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Fix 'Sitemap could not be read' / 'Couldn't fetch'

Search Console's Sitemaps report shows Couldn't fetch or Sitemap could not be read when Google can't download or parse your file.

Checklist

• Does the URL return HTTP 200 without login, cookies or a bot challenge? WAF and CDN bot protection is the most common cause.
• Is it XML and not an HTML page? Some CMS routes return a 200 "not found" page.
• Is the root element <urlset> or <sitemapindex>, with the sitemaps.org namespace?
• Are ampersands escaped as &?
• Under 50,000 URLs and 50 MB uncompressed?
• Is the sitemap on the same host as the verified property, or verified for cross-site submission?
• Is it blocked by your own robots.txt?

Note: right after you submit, "Couldn't fetch" sometimes just means "not processed yet". Wait a day before debugging. The checker tests every item above in one go.

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