SmugMug Search Engine Optimization

fabthi

Thanks Andy.
Is this http://www.imaginevenice.com/sitemap-base.xml.gz
</loc> the only strip of code I have to submit?

fabthi

Andy wrote: »

http://www.imaginevenice.com/sitemap-index.xml contains all of your sitemaps.

Andy, sorry, I posted before to know about the file I have to submit; the thing is I submitted to Google Webmaster this one only (http://www.imaginevenice.com/sitemap-base.xml.gz). I now have a red X in my Sitemap status, I suspect it means something not good.

fabthi

I re-submitted once again the Sitemap file but I still have the red X in status, is that ok?

SPK64

MakeMeShutter wrote: »

I have the same issue as post 18 of this thread. I have two green check marks and two red X's.

I followed the directions in post 17 to the letter.
:cry

Had the same problem myself today.

2 green and 2 red
images and galleries are red

fabthi

I submitted the file this way: sitemap-base.xml.gz and got my Google Sitemap page looking like this

fabthi

The error message in my Google Sitemap page says there is "....something wrong with a robots.txt file in the main directory of your webiste. Please verify its accessibility or remove it".
What should I do now?
ETA
MakeMeShutter and SPK64, could you check what is the error description in your Sitemap page?

rainforest1155

fabthi wrote: »

The error message in my Google Sitemap page says there is "....something wrong with a robots.txt file in the main directory of your webiste. Please verify its accessibility or remove it".
What should I do now?
ETA
MakeMeShutter and SPK64, could you check what is the error description in your Sitemap page?

You can ignore the message about the robots.txt. It'll resolve itself the next time Google comes by.

Regarding your sitemap, I'd say you're using the wrong sitemap url. Give it a try with the index file only http://www.imaginevenice.com/sitemap-index.xml if you wish to manually submit a sitemap (which isn't necessary as Google will automatically pick up your sitemap).
As far as I know, no need to submit anything else but the sitemap-index.xml file. In that file all the other sitemap files are linked so Google should handle this by itself.

I see that Andy advised differently earlier in the thread. I'll check with him.

I hope this helps,
Sebastian

rainforest1155

Here's how it looks for my sitemap that I did not submit manually, but that was picked up by Google automatically:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/283274/sc3/20101007111659-00320x1159201007.jpg

The sitemap-index.xml file is the table of contents of the sitemap from which Google then indexes the different chapters of it:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/283274/sc3/20101007111709-00321x1109201007.jpg

fabthi

Hi Sebastian
this is the interface for submitting the Sitemap

I am asking my self what I have to put in the blank field:
- sitemap-base.xml.gz
or the whole string (don't think so, right?)
- http://www.imaginevenice.com/sitemap-base.xml.gz

rainforest1155

Neither. Again, please do not use any other file than the:
sitemap-index.xml
file. That's the correct one to submit.

Remove all other site-map files you may have submitted and then only submit the:
sitemap-index.xml
file.

OnFirePhotography

rainforest1155 wrote: »

Neither. Again, please do not use any other file than the:
sitemap-index.xml
file. That's the correct one to submit.

Remove all other site-map files you may have submitted and then only submit the:
sitemap-index.xml
file.

I have done this and i still get a red cross and a messege telling me to remove robots.txt

why is this not working, there is clearly something wrong with quite a few peoples sitemaps.

I have followed every bit of advice in this thread and nothing has worked.

rainforest1155

OnFirePhotography wrote: »

I have done this and i still get a red cross and a messege telling me to remove robots.txt

why is this not working, there is clearly something wrong with quite a few peoples sitemaps.

I have followed every bit of advice in this thread and nothing has worked.

The robots.txt error will go away the next time Google comes by your site. Please ignore it.

Are you sure you do not have any other sitemap files submitted but the:
sitemap-index.xml
file?
Remove any other manual submissions. It'll take a while for your webmasters tool to update after you submitted the sitemap-index.xml file.

Sebastian

OnFirePhotography

i originally followed Andy's advice in post 17 of this thread, the results of this are in post 18.

I then deleted all my sitemaps as you have suggested and manually submited the index.xml but it turns straight to red cross.

Niphotos

THe red X
All my sitemaps submitted to Google now have a big red x against them , up till yesterday they were ok , except for the images and galleries sitemaps which have always had the big red x against them , any help !!!!

J.W.KANE

HTTP://WWW.NIPHOTOS.COM

fabthi

rainforest1155 wrote: »

Neither. Again, please do not use any other file than the:
sitemap-index.xml
file. That's the correct one to submit.

Remove all other site-map files you may have submitted and then only submit the:
sitemap-index.xml
file.

Hi Sebastian
Removed everything and submitted the right file, but still getting the red cross; if it's a matter of waiting I don't mind at all. Then, is it?

rainforest1155

Give Google some time to recrawl the sitemaps. I don't know any details on how long this may take for Google to update.

fabthi

rainforest1155 wrote: »

Give Google some time to recrawl the sitemaps. I don't know any details on how long this may take for Google to update.

OK, I am not in hurry about this, I still have many things to fix on my website.
Thanks for your help!

jachang

Andy wrote: »

Are you doing it -exactly- like this?

I'm sorry, but I'm still having problems understanding this. I just checked my site maps with Google Webmaster Tools, and I don't have the four items that you show listed. I have:
sitemap-galleries.xml.gz
sitemap-images.xml.gz
sitemap-index.xml

But I do not have sitemap-base.xml.gz listed.

