Board Optimization - vBSEO Search Engine XML Sitemap

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.

[briansol]

Originally Posted by jitsuboy

I've installed as noted. I've edited and added a password.

When I go to http://www.mysite.com/forums/vbseo_sitemap/ I get a "The requested URL /forums/vbseo_sitemap/ was not found on this server"

I'm not exactly sure where I went wrong, but the vBSEO Search Engine XML Sitemap is working on my ACP. I just can't log in.

Thanks

Also- I'm not exactly sure if I had a .htaccess file previously. I've never uploaded one so I'm assuming that I don't. If I did however, could this be the reason I'm getting this error?

Thanks!!

htaccess is not required to get to vbseo_sitemap, just to load sitemap_index.xml.gz. Frankly it sounds like you uploaded the entire thing in the wrong place or uploaded the 'upload' fodler with it for some reason.

Originally Posted by jitsuboy

How do you do this?

google.com/webmasters

Originally Posted by Alibass

What files need to be uploaded for the patch, just what is in the upload file folder?

Upload the whole thing and re-import the product with over-write.

[briansol]

Originally Posted by incisor

this work with php 4?

or do i need to be running 5?

php5

Originally Posted by tidus78

Mmmmmmm

Already installed but when I "run generator"

[SECTION START] tags [6,533.9Kb mem used] [195s (+194s)]
Database Error 	Database error

view source to get the actual database error.

Originally Posted by tidus78

Ok just do it,tags eliminated but now I have a big problem....forum and thread don't be displayed.......



Help me....

sitemap only includes public (guest) urls. If your site is locked down, it will never get indexed.

Originally Posted by your24hourstore

what is this part for

Addon Generator Modules
Set the addon module names here, one name per line. The modules files are located in vbseo_sitemap/addons/ folder.

it's for 'add ons' ie, you can make a tool for your gallery, or whatever else you run to add to the sitemap. Chances are, you can leave this blank.

Originally Posted by Merih

same problem ?

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 33554432 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 73 bytes) in /home/users/public_html/vbseo_sitemap/index.php on line 218

You need to increase your php.ini memory_limit setting and restart your webserver. 32M is bare minimum. 64 recommended.

[briansol]

Originally Posted by jitsuboy

When you say I uploaded as is, what do you mean? I edited it to make it read like this: RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^((urllist|sitemap).*\.(xml|txt)(\.gz)?)$ http://www.mysite.com/vbseo_sitemap/vbseo_getsitemap.php?sitemap=$1 [L]

This is incorrect. Re-upload the default htaccess file to your forum root. No changes are needed to the file itself.

I've Chmod 777 the data folder to my root

this doesn't even make sense....

I also moved my vb folder from my public_html to the root directory.

why?

I have it set to VBSEO installed: No

When I moved my VB folder to the root directory my site would no longer load. So I just moved it back and now it works fine. Could you clarify what you mean by that?

Also, what do you mean that I'm showing it installed in the forum?

Thanks!!!

Who knows wht you did here moving everything around.

Start over. stop moving stuff, and follow the readme file step by step.

Originally Posted by Alibass

Thanks for somebody at vBSEO for not replying!

Fast & Full support is offered for our vBSEO customers first. We will get here when and if we can. If it's not fast enough, you can purchase a license to receive our priority support.
[QUOTE=your24hourstore;2160336]wouldnt expect to much in a free mod when they sell a premium mod

add: wow the mod in here that adds to a previous post isn't working

more details please?

Originally Posted by OldSchoolDSL

This update places the site map

http://www.sociallyuncensored.com/forums/sitemap_index.xml.gz

And not vbseo_sitemap/data/sitemap_index.xml.gz

So honestly, this make it more SEO friendly.

The htacces file does this, and always has since day 1 of the mod released, as it is required by google/etc to have the sitemap file load from the base directory, but making your public_html directory writable is just, well, dumb. So, we put it in its own data folder and use mod_rewrite to make it appear to be in the site or forum root depending on where you installed your board.

