Ive just resubmitted my sitemaps, ive read all the info here on site maps but dont really understand it all, but in simple terms what do the red cross's indicate and when will they become ticks? I dont think ive ever had ticks on the images and galleries.gz
Is there someplace here where this "submitting sitemaps" bit is written up so that a clueless person could walk themselves through it? I've gotten so many mixed messages in this thread and can't sort them out. I feel really stupid asking this, but it seems clear that there's some major stuff I should be doing with sitemaps and don't know what it is. In the very first post of this thread, Andy references our help pages: http://www.smugmug.com/help/search-engines which say that "We've submitted sitemaps to search engines..." ("we" meaning "SmugMug"), & there are no instructions in his post to tell us to do this ourselves as well.... and yet so many people here are talking about having submitted their sitemaps. To my knowledge, I have not done this. I've done everything else suggested in that SEO help thread. If someone could tell me from Step 1 what, if anything, I need to do, that would be great. Or point me to a thread where this is already written up? Thanks!!
Is there someplace here where this "submitting sitemaps" bit is written up so that a clueless person could walk themselves through it? I've gotten so many mixed messages in this thread and can't sort them out.
Is there someplace here where this "submitting sitemaps" bit is written up so that a clueless person could walk themselves through it? I've gotten so many mixed messages in this thread and can't sort them out. I feel really stupid asking this, but it seems clear that there's some major stuff I should be doing with sitemaps and don't know what it is. In the very first post of this thread, Andy references our help pages: http://www.smugmug.com/help/search-engines which say that "We've submitted sitemaps to search engines..." ("we" meaning "SmugMug"), & there are no instructions in his post to tell us to do this ourselves as well.... and yet so many people here are talking about having submitted their sitemaps. To my knowledge, I have not done this. I've done everything else suggested in that SEO help thread. If someone could tell me from Step 1 what, if anything, I need to do, that would be great. Or point me to a thread where this is already written up? Thanks!!
You don't need to submit them, we do it for you, automagically.
And as you can see, there are tons of SmugMug customers who use the tools, so you could always give it a go first, then ask questions here, I'm sure the community will help
And as you can see, there are tons of SmugMug customers who use the tools, so you could always give it a go first, then ask questions here, I'm sure the community will help
My main question was... if you do it automagically, why are so many people saying "When I submitted my sitemap... blah blah... ?" I'm just confused by this. Should I or shouldn't I ?
My main question was... if you do it automagically, why are so many people saying "When I submitted my sitemap... blah blah... ?" I'm just confused by this. Should I or shouldn't I ?
I don't know how to say it any more plain We do it for you. You can start using webmaster tools if you like, on Google - and submit them yourself, it doesn't hurt, but we do it for you.
I don't know how to say it any more plain We do it for you. You can start using webmaster tools if you like, on Google - and submit them yourself, it doesn't hurt, but we do it for you.
Ok...well, here's how to explain it more plain: I guess you have to think like a complete idiot to "webmaster tools", as I don't have a clue what that does or is. Assume I know nothing. Nor do I have a clue what a sitemap is yet (yeah, will look it up; it's been a nutty few days here!) So my next attempt at more meaningful or detailed questions would be this:
1. I see SmugMug submits sitemaps for us. So then, why would there be so many people here in this thread (and on Smug) who are evidently submitting them as well?
2. Related to #1, what is the apparent advantage to submitting them ourselves? (I'm only assuming there's an advantage cuz otherwise I don't know why anyone would bother, so if that's not true, please set me straight!)
3. All the posts in this thread that I've read are from people who know, or who are assuming other people know, where to even look for their sitemap(s)? I do not know, so this thread isn't enlightening me in that way. The Help section on sitemaps doesn't tell me either. Where does one find this?
After answers to the above come about, I would suggest adding them to the #1 post in this thread (and maybe to the Help section also) to help other people, since I think (or hope! ) I'm not the only sitemap newb around here. Thank You so much!!! P.S. I think my spouse has webmaster tools for some sites he administers. So I could ask him this stuff, but I partly want to ask it here for the benefit of others who are wondering.
