Google’s John Mueller answered a query about why a Search Console was offering a sitemap fetch error despite the fact that server logs present that GoogleBot efficiently fetched it.
The query was requested on Reddit. The one that began the dialogue listed a complete checklist of technical checks that they did to verify that the sitemap returns a 200 response code, makes use of a legitimate XML construction, indexing is allowed and so forth.
The sitemap is technically legitimate in each manner however Google Search Console retains displaying an error message about it.
The Redditor defined:
“I’m encountering very difficult problem with sitemap submission instantly resulted `Couldn’t fetch` standing and `Sitemap couldn’t be learn` error within the element view. However i’ve tried every little thing I can to make sure the sitemap is accessible and likewise in server logs, can verify that GoogleBot visitors efficiently retrieved sitemap with 200 success code and it’s a validated sitemap with URL – loc and lastmod tags.
…The configuration was initially setup and sitemap submitted in Dec 2025 and for a lot of months, there’s no updates to sitemap crawl standing – a number of submissions all through the time all outcome the identical rapid failure. Small # of pages had been submitted manually and all had been efficiently crawled, however not one of the relaxation URLs listed in sitemap.xml had been crawled.”
Google’s John Mueller answered the query, implying that the error message is triggered by a problem associated to the content material.
Mueller responded:
“One a part of sitemaps is that Google must be eager on indexing extra content material from the location. If Google’s not satisfied that there’s new & necessary content material to index, it gained’t use the sitemap.”
Whereas Mueller didn’t use the phrase “web site high quality,” web site high quality is implied as a result of he says that Google must be “eager on indexing extra content material from the location” that’s “new and necessary.”
That suggests two issues, that perhaps the location doesn’t produce a lot new content material and that the content material may not be necessary. The half about content material being necessary is a really broad description that may imply lots of issues and never all of these causes essentially imply that the content material is low high quality.
Typically the ranked websites are lacking an necessary type of content material or a construction that makes it simpler for customers to know a subject or decide. It may very well be a picture, it may very well be a step-by-step, it may very well be a video, it may very well be lots of issues however not essentially all of them. When unsure, assume like a web site customer and attempt to think about what could be essentially the most useful for them. Or it might be that the content material is trivial as a result of it’s skinny or not distinctive. Mueller was broad however I feel circling again to what makes a web site customer joyful is the best way to determine methods to enhance content material.
Featured Picture by Shutterstock/Asier Romero
