Hello all, Recently changed the settings of the server, so if you type something incorrect after the domain name, the server will automatically redirect you to the main page. After that google sitemaps stopped verifying the site. It says, can't verify the site, as it returns the PageError 200. www.capitaldatarecovery.com try typing: www.capitaldatarecovery.com/anything_here thank you in advance for your help! KarEn
Forgot to add: The only way for me to verify the sitemap is to add meta to the index page. But why wouldn't it work normal way with uploading the file?
Just a thought, but it comes from something I've noticed when I'm verifying my site...Google also looks for a NOEXIST file when doing the confirm. Since your 404 redirects to a 200, it assumes that it FOUND the NOEXIST file which it should not be able to do? Are you using something like: ErrorDocument 404 / or are you doing a 301 or 302 redirect?
Google doesn't like it if a 404 page doesn't actually return a "404 - Page Not Found" HTTP code. Even if you have a custom 404 it should return that status. By redirecting all 404s to your home page, you are returning a 200 status which will knock you down in google ranks. Best bit is to do a custom 404 with a JS or meta redirect to your home page and a link as well to be on the safe side. See http://www.dixcart.com/kjashgdh for an example.
btw, i tried everything you guys mentioned - no help. Ended up using verification tag. that did solve the issue.
I got the same problem with you. I also can not fix. So, I am using just html sitemap, and add links to the sitemap. It can increase help me.