Problem: The client is experiencing issues with multilingual site management using WordPress, Yoast SEO, and WPML. The main problems are: Google Search Console reports 'The Sitemap can be read, but it has errors - The Sitemap is in HTML format', although it is correctly formatted in XML. Additionally, there are indexing anomalies; searching 'sim race components' shows random strings in meta descriptions, and the Italian homepage does not display the set meta description but shows site content instead. Solution: We recommend checking if the automatic redirection feature in WPML is causing the meta description issues on the Italian version of the site. More information on how browser language redirection affects Google indexing can be found here. Regarding the sitemap format issue, it is advisable to consult Google as WPML does not generate sitemaps; this is handled by Yoast SEO.
Please note that this solution might be outdated or not applicable to your specific case. We highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If the problem persists, please open a new support ticket.
