SOP: Diagnose 'Couldn't fetch' in GSC

SOP: Diagnose 'Couldn't fetch' in GSC
Work top to bottom; stop at the first failure.

Step 1 — Open the sitemap URL in incognito. ✅ Returns 200 (not 301→200, not 404, not 403).

Step 2 — Check robots.txt. ✅ No Disallow rule covers the sitemap path.

Step 3 — Test as Googlebot: fetch with user-agent Googlebot. ✅ Same 200, no firewall/WAF block.

Step 4 — Validate the XML. ✅ Well-formed, correct namespace, UTF-8 encoded, no BOM.

Step 5 — Check size. ✅ Under 50 MB uncompressed and under 50,000 URLs.

Step 6 — If gzipped: ✅ filename ends .xml.gz and Content-Encoding is correct.

Step 7 — Resubmit, then 'Validate fix'.

Definition of done: status flips to 'Success' within 48h and 'Read' timestamp updates to today.