Google Search Console URL Recognition Issue

Blackwindow

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Hello,
I've launched a new site and added it to GSC as a "domain property." I also submitted the sitemap. Initially, it couldn't read the sitemap, but after a few attempts, it was fortunately able to successfully read all the URLs. There are 119 URLs in total.
My Problem
Normally, when you manually submit a URL that's in the sitemap for indexing, the "Page indexing" section shows:

"Page not indexed: Discovered - currently not indexed"

However, on this site, except for the homepage, none of my URLs show this message. Instead, it's acting as if all my other URLs aren't in the sitemap at all, showing this warning in the "Page indexing" section:

"Page not indexed: URL is unknown to Google"

I've encountered this problem before and solved it after much effort, but I can't remember how I fixed it.
What I've Tried

Deactivated Cloudflare → Didn't work
Created a rule to skip Google bots → Didn't work
Disabled all plugins → Didn't work
Switched from Rank Math to Yoast → Didn't work
Changed Cloudflare from orange to gray → Didn't work

I've tried many other things I can't even remember, but I still haven't found a solution.
Why It Matters
When this happens, the site doesn't get indexed. Even if it does, it gets indexed extremely slowly, and it takes a very long time for the site to reach the desired position. I need to solve this issue somehow.
If anyone has suggestions, I'm ready to test them.
Best regards.
 
Hello,
I've launched a new site and added it to GSC as a "domain property." I also submitted the sitemap. Initially, it couldn't read the sitemap, but after a few attempts, it was fortunately able to successfully read all the URLs. There are 119 URLs in total.
My Problem
Normally, when you manually submit a URL that's in the sitemap for indexing, the "Page indexing" section shows:

"Page not indexed: Discovered - currently not indexed"

However, on this site, except for the homepage, none of my URLs show this message. Instead, it's acting as if all my other URLs aren't in the sitemap at all, showing this warning in the "Page indexing" section:

"Page not indexed: URL is unknown to Google"

I've encountered this problem before and solved it after much effort, but I can't remember how I fixed it.
What I've Tried

Deactivated Cloudflare → Didn't work
Created a rule to skip Google bots → Didn't work
Disabled all plugins → Didn't work
Switched from Rank Math to Yoast → Didn't work
Changed Cloudflare from orange to gray → Didn't work

I've tried many other things I can't even remember, but I still haven't found a solution.
Why It Matters
When this happens, the site doesn't get indexed. Even if it does, it gets indexed extremely slowly, and it takes a very long time for the site to reach the desired position. I need to solve this issue somehow.
If anyone has suggestions, I'm ready to test them.
Best regards.
I understand how frustrating this is for you. Indexing problems like this may be hard to deal with. Based on what you said, it seems like Google might not be linking your sitemap URLs to your domain property correctly. I suggest that you check your property again in GSC as both a domain and a URL prefix property. After that, you may submit the sitemap again using the URL prefix version. Also, check to see if your robots.txt file is restricting any directories. You may also try using the "Inspect URL" tool to manually get a few URLs and get Google to crawl them again. That "URL is unknown" notice can also show up if there is a short crawl budget delay or a canonical mismatch.
 
I understand how frustrating this is for you. Indexing problems like this may be hard to deal with. Based on what you said, it seems like Google might not be linking your sitemap URLs to your domain property correctly. I suggest that you check your property again in GSC as both a domain and a URL prefix property. After that, you may submit the sitemap again using the URL prefix version. Also, check to see if your robots.txt file is restricting any directories. You may also try using the "Inspect URL" tool to manually get a few URLs and get Google to crawl them again. That "URL is unknown" notice can also show up if there is a short crawl budget delay or a canonical mismatch.
Thank you for your suggestions.


I've now added it as a URL prefix property. However, it's still giving an error when trying to fetch the sitemap. It was also giving this error when I had added it as a domain property I had to try dozens of times before it finally managed to read it. I think the main problem is here: somehow it's unable to read my sitemap properly.


The error it's showing is:


Sitemap could not be read
General HTTP error
1 instance
We encountered an error while trying to access your sitemap. Please ensure that your sitemap is present at the specified address and is not blocked to Google. See our help center for more debugging help.