Ok...well, here's how to explain it more plain: I guess you have to think like a complete idiot to "webmaster tools", as I don't have a clue what that does or is. Assume I know nothing. Nor do I have a clue what a sitemap is yet (yeah, will look it up; it's been a nutty few days here!) So my next attempt at more meaningful or detailed questions would be this:
1. I see SmugMug submits sitemaps for us. So then, why would there be so many people here in this thread (and on Smug) who are evidently submitting them as well?
2. Related to #1, what is the apparent advantage to submitting them ourselves? (I'm only assuming there's an advantage cuz otherwise I don't know why anyone would bother, so if that's not true, please set me straight!)
3. All the posts in this thread that I've read are from people who know, or who are assuming other people know, where to even look for their sitemap(s)? I do not know, so this thread isn't enlightening me in that way. The Help section on sitemaps doesn't tell me either. Where does one find this?
After answers to the above come about, I would suggest adding them to the #1 post in this thread (and maybe to the Help section also) to help other people, since I think (or hope! ) I'm not the only sitemap newb around here. Thank You so much!!! P.S. I think my spouse has webmaster tools for some sites he administers. So I could ask him this stuff, but I partly want to ask it here for the benefit of others who are wondering.
We had issues with the sitemaps after release. None now, afaik. GO and enjoy new SEO awesomeness and don't worry. If you want to worry, no worries! Use Google Sitemaps and enjoy
We had issues with the sitemaps after release. None now, afaik. GO and enjoy new SEO awesomeness and don't worry. If you want to worry, no worries! Use Google Sitemaps and enjoy
Ok.... so, could you answer this part? 3. All the posts in this thread that I've read are from people who know, or who are assuming other people know, where to even look for their sitemap(s)? I do not know, so this thread isn't enlightening me in that way. The Help section on sitemaps doesn't tell me either. Where does one find this? I still don't know where to find it. (them?) Could you perhaps get that added to Help & the first post in this thread? I'm just saying.... here is a whole boldened sticky thread here in the forums, but too much knowledge is assumed. If you put that very basic info. in those 2 places, then future readers won't have to fish all over for it when they delve into what looks like an important thread placed at the top of the Support Forum. Thanks!
Ok.... so, could you answer this part? 3. All the posts in this thread that I've read are from people who know, or who are assuming other people know, where to even look for their sitemap(s)? I do not know, so this thread isn't enlightening me in that way. The Help section on sitemaps doesn't tell me either. Where does one find this? I still don't know where to find it. (them?) Could you perhaps get that added to Help & the first post in this thread? I'm just saying.... here is a whole boldened sticky thread here in the forums, but too much knowledge is assumed. If you put that very basic info. in those 2 places, then future readers won't have to fish all over for it when they delve into what looks like an important thread placed at the top of the Support Forum. Thanks!
What Andy is saying is that Google by default will look for and crawl your sitemap files. The sitemap-index file is linked to from the robots.txt. So there is really nothing you *have* to do.
Some people elect to use webmaster tools to provide some additional insight to the metrics that Google collects when crawling your site. If you choose to do that, the docs and help files all explain it pretty well I think. You create the webmaster tools accounts, add some authorization code on your website, and after a period of time Webmaster Tools will start to show some statistics. But, be warned: their data lags badly and regularly shows problems that are very transient in nature. To illustrate, imagine if Google crawled your sitemap file on Monday and then started to crawl the images contained therein a few days later, but some were removed or renamed for whatever reason. Google would register those at warnings or errors possibly. The bottom line is that they just have a ton of data to crunch through and there are some known bugs in their tool. But, if you DID want to do this, once you get your webmaster tools account setup you just add sitemap-index.gz to the list of sitemaps to crawl (it might even show up automatically) - but do not add any of the other ones. The sitemap-index file contains links to all the other sitemaps that we generate.
Hi Greg,
I just tried adding just the sitemap-index.gz and it gave me a red X.
It stated that it was an html file. Does it need to be sitemap-index.xml.gz ?
--Shawn
Yes. It needs to be a '.xml' file. Either a 'sitemap-index.xml.gz' or a 'sitemap-index.xml'.
You shouldn't have to add this in your Webmaster Tools. Smugmug already does that for you.
Hi Greg,
I just tried adding just the sitemap-index.gz and it gave me a red X.
It stated that it was an html file.
Does it need to be sitemap-index.xml.gz ?
