Blogger Redirect Errors and Sitemap Tips – What I Learned

Blogger sitemap and redirect error concerns – How a community response helped solve indexing confusion and what every Blogger user should know about Google Search Console.

Sometimes, asking the right question—even in the wrong place—can still lead to the right answer. That’s exactly what happened when I posted about a recurring issue on my Blogger site, Sosan Daily.

1. I Asked in the Wrong Community… and Someone Helped

Initially, I mistakenly posted my question in the Google AdSense community, thinking it might relate to indexing problems affecting ad visibility. A kind user, whom I’ll refer to anonymously as an experienced member, gently replied and moved my post to the correct Blogger Help Community. This simple act brought in the right audience to help me address the issue properly.

2. What Was the Problem?

I was facing two recurring issues in Google Search Console:

• "Redirect error" on many post URLs, despite them being accessible
• "Couldn't fetch" error for the sitemap at /sitemap.xml

To resolve this, I had already taken several steps:

• Removed legacy URLs containing ?m=1
• Manually resubmitted valid URLs through the URL Inspection tool
• Validated fixes multiple times in Google Search Console

Yet, the errors persisted.

3. Expert Response from the Blogger Community

A Diamond Product Expert from Poland offered detailed insights, which proved incredibly useful:

🔹 "Couldn't fetch" might not be an actual error

This status often appears because the sitemap has not been processed yet. For blogs with fewer than 500 posts, it typically doesn’t affect indexing.

🔍 Why “Couldn't fetch” may not be a problem

🔹 Blogger redirects are normal

The redirect from .html to .html?m=1 for mobile is expected. Googlebot understands this and it doesn’t usually interfere with crawling.

🔹 robots.txt: Keep it simple

The expert advised against modifying robots.txt unless absolutely necessary. My current configuration is fine:

User-agent: *
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://sosandaily.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml

🔹 Focus on content, not just warnings

Google ranks helpful, original, people-first content. Minor warnings in GSC don’t usually hurt performance. Keep publishing and gaining visibility from multiple channels.

 4. What I Learned

This experience reminded me that sometimes, the community is more powerful than documentation. A small act of help from an experienced user—and the follow-up from an expert—clarified a frustrating technical issue. I also learned not to panic over every error shown in the console.

Going forward, I will:

• Continue producing useful content
• Allow Blogger and Google to take their time indexing
• Engage with communities when in doubt

 Final Resources

• Webmasters Community – Ask about SEO, crawling, ranking
• Google SEO Starter Guide
• Does my site need a sitemap?

Thanks again to the kind community members who helped out.

— Sosan Daily (Blogger site owner)

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