Google Search Console - Sitemap could not be read

We are getting OJS set up and right now I’m working on SEO while everything is importing. I’ve tried plugging the OJS-generated sitemap into Google Search Console to ensure everything is picked up, and Google says it’s unreadable.

I reached the sitemap from https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/management/settings/distribution
image

When I access the sitemap from the provided URL (https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/sitemap) it displays XML.

XML Contents
<urlset xmlns="https://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/user/register</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/login</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/about</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/about/submissions</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/about/editorialTeam</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/about/contact</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/search</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/issue/current</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/issue/archive</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/issue/view/1</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/article/view/3</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/article/view/3/2</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/article/view/1</loc>
</url>
<url>
<loc>https://journal.bahaistudies.ca/online/article/view/1/1</loc>
</url>
</urlset>```

On Google’s side, I’ve added the sitemap URL and got errors right away.
image

I’ve tried adding .xml to the end but it results in a 404. It seems like maybe it’s the non-standard issue of having no file extension on the sitemap that is causing the issue. I’m curious: does the sitemap normally have .xml appended to it and does it normally work in Google Search Console?

It occurs to me that if OJS normally produces a URL with .xml then maybe it’s my .htaccess file causing the problem. I’ll paste it below in case that helps.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^.*/index.php/.*$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [QSA,L]

# Bugfix for OJS 3.2.0-3: submissions API doesn't work with shortened URLs
RewriteRule ^api/v1(.*)$ index.php/online/api/v1$1 [L,R=307]

I’m using OJS version 3.2.1.2 on LAMP. If you need additional information, I’m happy to provide it.

After submitting feedback to Google, it has now read correctly. I’ll leave this thread here in case anyone runs into the same issue, but it seems like patience is the answer for now.
image

Hi @benaltair

I encountered the same problem. Can you please share more information about this? Thanks a lot. I am using OJS 3.3.0.6

Screen Shot 2021-10-20 at 13.29.24

I see the path in your screenshot is different - maybe double check in the settings page I mentioned in the original post to see where your sitemap lives?

You should be able to navigate to it at see a bunch of code on the screen (in XML format)

This comment is great work
In cPanel, in this path public_html/journal/ojs-3.1.1-4
I create .htaccess file and copy and paste

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^./index.php/.$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php/$1 [QSA,L]

Bugfix for OJS 3.2.0-3: submissions API doesn’t work with shortened URLs

RewriteRule ^api/v1(.*)$ index.php/online/api/v1$1 [L,R=307]

as follow

All sitemaps for two journal that is registered in google webmaster change to succeed, I am really happy for this subject
We are really thankful from benaltair