Also, since the sitemaps have gone into effect, the few images I had in Google image search have all disappeared.

Are my sitemaps configured correctly? I checked the three that were listed and then clicked "submit" for all three. Was that a mistake?

I'm sorry, this is confusing to me. Thanks for any help.:D

jachang

Robots Text
I don't understand this either. (Sorry...:cry) On Webmaster tools, it shows a robot text file and every single thing is marked "disallow". I want to be found. Is having this configured this way the reason nothing is being found for my images? I didn't put any of this info into the text file. It was generated automatically, I guess.

richpepp

jachang wrote: »

On Webmaster tools, it shows a robot text file and every single thing is marked "disallow".

I don't think it is saying disallow everything, I think it is saying don't index stuff in those particular subdirectories e.g. admin, cart, test, vip, search. The rest of the stuff will get indexed. We have exactly the same robots.txt and our photos appear in image search.

It still isn't clear why your photos have completely dropped off image search though :cry - it doesn't make any sense. The only stuff appearing for you at the moment is from your blog....

Good luck

Rich

I just checked again and Google is indexing your site. "Tufted Titmouse evergreens" gets straight to you (and very nice comments on the photos btw). It seems to be something related both to how image search works (which appears to be different from the main search) and also getting the overall rating of your site up

Andy

jachang wrote: »

I don't understand this either. (Sorry...:cry) On Webmaster tools, it shows a robot text file and every single thing is marked "disallow". I want to be found. Is having this configured this way the reason nothing is being found for my images? I didn't put any of this info into the text file. It was generated automatically, I guess.

Jeanne: you don't want the secret parts of your site (like control panel, other places) that are Admin only to be indexed, that's why it says 'disallow'.

Andy

jachang wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I'm still having problems understanding this. I just checked my site maps with Google Webmaster Tools, and I don't have the four items that you show listed. I have:
sitemap-galleries.xml.gz
sitemap-images.xml.gz
sitemap-index.xml

But I do not have sitemap-base.xml.gz listed.

Also, since the sitemaps have gone into effect, the few images I had in Google image search have all disappeared.

Are my sitemaps configured correctly? I checked the three that were listed and then clicked "submit" for all three. Was that a mistake?

I'm sorry, this is confusing to me. Thanks for any help.:D

Let's see a screen grab of your webmaster page, with the info on sitemaps that have been indexed.

jachang

Andy wrote: »

Let's see a screen grab of your webmaster page, with the info on sitemaps that have been indexed.

Here it is. Notice there is no entry for sitemap-base.xml.gz. Is there supposed to be?

It looks like they've indexed two of the other ones, but still no images.

Thanks!

Andy

jachang: you're all good.

jachang

Andy wrote: »

jachang: you're all good.

Thanks, Andy. (Now, I just wish Google would agree with you. :cry ) lol

Jean

SPK64

ok, why am I not getting anything with the sitemap setup per the instructions above. I tried entering just the index and entering everything. Still not getting anything.
See attached screenshots.

jachang

richpepp wrote: »

I don't think it is saying disallow everything, I think it is saying don't index stuff in those particular subdirectories e.g. admin, cart, test, vip, search. The rest of the stuff will get indexed. We have exactly the same robots.txt and our photos appear in image search.

It still isn't clear why your photos have completely dropped off image search though :cry - it doesn't make any sense. The only stuff appearing for you at the moment is from your blog....

Good luck

Rich

I just checked again and Google is indexing your site. "Tufted Titmouse evergreens" gets straight to you (and very nice comments on the photos btw). It seems to be something related both to how image search works (which appears to be different from the main search) and also getting the overall rating of your site up

Hi Rich,

Thanks for checking. I appreciate your help.

Jean

rainforest1155

SPK64 wrote: »

ok, why am I not getting anything with the sitemap setup per the instructions above. I tried entering just the index and entering everything. Still not getting anything.
See attached screenshots.

Can you check that you don't have any other sitemap files submitted other than the sitemap-index.xml file? That's the only one you manually need to submit. The rest is done automatically. At this point your site only has a index and base file. Eventually the more detailed sitemap files, like images and galleries will be created.
If you make sure to only have the sitemap-index.xml file added, Google will automatically be notified when the detailed sitemap files are available.

It can take quite some time for the detailed sitemap files to be available. So please be patient.

Sebastian

SPK64

rainforest1155 wrote: »

Can you check that you don't have any other sitemap files submitted other than the sitemap-index.xml file? That's the only one you manually need to submit. The rest is done automatically. At this point your site only has a index and base file. Eventually the more detailed sitemap files, like images and galleries will be created.
If you make sure to only have the sitemap-index.xml file added, Google will automatically be notified when the detailed sitemap files are available.

It can take quite some time for the detailed sitemap files to be available. So please be patient.

Sebastian

Yes, I only have the one file attached.
I will wait and see if the sitemap files get updated. I assume this is something on SmugMug's end.

jachang

jachang wrote: »

I don't understand this either. (Sorry...:cry) On Webmaster tools, it shows a robot text file and every single thing is marked "disallow". I want to be found. Is having this configured this way the reason nothing is being found for my images? I didn't put any of this info into the text file. It was generated automatically, I guess.

Now, if this is all okay, why am I getting a whole slew of robot text errors all of a sudden?

Jean