Nginx Extra Settings for Rank Math Sitemaps in WordPress

Rank Math dynamically creates a sitemap, which relies on redirects at the server level. In some cases, if your sitemap is not working as expected, you will need to manually add some rewrite rules.

To confirm you need these rewrite rules, visit domain.com?sitemap=1.

If the sitemap loads successfully, Rank Math SEO can generate the sitemap but cannot rewrite it to the sitemap_index.xml page.

Fixing Rank Math SEO Sitemap Issues on Nginx

If your Nginx server blocks sitemap file creation, Rank Math will let you know via a notification under the sitemap settings. In that case, you need to manually add rewrite rules.

1. Adding Rewrite Rules on the Nginx Server

So go to the Nginx configuration file and add the following rewrite rules to fix this problem:

Modify the corresponding Nginx site configuration file, usually located in /usr/local/nginx/site-enables/xxx.

• Edit the config file with vim
• Add the plugin's rewrite code before the final }
• Save the file
• Restart Nginx with the systemctl restart nginx command

使用 vim 编辑配置文件
在最末尾的 } 前添加插件的 rewrite 代码
保存文件
使用 systemctl restart nginx 命令重启 Nginx

# START Nginx Rewrites for Rank Math Sitemaps
rewrite ^/sitemap_index.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=1 last;
rewrite ^/([^/]+?)-sitemap([0-9]+)?.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=$1&sitemap_n=$2 last;
rewrite ^/([a-z]+)?-sitemap\.xsl$ /index.php?xsl=$1 last;
# END Nginx Rewrites for Rank Math Sitemaps

2. Clearing the Sitemap Settings

After adding the rewrite rules above, you need to refresh the sitemap settings. To do this, go to Rank Math SEO → Sitemap Settings in the WordPress admin area, make a small change to "Links per sitemap," and then click the "Save Changes" button.

Reference: https://rankmath.com/kb/xml-sitemaps-nginx/