But it's not blocked anywhere not in robots.txt, not in Cloudflare, nowhere.


Regarding canonicals, I don't think there's an issue there. I'm using Yoast, which sets them automatically anyway.
 
Thank you for your suggestions.


I've now added it as a URL prefix property. However, it's still giving an error when trying to fetch the sitemap. It was also giving this error when I had added it as a domain property I had to try dozens of times before it finally managed to read it. I think the main problem is here: somehow it's unable to read my sitemap properly.


The error it's showing is:


Sitemap could not be read
General HTTP error
1 instance
We encountered an error while trying to access your sitemap. Please ensure that your sitemap is present at the specified address and is not blocked to Google. See our help center for more debugging help.


But it's not blocked anywhere not in robots.txt, not in Cloudflare, nowhere.


Regarding canonicals, I don't think there's an issue there. I'm using Yoast, which sets them automatically anyway.
You're clearly getting closer, and you're right that the sitemap access error is probably the main problem. A "General HTTP error" from Google usually means that Googlebot can't get the file because it is being banned or timed out, even though it seems good in your browser.

Here's what I think you should do next:

Use an incognito window and Google's URL Inspection tool to check the sitemap URL. It should load right away without any redirection or cookies.

For the sitemap file only, temporarily skip any CDN or firewall caching (like Cloudflare or LiteSpeed) or add Googlebot's IPs to a whitelist.

The content type header of your sitemap should be application/xml, not text/html. That little difference can sometimes produce GSC errors.

Lastly, if your sitemap is made on the fly (as with Yoast's /sitemap_index.xml), try making a static version and sending it in by hand.

Google won't trust your URLs enough to crawl them if it can't reliably retrieve them, thus making that component stable will probably fix the indexing delay.
 
You're clearly getting closer, and you're right that the sitemap access error is probably the main problem. A "General HTTP error" from Google usually means that Googlebot can't get the file because it is being banned or timed out, even though it seems good in your browser.

Here's what I think you should do next:

Use an incognito window and Google's URL Inspection tool to check the sitemap URL. It should load right away without any redirection or cookies.

For the sitemap file only, temporarily skip any CDN or firewall caching (like Cloudflare or LiteSpeed) or add Googlebot's IPs to a whitelist.

The content type header of your sitemap should be application/xml, not text/html. That little difference can sometimes produce GSC errors.

Lastly, if your sitemap is made on the fly (as with Yoast's /sitemap_index.xml), try making a static version and sending it in by hand.

Google won't trust your URLs enough to crawl them if it can't reliably retrieve them, thus making that component stable will probably fix the indexing delay.
Thanks for your suggestions. I followed them exactly, but the issue persists.


  • I created a static sitemap and set the Content-Type to application/xml.
  • I updated the lastmod field to today.
  • I tested in an incognito window and with the Google URL Inspection tool.
  • I paused Cloudflare and disabled LiteSpeed.
  • Despite this, GSC still returns "Couldn't fetch."

I have opened a ticket with my hosting provider to check for any server-side restrictions.


If you have any additional suggestions or specific checks you want me to try, I am happy to test them. Thanks again.
 

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Thanks for your suggestions. I followed them exactly, but the issue persists.


  • I created a static sitemap and set the Content-Type to application/xml.
  • I updated the lastmod field to today.
  • I tested in an incognito window and with the Google URL Inspection tool.
  • I paused Cloudflare and disabled LiteSpeed.
  • Despite this, GSC still returns "Couldn't fetch."

I have opened a ticket with my hosting provider to check for any server-side restrictions.


If you have any additional suggestions or specific checks you want me to try, I am happy to test them. Thanks again.
Just paste this to the site map URL: "/sitemap_index.xml" exactly as it is don't add your domain
 
This usually happens when Google temporarily “forgets” your sitemap or delays processing it due to low crawl priority on new domains. I’d suggest verifying your robots.txt for crawl access, building a few contextual backlinks to key pages, and using Indexing API (if applicable) to trigger re-crawls. Also, keep sitemap URLs under one format (https/www consistency). A few strong signals from trusted sources often fix this faster than endless resubmissions.
 
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