Troubleshooting Indexing and Sitemap Issues with RankMath SEO

🛑 Critical Prerequisite

Before touching Rank Math, you must verify the global WordPress override. If this is checked, no amount of cache clearing will fix the issue.

1. Go to WordPress Dashboard → Settings → Reading.
2. UNCHECK "Search Engine Visibility" (Discourage search engines from indexing this site).
3. Click Save Changes.

Step 1: Flush Rank Math Internal Cache (Database)

Rank Math stores meta data in "transients" (temporary database options) to speed up your site. You must clear these to force it to re-read the fresh settings.

1. Navigate to Rank Math SEO → Status & Tools.
2. Click on the Database Tools tab.
3. Locate and click these two specific buttons:

• • Remove Rank Math Transients: (This is the "Meta Cache" clear). It forces Rank Math to forget old cached meta data.
  • Flush SEO Analysis Data: Clears the internal SEO score/analysis cache.

Note: You will see a success message for each. The "Remove Transients" step is the most critical for fixing stubborn noindex tags.

Step 2: Force Sitemap Regeneration

Rank Math generates sitemaps dynamically, but they are heavily cached. The "Toggle" method is good, but the "Permalink Flush" is the secret weapon to ensure it works.

1. Toggle Sitemap:

• • Go to Rank Math SEO → Sitemap Settings.
  • Switch Sitemap toggle OFF. Click Save Changes.
  • Switch Sitemap toggle ON. Click Save Changes.

2. Flush Permalinks (Required):

• • Go to WordPress Dashboard → Settings → Permalinks.
  • Scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes (do not change any settings, just click save).
  • Why? This flushes the .htaccess rewrite rules that serve the sitemap.

Step 3: Nuke External Caches (Mandatory)

Rank Math writes the <meta name="robots"> tag into the HTML. If a caching layer is serving an old HTML file (static cache), Google will still see the old noindex tag even if Rank Math has been fixed.

Perform all that apply:

• Plugin Cache: Clear WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, Autoptimize, etc.
• Server Cache:
• • LiteSpeed: Click the LiteSpeed diamond icon in top bar → "Purge All".
  • SiteGround/Kinsta/WPEngine: Use their specific "Purge Cache" button in the admin bar.
• Cloudflare/CDN:
• • Log into Cloudflare.
  • Go to Caching → Configuration → Purge Everything. (Don't just do "Custom Purge", do "Everything" to be safe).

Step 4: Page-Level Force Refresh

For specific pages that are stuck (e.g., your Homepage or a specific Landing Page), you need to trigger a "save event."

1. Open the specific page/post in the WordPress Editor.
2. Click Update (even if you made no changes).
3. Why this works: The "Update" action forces Rank Math to immediately re-calculate the Canonical URL, OpenGraph tags, and Robots Meta for that specific URL and write it to the database immediately.

Step 5: Verification (Don't Trust Your Eyes)

Browsers cache redirects and meta tags aggressively. Do not check by just refreshing the page.

Option A: View Source (Incognito)

1. Open an Incognito/Private window.
2. Go to the URL.
3. Right-click → View Page Source (Ctrl+U).
4. Ctrl+F (Find) for robots.

• • Success: <meta name="robots" content="index, follow" ... />
  • Failure: <meta name="robots" content="noindex..." />

Option B: Google Search Console (Definitive)

1. Go to URL Inspection tool.
2. Paste the URL and hit Enter.
3. Click "TEST LIVE URL" (Top right button).

• • Do not look at the "Google Index" tab (that shows old history).
  • Look at the "Live Test" tab.

4. If the Live Test says "URL is available to Google," you are fixed. Request Indexing immediately.

Updated on: 25/01/2026