--Shawn
2. Just Google? And besides Google's other search engines did not exist?
I'm not sure exactly what to say to this, I may be misunderstanding your question. Of course they exist. The major players support the sitemaps protocol. Those that do not just have to do it the old fashioned way, which works just fine too.
I suppose this is a good time to reiterate that there always seems to be this artificial connection being made between SEO and sitemaps and the two have nothing to do with each other. SmugMug is designed in such a way that even if no sitemaps were generated search engines would still be able to crawl through the pages and index everything. Sitemaps are really just a system tool that is used to make the crawling process more efficient.
For the last couple of weeks my sitemap-galleries and sitemap-images have been getting a big red X showing in Google Webmaster Tools (index and base are still fine). I've resubmitted several times over the past two weeks with no luck.
Has there been a change that will take some time to fix (i.e. I need to be patient) or do I need to get someone from Smugmug to look at my sitemaps and robots.txt files?
For the last couple of weeks my sitemap-galleries and sitemap-images have been getting a big red X showing in Google Webmaster Tools (index and base are still fine). I've resubmitted several times over the past two weeks with no luck.
Has there been a change that will take some time to fix (i.e. I need to be patient) or do I need to get someone from Smugmug to look at my sitemaps and robots.txt files?
When you click the sitemap file with the red X on it, what error does it give you and what is the date?
In the last 5 days, I've upload a dozen photos, done gallery changes, changed descriptions... What's the expected turn around after having done changes?
When you click the sitemap file with the red X on it, what error does it give you and what is the date?
- Greg
This is the error for both of them. Note that they've been working fine for almost a year.
General HTTP error: 404 not found
We encountered an error while trying to access your Sitemap. Please ensure your Sitemap follows our guidelines and can be accessed at the location you provided and then resubmit.
This is the error for both of them. Note that they've been working fine for almost a year.
General HTTP error: 404 not found
We encountered an error while trying to access your Sitemap. Please ensure your Sitemap follows our guidelines and can be accessed at the location you provided and then resubmit.
I checked all 3 of those and they appear to be okay from all the tests I have run. You should have these three showing up (hopefully with no red X's) and anything else should be giving you a 404 error. The 404 error is basically our server saying that the files do not exist anymore, which they do not. It just takes Google a while to realize that it is intentional.
Make sure you have submitted only the sitemap-index.xml.gz file and it should pick these up and eventually the old ones should go away.
In the last 5 days, I've upload a dozen photos, done gallery changes, changed descriptions... What's the expected turn around after having done changes?
Thanks
Hi there,
I see the same data you are and checked our queue - I see your site in the queue to be processed. Right now there are a quite a few entries in the queue. I am going to check some things tomorrow, but we probably just have to wait for things to get unplugged.
For what its worth I show that on 5-13 you did an update that would cause changes to approximately 182 images - does that seem about right?
I checked all 3 of those and they appear to be okay from all the tests I have run. You should have these three showing up (hopefully with no red X's) and anything else should be giving you a 404 error. The 404 error is basically our server saying that the files do not exist anymore, which they do not. It just takes Google a while to realize that it is intentional.
Make sure you have submitted only the sitemap-index.xml.gz file and it should pick these up and eventually the old ones should go away.
- Greg
Thanks Greg. Here's what I show as being submitted. Looks like the problem is simply that Smugmug made a change and my old sitemaps are obsolete.:
For what its worth I show that on 5-13 you did an update that would cause changes to approximately 182 images - does that seem about right?
No, not really. I don't think that I did a change the would affect almost all the photos. I use Lightroom 3.4 to upload. Uploading 182 images would be around 1.5 gig and would take 15 hours to upload (I have ADSL). I would have noticed such an upload.
No, not really. I don't think that I did a change the would affect almost all the photos. I use Lightroom 3.4 to upload. Uploading 182 images would be around 1.5 gig and would take 15 hours to upload (I have ADSL). I would have noticed such an upload.
BTW, I'm doing some uploads yesterday and today.
Thanks for looking into it.
182 images is ok. Its just the number of images that are going to end up being processed for the sitemap. Sorry, think I add some confusion with the way I worded that.
And my question again - Please link to the source, where it is written that Google will crawlsitemap in format *.xml.gz
You are confusing me with your question, did you go read sitemaps.org? This is all explained there.
