---
title: "Couldn’t fetch sitemaps in Google Search Console"
url: "https://www.seopress.org/support/guides/couldnt-fetch-sitemaps-in-google-search-console/"
lang: en-US
updated: 2023-08-01
---

# Couldn’t fetch sitemaps in Google Search Console

When you [submit your index XML sitemap to Google Search Console](https://www.seopress.org/newsroom/featured-stories/wp-sitemap-search-console/) to make it easier for Google crawlers to crawl your site, you may encounter the following error: **Couldn’t fetch sitemaps**.

Here is the procedure to solve this problem.

## #1 – make sure your have enabled XML sitemaps

Check this guide to [activate and configure your XML sitemaps](https://www.seopress.org/support/guides/enable-xml-sitemaps/) with SEOPress.

Then open it with your browser.

Make sure it doesn’t return a [404 error](https://www.seopress.org/support/guides/xml-sitemap-returns-404-error/) or a [blank page](https://www.seopress.org/support/guides/xml-sitemap-blank-page/).

You can also use this [online tool](https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/validate-xml-sitemap.html) to validate your XML sitemap source code.

## #2 – submit the index sitemaps only

You don’t have to submit every listed sub-sitemaps. Just submit the index XML sitemap URL to Google Search Console.

Google will automatically find the sub-sitemaps.

If for some reasons you get the “**Couldn’t fetch sitemaps**” error, try to submit the index XML sitemap **without the URL rewriting**:

`https://example.com/index.php?seopress_sitemap=1`

After submitting this new URL to Search Console, refresh your page with **F5** or **CMD+R**. Sometimes it helps updating the informations listed.

## #3 – this still doesn’t work!

It can take several weeks before Google crawl / read / update the details about your XML sitemaps, be patient!

You can also open a support ticket from your customer area if necessary so we can investigate too.