Google has a weird and somewhat limited and rare issue with sitemap files within Google Search Console. These sitemap files cannot be fetched and retrieved by Google Search. The issue seems to be related to 5-character subdomains that are on a Polish ccTLD, .pl.
Jakub Sawa posted about the issue on LinkedIn and explained it is not an issue on .com or .net TLDs but does seem to impact .pl ccTLDs, when it is a subdomain with five characters.
He wrote:
If you have a national domain .pl (we checked .com and .net - the error doesn't occur there), create a subdomain with a name consisting of EXACTLY 5 characters (e.g., test1.jakubsawa.pl), add it to GSC (either as a property or domain), and add a link to sitemap.xml.GSC WON'T FETCH IT!
Google Search Console will show a fetching error when you add those sitemap files to Google Search Console's sitemap section.
He added, "It's not about lack of access (because Google bots have access), but there isn't even a trace of any request to this sitemap in the logs (after adding in GSC panel)!" "We tested this on more than a dozen different domains, on many hosting providers. We checked DNS settings, internal routing, with and without Cloudflare and subdomains ranging from 1 to 10 characters - and the problem ONLY occurs with 5-character subdomains," he said.
How weird that this only impacts 5-character subdomains.
There are complaints about this also in the Google Webmaster Forums and some screenshots of the error:
Here is a better screenshot from Jakub Sawa - he emailed me this one:
Google seems to be aware of the issue but has not yet replied about it.
Forum discussion at LinkedIn and Google Webmaster Forums.