Anyways, Google retrieves whatever file we direct them to, it doesn't matter what the name is. What matters is if the file is compressed or not that the right mime header is being sent. So for example:
From that a search engine knows the file is compressed or not. But even if we did not set that right, there are still many other ways to detect if the file is XML or compressed XML.
The chain that leads to this (which maybe this is where your question is going? I really don't know, its very confusing to me..) is:
robots.txt: specify the sitemap-index file to crawl (sitemap-index.xml.gz)
|---sitemap-index.xml: specify the individual sitemap files
|---|---{files within sitemap-index.xml.gz}: links to individual pages or images depending on the type of sitemap file it is
How this all works is really explained at sitemaps.org if you need more details.
Comments
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
Yes Please
Caroline
www.carolineshipsey.co.uk - Follow me on G+
[/URL]
You don't need to submit them, we do it for you, automagically.
If you'd like to learn more about Sitemaps and Google's webmaster tools, you can go here https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
We don't have any tutorials on Google's tools, I'm sorry Anna Lisa. But Google has lots of help: https://www.google.com/support/webmasters/?hl=en&usrctx=IP_HP_TOPIC_LOADED_30186
And as you can see, there are tons of SmugMug customers who use the tools, so you could always give it a go first, then ask questions here, I'm sure the community will help
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
I don't know how to say it any more plain
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
1. I see SmugMug submits sitemaps for us. So then, why would there be so many people here in this thread (and on Smug) who are evidently submitting them as well?
2. Related to #1, what is the apparent advantage to submitting them ourselves? (I'm only assuming there's an advantage cuz otherwise I don't know why anyone would bother, so if that's not true, please set me straight!)
3. All the posts in this thread that I've read are from people who know, or who are assuming other people know, where to even look for their sitemap(s)? I do not know, so this thread isn't enlightening me in that way. The Help section on sitemaps doesn't tell me either. Where does one find this?
After answers to the above come about, I would suggest adding them to the #1 post in this thread (and maybe to the Help section also) to help other people, since I think (or hope!
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
We had issues with the sitemaps after release. None now, afaik. GO and enjoy new SEO awesomeness and don't worry. If you want to worry, no worries! Use Google Sitemaps and enjoy
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
What Andy is saying is that Google by default will look for and crawl your sitemap files. The sitemap-index file is linked to from the robots.txt. So there is really nothing you *have* to do.
Some people elect to use webmaster tools to provide some additional insight to the metrics that Google collects when crawling your site. If you choose to do that, the docs and help files all explain it pretty well I think. You create the webmaster tools accounts, add some authorization code on your website, and after a period of time Webmaster Tools will start to show some statistics. But, be warned: their data lags badly and regularly shows problems that are very transient in nature. To illustrate, imagine if Google crawled your sitemap file on Monday and then started to crawl the images contained therein a few days later, but some were removed or renamed for whatever reason. Google would register those at warnings or errors possibly. The bottom line is that they just have a ton of data to crunch through and there are some known bugs in their tool. But, if you DID want to do this, once you get your webmaster tools account setup you just add sitemap-index.gz to the list of sitemaps to crawl (it might even show up automatically) - but do not add any of the other ones. The sitemap-index file contains links to all the other sitemaps that we generate.
Hope this helps.
- Greg
Yes. It needs to be a '.xml' file. Either a 'sitemap-index.xml.gz' or a 'sitemap-index.xml'.
You shouldn't have to add this in your Webmaster Tools. Smugmug already does that for you.
Images in the Backcountry
My SmugMug Customizations | Adding CSS to Your Site | SEO for the Photographer | Locate Your Page/Widget Number | SmugMug Help Desk
1. Please link to the source, where it is written that Google will crawl sitemap in format *.xml.gz
2. Just Google? And besides Google's other search engines did not exist?
DayBreak, my Folk Music Group (some free mp3s!) http://daybreakfolk.com
They get 'em too.
Portfolio • Workshops • Facebook • Twitter
Yeah, thats what I meant.
- Greg
http://www.sitemaps.org/protocol.php
"If you would like, you may compress your Sitemap files using gzip to reduce your bandwidth requirement"
I'm not sure exactly what to say to this, I may be misunderstanding your question. Of course they exist. The major players support the sitemaps protocol. Those that do not just have to do it the old fashioned way, which works just fine too.
