Administrative and Maintenance Tools - vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator

vBSEO Search Engine XML Sitemap 3.0
We are extremely pleased to inform the vBulletin.org community that a fully revamped version of the vBSEO Search Engine XML Sitemap (previously "vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator") v.3.0, is being released to all licensed vBulletin users effective immediately!

Note: The NEW vBSEO Search Engine XML Sitemap 3.0 replaces all previous versions of the "vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator", and includes support for all the new URL types in vBulletin 4.x.

New in the vBSEO Search Engine XML Sitemap v.3.0
The new sitemap alters the way data is structured in fundamental ways. Sitemap 3.0 segments different content areas into separate files, so you end up with a unique set of files per content type: forums, blogs, cms, groups, albums, members, tags, etc. In addition, the new sitemap has an extended priority feature that utilizes the built in 'weight' tool of the vBulletin XML sitemap generator for individual forums, CMS sections and articles to act as a multiplier.

We believe these changes are responsible for delivering increased returns for a number of forums from customers and testers we've been tracking. Please track your own progress via your Google Webmaster tools account, Google Analytics or Gravity Insights.

A Clean and Beautiful Interface
The new sitemap also features a clean and beautiful interface, built from the ground up. We believe it reflects the quality, precision and attention to detail placed into each aspect of this release. We are passionate about building software, and great software is beautiful inside, and out.

Overview
============================

The "vBSEO Search Engine XML Sitemap" plugin provides an easy to use solution that allows your forum to be indexed by all major search engines, including Google, Yahoo, Bing, and Ask, faster, more completely, more effectively, and with less bandwidth consumption.

The ultimate goal is to help you achieve more web traffic for your forum.

Originally Posted by Google's Description of GSM

https://services.google.com/inquiry/publishertools?hl=en_US
Google Sitemaps is an easy way for you to help improve your site?s representation in the Google index. It's a collaborative crawling system that enables you to communicate directly with Google. You get a smarter crawl because you can provide Google with specific information about all your web pages, such as when a page was last modified or how frequently it changes.

Note: This plugin is fully compliant with vBSEO 3.5.x versions. The current version is vBSEO 3.5.2. If you are running vBSEO, please upgrade to vBSEO 3.5.2 (or greater) before installing for optimal results.

Compatibility
============================

Fully compatible with:

• vBulletin 3.8.x, 4.0.x, 4.1.x
• vBulletin Blogs *Optional
• vBulletin CMS *Optional
• vBSEO 3.5.2 + higher *Optional

What does it do?
============================

• Auto-generates an XML sitemap for all of your specified forum URL types (including vBulletin Blog & CMS URLs).
• NEW! Groups forum areas into individual sitemaps grouped by section type for greater flexibility, for example:
  • sitemap_forum_X.xml.gz
  • sitemap_tags_X.xml.gz
  • sitemap_cms_X.xml.gz
• Auto-notifies Search Engines when a new sitemap is generated (optional)
• Automatically sends you a summary of the sitemap generation via email each time it is created (optional)
• Includes only publicly accessible forums and threads and includes the option of not including any specific public forums
• Allows Search Engines to find all of your forum URLs without having to spider the forum to find the links. Great for Deep Page linking!
• Allows Search Engines to find your forum URLs without having to account for query string and/or session ID information.
• Allows Search Engines to give precedence to crawling your higher priority forum pages.
• Allows Search Engines to give precedence to crawling your forum pages that change more frequently.
• Allows you to conserve bandwidth by more efficiently facilitating the crawling processes for GoogleBot, Yahoo Slurp, Ask's Teoma, Bing's msnbot, and other search engine bots.
• Is 100% compatible with the static CRUs (Content Relevant URLs) used by vBSEO-enabled forums.
• Is 100% compatible with the 'Friendly URLs' offered default with vb4.x.

How does it work?
============================

Whenever it is scheduled or invoked via the URL, this plugin will generate an XML formatted that search engines are able to read and parse. If you selected "Yes" to the Auto-notification setting, The 4 major search engines will be notified each time the sitemap is generated.

• Google Sitemap files are gzipped for space savings
• Forum and thread pages are listed with pagination (i.e. all pages for each forums/thread are included in the sitemap)
• Maximum Priority is set for Sticky threads.
• Optimization for sitemap generation on large forums.

Automated Reporting Tool
============================

The vBSEO Sitemap includes a report tool, allowing you to track your progress. To access your reports enter the following URL:

http://www.example.com/forums/vbseo_sitemap/

NOTE: Replace "http://www.example.com/forums/" with the full URL to your vB forum root.


You will be required to login by providing your "Sitemap Interface Access Password" from your vBSEO Sitemap settings in:

• vBulletin Admin CP -> vBSEO -> vBSEO Sitemap Settings
  

Once you successfully login, you will see a number of tabs. Here are the 4 main links:

Reports List
The 'Show Reports List' link will display a report of each time your vBSEO Sitemap generator executed, including the (1) date, (2) run time, (3) total URLs included, and (4) and change in # of URLs included from the last generation.

