not working
— https://archeofact.ca/sitemap_index.xml Work

I take out all exceptions and same result
— https://archeofact.ca/sitemap.xml still not working
— https://archeofact.ca/sitemap_index.xml Work

https://archeofact.ca/?feed=sitemap also work

404 on https://archeofact.ca/sitemap.xml

Anyway, for now I will change the robots.text for —> https://archeofact.ca/sitemap_index.xml

and enter that working url for the search engine.

I will have to investigate further

I did have to put back my exception
wp-content/plugins/xml-sitemap-feed/views/

for https://archeofact.ca/sitemap_index.xml

I will come back here if I get https://archeofact.ca/sitemap.xml working

Thanks.

It’s probably your .htaccess file line RewriteRule ^sitemap\.xml$ – [L]

You absolutely right, in case of generated sitemap an Akeeba Admintools you should NOT put the exception rules for the sitemap files.

If they are real files ,Yes, they need to be as exception.

I want to thank you for your support.

I’m going to review your plugin to 5 stars

Good Weekend.

Thanks for your feedback and good to hear it’s been resolved ??