I suppose this is a good time to reiterate that there always seems to be this artificial connection being made between SEO and sitemaps and the two have nothing to do with each other. SmugMug is designed in such a way that even if no sitemaps were generated search engines would still be able to crawl through the pages and index everything. Sitemaps are really just a system tool that is used to make the crawling process more efficient.
- Greg
Has there been a change that will take some time to fix (i.e. I need to be patient) or do I need to get someone from Smugmug to look at my sitemaps and robots.txt files?
My Legacy SmugMug Site (not ready to migrate yet)
When you click the sitemap file with the red X on it, what error does it give you and what is the date?
- Greg
Hi,
I'm not complaining but just trying to figure out what's happening:
This was as of 18-May-2011 12:08pm PDT.
In the last 5 days, I've upload a dozen photos, done gallery changes, changed descriptions... What's the expected turn around after having done changes?
Thanks
http://www.sritch.com
The Dogs of Vancouver, BC
This is the error for both of them. Note that they've been working fine for almost a year.
General HTTP error: 404 not found
We encountered an error while trying to access your Sitemap. Please ensure your Sitemap follows our guidelines and can be accessed at the location you provided and then resubmit.
HTTP Error: 404
Problem detected on: May 18, 2011
My Legacy SmugMug Site (not ready to migrate yet)
Hi Bob,
The sitemap-index at http://bobanderson.smugmug.com/sitemap-index.xml.gz has links to the following sitemaps:
I checked all 3 of those and they appear to be okay from all the tests I have run. You should have these three showing up (hopefully with no red X's) and anything else should be giving you a 404 error. The 404 error is basically our server saying that the files do not exist anymore, which they do not. It just takes Google a while to realize that it is intentional.
Make sure you have submitted only the sitemap-index.xml.gz file and it should pick these up and eventually the old ones should go away.
- Greg
Hi there,
I see the same data you are and checked our queue - I see your site in the queue to be processed. Right now there are a quite a few entries in the queue. I am going to check some things tomorrow, but we probably just have to wait for things to get unplugged.
For what its worth I show that on 5-13 you did an update that would cause changes to approximately 182 images - does that seem about right?
- Greg
Thanks Greg. Here's what I show as being submitted. Looks like the problem is simply that Smugmug made a change and my old sitemaps are obsolete.:
My Legacy SmugMug Site (not ready to migrate yet)
My Legacy SmugMug Site (not ready to migrate yet)
BTW, I'm doing some uploads yesterday and today.
Thanks for looking into it.
http://www.sritch.com
The Dogs of Vancouver, BC
182 images is ok. Its just the number of images that are going to end up being processed for the sitemap. Sorry, think I add some confusion with the way I worded that.
- Greg
Yeah, that looks good to me too.
- Greg
And my question again - Please link to the source, where it is written that Google will crawl sitemap in format *.xml.gz
You are confusing me with your question, did you go read sitemaps.org? This is all explained there.
Anyways, Google retrieves whatever file we direct them to, it doesn't matter what the name is. What matters is if the file is compressed or not that the right mime header is being sent. So for example:
http://{yoursite}/sitemap-base.xml:
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8
http://{yoursite}/sitemap-base.xml.gz
Content-Type: application/x-gzip
From that a search engine knows the file is compressed or not. But even if we did not set that right, there are still many other ways to detect if the file is XML or compressed XML.
The chain that leads to this (which maybe this is where your question is going? I really don't know, its very confusing to me..) is:
robots.txt: specify the sitemap-index file to crawl (sitemap-index.xml.gz)
|---sitemap-index.xml: specify the individual sitemap files
|---|---{files within sitemap-index.xml.gz}: links to individual pages or images depending on the type of sitemap file it is
How this all works is really explained at sitemaps.org if you need more details.
- Greg
2. About how many errors occur when submit the above sitemap to webmasters tools, you can read here:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=190216
or here:
http://www.google.com/search?q=xml.gz&hl=en#hl=en&sugexp=lems&pq=errors%20xml.gz&xhr=t&q=submission+error+xml.gz&cp=11&mss=submissioerror%20xml.gz&pf=p&sclient=psy&safe=off&source=hp&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=submission+error+xml.gz&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=bc4fbe72e0bc93d6