Each vBSEO Sitemap generation record will include a (1) "View details" and (2) "Remove record" link. The "View Details" link shows more detailed information about the sitemap generated. The "Remove record" will permanently delete the record from your reports.

Downloads Log
The 'Show Sitemap Downloads Log' link will display a report of each time your vBSEO Sitemap was downloaded by either a search engine (Identified by the Bot's name) or by another user agent (i.e. Web browser, etc.).

The report includes the (1) date, (2) name of sitemap file downloaded, (3) Bot, (4) IP address of the downloader, and the (5) User-agent.

Each vBSEO Sitemap download record will include a "Remove record" link which will permanently delete the record from your reports.

Search Engine Bots Activity Log
Use it to track Search engine activity on your sitemaps. This area displays how often, and what volume of pages search engines visit your site on a daily basis.

Run Generator
The 'Run Sitemap Generator' link will automatically regenerate your vBSEO Search Engine XML Site sitemaps.

Additional Links
Additional links to various other related Search Engine/SEO resources are also included.

Click "Install"
============================
Please click "Mark as Installed" to show your support for this script.

Installation, Upgrade, & Configuration
============================
Follow the installation/upgrade instructions provided in the docs/readme.html file.

Webmaster Accounts
============================
It is NOT required for you to have a Webmaster account on the search engines' websites to run the plugin, however, we recommend everyone set one up for tracking purposes.

• Google Webmaster Central. Get data about crawling, indexing and search traffic. Increase traffic to your site.
• Bing Toolbox
• https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/

Copyright & Licensing
============================

• vBSEO Search Engine XML Sitemap plugin is copyright protected by Crawlability Inc.
• You are free to download and install this plugin on any vBulletin forum for which you hold a valid vB license.
• Unauthorized distribution of any code and/or documentation, whole or in part, included here is strictly prohibited.
• In addition, the following copyright notice must be maintained.

vBSEO(TM) ? 2010 Crawlability, Inc.

Revision History
============================

11/11/2010 - Version 3.0 Released
Compatible with vB3.7.x+ and vB4.x+
NEW FEATURE: All CMS URLs are supported
NEW FEATURE: Sitemap Groups by content type
NEW FEATURE: Enhanced layout and design of the Sitemap Generator Control Panel
NEW FEATURE: XSL Style sheet of the xml files for easier human reading
NEW FEATURE: Extended Priority. Utilizes the built in 'weight' tool of the vBulletin XML generator for all content areas (Forums, Blogs, CMS, Albums, etc.) to act as a multiplier. (vb4 Suite only)

Other vBSEO Plugins
============================

• vBSEO - vBulletin Search Engine Optimization

vBSEO Affiliate Program
============================
We welcome you to join the vBSEO Affiliate Program.

[AfterWorldForum]

Hey,

Installed and ran it for a few days, and have been keeping an eye on my WebMaster tools to see how effective this is. I just see a major difference between total urls and Indexed urls:

Format URLs in Sitemap Submitted Downloaded
Sitemap Index Total: 791, Indexed: 19

Sep 15, 2009 ? Resubmit Sep 15, 2009
Sitemap errors and warnings


Could anyone explain the difference between the two? How can I get more indexed urls of the total amount?

I still have to update my robots etc, and do some other standard seo tweaking, but was just curious about the huge difference between these two.

Thanks in advance

Peter

[Chimpie]

A client of mine has developed an interesting situation that I can't figure out.

If I go under vBSEO Sitemap Reports, and run the generator I get this...

[homepage] [3,089.1Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] forumdisplay [3,089.4Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] showthread [3,089.6Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[archive homepage] [3,089.8Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] forumdisplay archived [3,089.9Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] showthread archived [3,090.0Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] member [3,090.1Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] polls [3,096.3Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] blogs [3,096.3Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] albums [3,096.3Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] groups [3,096.4Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] tags [3,102.8Kb mem used] [0s (+0s)]
Database errorThe The forum name edit database has encountered a problem.

But if I go under the Scheduled Tasks and run it, it goes through just fine, even sending me the confirmation email.

Everything was working just fine, for about 13 days, then during the scheduled task it would cause an error. Then it worked for one day after, then errors out again.

I have uninstalled the xml file and reinstalled, overwriting... no help.
I reuploaded and overrode the install files... no help.

I've turned off all the other mods and hacks... no help.

I'm really confused on this one.

[donnie_ogm]

Hi guys,

are there any codes to be inserted in .htaccess in order to try to have html link in the sitemaps?

