[Cloudrunner]

Alright folks, here it is. The definative [HOWTO] on getting this to work with vBeulltin 3.6.4 with vBAdvanced CMPS installed and the root directory instead of /forum/. This is step by step from modification to installation to notifying Google and Yahoo. I hope this helps some folks out.

1. Ignore the installation instructions given in the archive as it will not work for you very well if you are running vBAdvanced CMPS!
2. In your /vbseo_sitemap/ directory edit the file "index.php".
   • Find the following code:

     define('VBSEO_SMDIR', dirname(__FILE__));

     Add below it the following code and modify it to your server's forum location:

     define('DIR', '/home/yourwebsite/public_html/forum');

     Then find the following code:

     chdir('../');

     Replace it with this:

     chdir(DIR);

   • Save and close "index.php".
3. In your /vbseo_sitemap/ directory edit the file "vbseo_sitemap.php".
   • Find the following code:

     define('DIR', dirname(__FILE__).'/../');

     Replace it with the following code and modify it to your server's forum location:

     define('DIR', '/home/yourwebsite/public_html/forum');

     Then find the following code:

     chdir(dirname(__FILE__).'/../');

     and replace it with this:

     chdir(DIR);

   • Save and close "vbseo_sitemap.php".
4. In your /vbseo_sitemap/ directory edit the file "vbseo_sitemap_functions.php".
   • Find the following code around line 466:

     'url'=>$vbseo_vars['bburl'] . '/' .$sm_filename,

     and replace it with this:

     'url'=>$vboptions['homeurl'] . '/' .$sm_filename,

     making sure to have the 'homeurl' defined in your vBulletin Admincp->Options->Sitename / URL / Contact details->Homepage URL as your root directory, ie.: http://www.your-site.com
   • Save and close "vbseo_sitemap_functions.php".
5. In your /vbseo_sitemap/addons/ directory edit the file "vbseo_sm_vba.php":
   • Find the following code:

     $vba_url = $vbseo_vars['bburl'].'/';

     Replace that with the following:

     $vba_url = '';

     .
   • Save and close "vbseo_sm_vba.php".
6. Upload your .htaccess file to your webroot directory.
   • /home/yoursite/public_html/.htaccess
7. Upload the now modified vbseo_sitemap directory to your webroot directory.
   • /home/yoursite/public_html/vbseo_sitemap/
8. CHMOD your /vbseo_sitemap/data/ directory to 777.
9. Import the product xml that came with this modification by going to AdminCP->Plugins & Products->Manage Products->[Add/Import Product].
10. Go to your AdminCP->Options page and select vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator and fill out the options according to the instructions for the modification.
    • Make sure to put vbseo_sm_vba.php in the Addons Generator Modules section or your vBAdvanced pages will not be included in the sitemap.
    • Save your Options.
11. Create a new vB Cron Job by going to AdminCP->Scheduled Tasks->Add New Scheduled Task and input the following settings (See Attachment 1):
    • Varname: sitemaps
    • Title: vBSEO - Create Google/Yahoo Sitemap
    • Description: Creates a sitemap for google sitemaps.
    • Log Phrase: vBSEO - Create Google/Yahoo Sitemap
    • Day of the Week: *
    • Day of the Month: *
    • Hour: 2
    • Minute: 0
    • Active: Yes
    • Log Entries: Yes
    • Filename: ../vbseo_sitemap/vbseo_sitemap.php
    • Product: vBSEO :: Sitemap Generator
    • vBulletin Default: No
12. Run this new scheduled task for the first time. There should not be any errors listed.
13. Once your scheduled task has run successfully it is now time to submit your sitemap(s) to Google.
    • Login to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview
    • Create a new site listing for your web-root (http://www.your-site.com) if you have not done so already and get it verified.
    • Click the link "Manage *yoursite*"
    • Click "Sitemaps"
    • Click "Add a Sitemap"
    • Select "Add General Web Sitemap"
    • In the resulting input box put the path to your new sitemap xml index document.
      • http://www.yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml.gz
        • You MUST use this address otherwise it will not work right.
    • Click "Add Web Sitemap"
    • In a few minutes (It may take as long as an hour to get the spider to your site and have google check your files) Google will spider the file and then check and parse it. Check back to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview to make sure no errors occured in the parsing of the files.

I am still waiting to make sure that the yahoo portion of this is working. When it comes back good I'll post specifics on it as well.

Again, These are the steps I took to get it working with my 3.6.4 and vBAdvanced CMPS. I'm certain there are other methods, but this seemed the easiest for me, and if it helps to alleviate issues for only one more person then I am happy.

Namaste
)O( Cloudrunner )O(