Two Easy Ways To Fix Yoast’s WordPress SEO Sitemap 404 Error

The Problem:  After setting up Yoast WordPress SEO sitemap, and clicking the link for it you get the dreaded Yoast Sitemap 404 error!

Fix Yoast Sitemap 404 error with these snippets.

While this issue has never been a problem for me in the past, for some users it has been a  real pain. Recently several of my  clients ran into the issue of getting a 404 error for their sitemaps generated by Yoast’s WordPress SEO plugin. After trying a few things, I was able to figure out the solution. In this article, I am going to show you how to fix the Yoast sitemap 404 error in right in the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast. There’s a seperate fix if you’re using W3 Total Cache and have the same problem.

It is important that you understand that this issue is most likely caused by poorly coded theme function or another plugin. But it’s easy enough to fix. Yoast’s plugin works fine on my sites. I use custom coded themes and plugins.

First be certain you have no conflicting plugins (any plugin that might generate an xml sitemap). If you have one, disable and delete it.

Then you should  open your .htaccess file (you can actually do this from WordPress SEO plugin / Edit Files option) and simply add the following code in there:

[pastacode lang=”markup” message=”” highlight=”” provider=”manual” manual=”%23%20WordPress%20SEO%20-%20Sitemap%20Rewrite%20Fix%0A%3CIfModule%20mod_rewrite.c%3E%0ARewriteEngine%20On%0ARewriteBase%20%2F%0ARewriteRule%20%5Esitemap_index.xml%24%20%2Findex.php%3Fsitemap%3D1%20%5BL%5D%0ARewriteRule%20%5E(%5B%5E%2F%5D%2B%3F)-sitemap(%5B0-9%5D%2B)%3F.xml%24%20%2Findex.php%3Fsitemap%3D%241%26sitemap_n%3D%242%20%5BL%5D%0A%3C%2FIfModule%3E%0A%23%20END%20WordPress%20SEO%20-%20Sitemap%20Rewrite%20Fix”/]

Save and then go to WordPress Settings/Permalinks and re-save your permalink structure.  You should be able to see your sitemap index when you click  You can find your XML Sitemap here. When you submit your sitemap to google INSERT only the  portion of the url that is /sitemap_index.xml. (BE SURE YOU REMOVE THE PERIOD)

If  you have W3 Total Cache active, that is preventing 404 errors for static files to go through to WordPress. Update to the latest version of W3 Total Cache or add, under the browser cache page, this exemption:

[pastacode lang=”markup” message=”credit: Yoast” highlight=”” provider=”manual” manual=”sitemap(_index%7C%5B0-9%5D%2B)%3F.xml”/]

Save and then go to WordPress Settings/Permalinks and re-save your permalink structure.  You should be able to see your sitemap index when you click  You can find your XML Sitemap here. When you submit your sitemap to google INSERT only the  portion of the url that is /sitemap_index.xml. (BE SURE YOU REMOVE THE PERIOD)

Does working inside your WordPress installation ‘freak’ you out? Totally afraid you’ll blow your site out of the water? Fear Not!  We can help, just visit our Project Inquiry and we’ll get you taken care of in a blink of the eye.