Thanks in advance

[blackberry]

its not working for me

whenever i click on run sitemap generator

its gives me this error

any fix will be appreciated thanks

[SECTION START] tags [12,798.6Kb mem used] [5,405,634s (+191s)]
[create sitemap file] filename: sitemap_239.xml.gz, number of urls: 20000 [12,862.4Kb mem used] [5,405,644s (+10s)]
[create sitemap in text format] part #240 [12,862.4Kb mem used] [5,405,644s (+0s)]
[create sitemap file] filename: sitemap_240.xml.gz, number of urls: 20000 [12,865.6Kb mem used] [5,405,659s (+15s)]
[create sitemap in text format] part #241 [12,865.7Kb mem used] [5,405,659s (+0s)]
[create sitemap file] filename: sitemap_241.xml.gz, number of urls: 20000 [12,868.3Kb mem used] [5,405,677s (+18s)]
[create sitemap in text format] part #242 [12,868.3Kb mem used] [5,405,677s (+0s)]
[create sitemap file] filename: sitemap_242.xml.gz, number of urls: 20000 [12,869.8Kb mem used] [5,405,696s (+20s)]
[create sitemap in text format] part #243 [12,869.8Kb mem used] [5,405,696s (+0s)]
[create sitemap file] filename: sitemap_243.xml.gz, number of urls: 2982 [12,866.3Kb mem used] [5,405,700s (+3s)]
[create sitemap in text format] part #244 [12,866.3Kb mem used] [5,405,700s (+0s)]
[create sitemap index] filename: sitemap_index.xml.gz, number of sitemaps: 243 [12,926.6Kb mem used] [5,405,700s (+0s)]

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 67108864 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 252049792 bytes) in /h****/sa****/p****/forum/vbseo_sitemap/vbseo_sitemap_functions.php on line 1537

[kall]

Originally Posted by blackberry

its not working for me

whenever i click on run sitemap generator

its gives me this error

any fix will be appreciated thanks

Either just keep running it (it will pick up where it left off), or increase your memory_limit.

[blackberry]

how to increase memory_limit?

[Cloudrunner]

Originally Posted by blackberry

its not working for me

whenever i click on run sitemap generator

its gives me this error

any fix will be appreciated thanks

Increase your wait time between file making to 30, increase your total links per file to 40,000. Doing these *should* lower your memory usage. I am not a dev for this mod, so I could be wrong. These have helped me though.

Sitemap Settings -> Max URLs in Sitemap Files -> 40000
Sitemap Settings -> Delay Execution After Each Sitemap File -> 30

Also take a read on the following posts, because it looks to me like you are pushing entirely too much data to the engines (243 site files? Really?):

The original post can be found here with even more SEO information

Originally Posted by Biransol's Ultimate Guide to vBSEO

In the sitemap, think lean. All you want is your main info. No bloat. The idea is not to index every little bit.. it's to index your important info. If you have more than 4 or 5 files per million posts, you're doing it wrong. I can't tell you how many times i've seen sub-million post forums with 70-odd sitemap files. Doing that is entirely counter productive. I recommend the following settings:

There is a problem introduced when you change your priorities to what Briansol has though (Sitemap will write the priorities wrong and mess up a tag within the sitemap causing google to get upset), so to avoid the issue I suggestion the following priorities (they meld with Briansol's, but avoid the issue that is introduced when using his priority settings):

Smart Frequency for Show Thread Pages: Yes
Priority Range - Show Post: 0.1-0.2
Priority Range - Member Profiles: 0.2-0.3
Priority Range - Forum Display: 0.6-0.7
Priority Range - Poll Results: 0.1-0.2
Priority Range - Show Thread: 0.9-1.0
Priority Range - Blog Entries: 0.2-0.3
Priority Range - Blog Tags: 0.2-0.3
Priority Range - Member Profile Albums: 0.2-0.3
Priority Range - Social Groups:0.3-0.4
Priority Range - Social Group Discussions: 0.3-0.4
Priority Range - Social Group Pictures: 0.3-0.4
Priority Range - Tags: 0.5-0.6
Smart Priority: Yes

Seriously, knock out a bunch of them links (most of which I'm sure are useless to you in terms of quality content in the eyes of the all seeing, all knowing Google) out of your sitemap and not only will you see a more efficient crawl from the spiders, but since they have an easier time crawling the most important stuff, they then will have more time to spread out within your site and consume the other bits and you'll quit overloading your server's memory .

[blackberry]

@cloudrunner

as per ur settings i finally get this

Thanks alot

[SECTION START] tags [11,545.9Kb mem used] [5,481,734s (+486s)]
[create sitemap file] filename: sitemap_287.xml.gz, number of urls: 40000 [11,598.7Kb mem used] [5,481,794s (+60s)]
[create sitemap file] filename: sitemap_288.xml.gz, number of urls: 1555 [11,594.7Kb mem used] [5,481,827s (+33s)]
[create sitemap index] filename: sitemap_index.xml.gz, number of sitemaps: 288 [11,665.8Kb mem used] [5,481,827s (+0s)]
Sitemap has been created. Click here to return [11,559.8Kb mem used] [5,481,828s (+1s)]

[Cloudrunner]

Anytime my friend, I'm glad I could help .

Jeez, how long has your site been running LOL? 288 pages ... wow ... that's insane!

[MagicThemeParks]

Just had the Live.com ping fail.

Live.com ping: FAILED

....what did I miss or what do I need to fix?