Same issue here.
Incidentally, one of my websites that uses the plugin went all the way to the 5th page in search results in a matter of weeks; I haven’t checked on it for almost a month after I updated everything.
I don’t think it’s because of the issue with the sitemap, but I thought it’s worth mentioning, in case someone finds a correlation.
Like @glgeorgiou above, I don’t use any other sitemap generator, I don’t have a standalone .xml sitemap in the root directory, I don’t have another SEO-oriented plugin (activated or not) and I have checked in cPanel for such a file, nothing’s there. Also, I made use of the YOAST “Fix it” button, to no avail.
In my case, the file in question is “public_html/sitemap.backup.xml“
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks!
A short update: I followed suggestions from this thread, where some users who experienced the same issue said that after they uninstalled and re-installed the YOAST plugin they got rid of the problem (don’t forget to export your settings if you’re attempting that). In my case it didn’t work.
What’s interesting is that I have indeed disabled the Yoast SEO XML sitemaps, as suggested, but the message is still there.
I’ve got the same error.
Although in my case, the fix it button deleted the sitemap…
What’s funny is that no other sitemap tool generates a sitemap.
I’m going to assume it’s a plugin bug for now.
I deleted the browser cache files, created a new admin account, also created a file sitemap.backup.xml, uploaded it in the root dir and then used the “Fix it” button. That deleted the file indeed and there’s no other such file there, yet the message is still there:
The following file(s) is/are blocking your XML sitemaps from working properly:
/home/xxxxxx/public_html/sitemap.backup.xml
Either delete them (this can be done with the “Fix it” button) or disable Yoast SEO XML sitemaps.
(emphasis added)
