Sitemap error is reported when using a sitemap-index generated by Yoast
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I've installed the Yoast SEO Plugin for wordpress and I've setup the sitemaps using it.
I saw the tool has generated the Sitemap index file http://www.phraseexpander.com/sitemap_index.xml
with different indexes for posts and pages
I've submitted that to google and it's indexed.
When I use Seoquake to check my website, I see that it says that the sitemap is missing (in fact http://www.phraseexpander.com/sitemap.xml) is returning 404.
Shall I fix that? Shall I do a 301 redirect in my .htaccess file to http://www.phraseexpander.com/sitemap_index.xml
Thanks.
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I personally have not ever felt it would be necessary to do something like that. The only thing that matters is if the search engines see your proper setup and accept it. So monitor Google Webmaster Tools and how they treat your sitemap files - you say they've already been submitted so GWT should see them - that system will let you know if there's a problem from their view.
Whether other sites that are not the big three search engines have a problem is not important to your having them the way you do - they are only files that the search engines need.
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Thanks for the feedback. I saw a few other websites reported this as an error. I wonder if I should add a redirect for the sitemap.xml file to the sitemap_index.xml.
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Your sitemaps are working properly and listed properly in the sitemap index, and that is listed properly in the robots.txt file. I would suggest contacting the SEOQuake tech support team and asking them why the error is showing up. It could be their system may not be sophisticated enough to recognize when a sitemap index is used instead of the basic sitemap.xml file.
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