Hi @arichardson13 ,
Thanks for reaching out and for sharing the details.
I checked your sitemap and it’s currently returning a 403 Forbidden error. That means the sitemap file is being blocked from loading altogether — which is why external sitemap checkers and Google Search Console are unable to fetch it.
Because of this, the Content-Type header (text/html instead of application/xml) is just a symptom — your server is returning an HTML error page for the request instead of the XML sitemap.
Possible Causes
- A firewall, CDN, or security plugin (like Cloudflare, Sucuri, Wordfence, etc.) is blocking requests to the sitemap URL.
- Server-level permissions or rules (e.g., .htaccess restrictions or hosting provider security rules) are preventing access.
- In some multisite setups, server configs can block sitemap requests if not whitelisted properly.
Next Steps
- Check your security/firewall settings — if you’re using Cloudflare, Sucuri, or a similar service, make sure sitemap URLs are not being blocked.
- Review server logs — your hosting provider should be able to confirm exactly why those requests are being denied with a 403.
- Whitelist the sitemap endpoint — ensure that requests to /sitemap.xml are allowed.
- Test without caching/security plugins — temporarily disable them to see if the sitemap loads correctly.
Once the 403 issue is resolved, the sitemap will return proper XML with the correct application/xml header and Google Search Console should be able to fetch it normally.
If you’re not sure where the block is happening, I recommend reaching out to your hosting provider with this info. They’ll be able to check server logs and firewall rules on their end.
I’m not seeing a 403. I have all countries except US and Canada locked out from the web server. Can you please VPN to a US or Canada IP and test again. I don’t think 403 is the issue. My web host provided me with the following engine xblock
deny redacted IP;
deny redacted IP;
deny redacted IP;
deny redacted IP;
allow all;
#if ($geoip_country_code ~* (RU)) {
#return 403;
#}
#4612622
if ($geoip_country_code !~* (US|CA)) {
return 403;
}
Hi @arichardson13 ,
Thanks for clarifying that and for sharing the server rule snippet. I just tested again using a VPN from the US, and your sitemap loads fine — it’s valid and returning the correct XML as expected. I’m not seeing any issues on your end now.
As for Google Search Console, it’s actually pretty common for GSC to sometimes throw errors or fail to fetch a sitemap even when everything is working correctly. The best step is to resubmit the sitemap in the “Sitemaps” section once or twice. In most cases, Google will successfully fetch it after another attempt.
So from here, you’re all set — your sitemap is correct, and this is just a matter of Google picking it up properly.
