# Google Search Console can't read the sitemap
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/google-search-console-cant-read-the-sitemap/359762
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** sitemap, seo
**Created:** [March 31, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/google-search-console-cant-read-the-sitemap/359762 "2025-03-31T23:51:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CamilleRoux](https://meta.discourse.org/u/CamilleRoux)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/google-search-console-cant-read-the-sitemap/359762/1 "2025-03-31T23:51:39Z")
Hi!
It looks like Google Search Console can’t read one of the sitemaps. The main sitemap `sitemap.xml` (`https://forum.pragmaticentrepreneurs.com/sitemap.xml`) is read correctly, but only `sitemap_recent.xml` is imported.
If I try to add `sitemap_1.xml` by myself to Google Search Console, I get an error. If I try it in the validator, it looks good.
Do you have any idea why GSE can’t read `sitemap_1.xml`?
Thanks for the help.
EDIT:
Bing is reading both sitemaps correctly, so it looks specific to Google.
Also, everything is fine with I try to inspect `sitemap_1.xml`
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### Author:  [@Arkshine](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Arkshine)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/google-search-console-cant-read-the-sitemap/359762/3 "2025-04-01T00:22:19Z")
It looks like you had the same issue last year: [Troubleshooting sitemap indexing issues in Google Search Console](https://meta.discourse.org/t/troubleshooting-sitemap-indexing-issues-in-google-search-console/332799).
Did it eventually work?
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### Author:  [@CamilleRoux](https://meta.discourse.org/u/CamilleRoux)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/google-search-console-cant-read-the-sitemap/359762/4 "2025-04-01T00:23:29Z")
Just saw I already posted a question about this 🙂 But no I didn’t get a solution.
Let me know if I can give more info to help.
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### Author:  [@Arkshine](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Arkshine)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2025, 1:34am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/google-search-console-cant-read-the-sitemap/359762/5 "2025-04-01T01:34:25Z")
I have no idea, either.
The URL is accessible to me. I tried various tools to validate the XML, no issue. Reading [Sitemaps report - Search Console Help](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7451001?hl=en), you should see a detail page below the error that tells you what’s wrong (doesn’t look like the case for you, though).
At the very least, I would encourage you to read this article. You might find a clue.
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### Author:  [@CamilleRoux](https://meta.discourse.org/u/CamilleRoux)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2025, 10:57am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/google-search-console-cant-read-the-sitemap/359762/6 "2025-04-01T10:57:56Z")
Indeed, I’ve no detail about the error. I tried to inspect the URL as they said, but not error here ☹
Let me know if I can do something else to help.
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### Author:  [@CamilleRoux](https://meta.discourse.org/u/CamilleRoux)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2026, 4:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/google-search-console-cant-read-the-sitemap/359762/7 "2026-01-02T16:56:19Z")
**Update**
I found the correct sitemap endpoint and it’s behaving normally for Googlebot:
- `https://forum.pragmaticentrepreneurs.com/sitemap.xml`
It’s a valid **sitemap index** and it references:
- `https://forum.pragmaticentrepreneurs.com/sitemap_recent.xml`
- `https://forum.pragmaticentrepreneurs.com/sitemap_1.xml`
### What I tested
- **Googlebot access** : `sitemap.xml`, `sitemap_recent.xml`, and `sitemap_1.xml` all return **HTTP/2 200** with a Googlebot user-agent, and the body is real XML (not an HTML challenge page).
- **Headers / content type** :
- `sitemap.xml`: `Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8`
- `sitemap_recent.xml` + `sitemap_1.xml`: `Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8`
- Responses include `x-discourse-route: sitemap/*` and `x-discourse-crawler-view: true` (served by Discourse in crawler mode).
- **IPv4 + IPv6** : both return **200** on `sitemap.xml`.
- **Stability** : I fetched each sitemap **20 times in a row** with a Googlebot UA — no 403/429/5xx.
- Typical response times were ~0.17–0.28s for `sitemap.xml`, ~0.19–0.60s for `sitemap_recent.xml`, and mostly ~0.45–0.99s for `sitemap_1.xml` (one slower response at ~2.9s, still **200** ).
- **robots.txt** : includes `Sitemap: https://forum.pragmaticentrepreneurs.com/sitemap.xml` and doesn’t block `/sitemap*.xml`.
### Search Console status
In Google Search Console, the sitemap index processing shows as **successful** , but only
`https://forum.pragmaticentrepreneurs.com/sitemap_recent.xml` is currently listed/recognized under “Sitemaps read”.
`sitemap_1.xml` is still **not** listed there.
### Where this leaves things
From the server side everything looks fine, so this feels like a Search Console-side lag or partial processing: Google is reading the index and at least one child sitemap, but hasn’t surfaced the second one yet in the UI.