Originally Posted by your24hourstore

ha i got it so im deleting all the crap above

went with /vbseo_sitemap/sitemap_index.xml.gz

Which is incorrect.

It should load from
site.com/sitemap_index.xml.gz
or
site.com/forum/sitemap_index.xml.gz
depending on where you installed your board.

vbseo_sitemap/ should never appear in the url of the sitemap itself, just the admin interface.

[briansol]

Originally Posted by OldSchoolDSL

Just do not know why it always says 0 blog tags.

Do you have blog tags that aren't USER blog tags?

Originally Posted by viper357

Why is my runtime so high? You can also see it has stopped running daily, I would assume this is because it's taking 10 days to complete, this can't be normal, surely?

This means it's timing out. It picks up where it left off the last time it ran. So, your server needs 10x the rwesources to complete it.

You can remove sections like the archive/member pages/ and other "B" pages to make it run faster, or improve your servers memory_limit in php.ini and/or wait_timeout in my.cnf settings

[briansol]

Originally Posted by jitsuboy

after installing everything I'm not sure exactly what to do next.
I've installed the .xml file. I've edited the way the creator said to, I'm just not sure how to use this mod now.

This is the main thing that confuses me.

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.

What exactly would my VB forum root be if I haven't changed it

It's not about changing.... it's about the fact that we have NO idea what your domain name is, or where you placed your forum.

This is YOUR site.

If you run jitsuboy.com
and installed vb in root, it would be
it would be
jitsuboy.com/vbseo_sitemap/

If you put it in forums,
jitsuboy.com/forums/vbseo_sitemap/

and so on.

[briansol]

Originally Posted by ssssami

hi very thanks ,

i need help please

after create sitemap for my site:

http://www.samytv.com/vb/forum.php

i find that sitemap contain page number of thread like this:

 <loc>http://www.samytv.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8&amp;page=3</loc>

but i do not want cotain page number in my sitemap

because my forum depend on first page of thread only

i want that sitemap contain main link to thread only like

 <loc>http://www.samytv.com/vb/showthread.php?t=8</loc>

can help me please ?

The Sitemap tool creates a sitemap. It is not a pick and chose pages tool.

What you want, can't be done, and is a waste of time to even consider. If you want it all on 1 page, set your vb pagination settings to 9999999999999999999 posts per page.

[briansol]

Originally Posted by steve1966

uninstalled till there is a fix

What exact issue are you facing? there are no known issues at this time. a fixed was posted within 10 minuets, and days ago since this post.

[briansol]

Originally Posted by Edgespeeder06

okay so what did I do wrong? ugh http://njstangers.org/forum/vbseo_sitemap/

Nothing... that's the admin interface. Login. It will show you the url to your sitemap in the top right.

set your password in vboptions -> vbseo sitemap options

Originally Posted by Edgespeeder06

Are these files suppose to be all in the root forum folder or actually in an "upload" folder branched off it?

Upload ALL the files and folders within the 'upload' folder to your forum root folder.

just like vb comes with an upload folder, docs folder, etc, you don't actually upload the upload folder, bur the CONTENTS OF the upload folder to your site.
Open it up, you will see some folders that match your vb install. Those should merge. (includes -> includes, etc).

CHMOD 777 the 'forum-root/vbseo_sitemap/data/' folder

This is where the files are stored at run and this area needs to be writable, 777, so it can write to this area.

Originally Posted by viper357

Why does this take so long to complete a sitemap? I have uninstalled and re-installed but it makes no difference, look at the amount of time it takes to generate a sitemap.

Does this hack have a problem with litespeed servers?

you have too much stuff, not enough processing power, or a combination there of.

trim some sections off (members, archive, showpost, other useless pages)
increase wait_timeout, memory_limit

run it manually after tweaking settings to make sure it is able to complete. A db error will likely show in source.

This works on any webserver. Only different is the 'htaccess' rules on some software, but not lightspeed.

[briansol]

Originally Posted by tidus78

Ii doesn't show showthread and forumdisplay sitemap,0 url.

I set to yes in setting,count only cms,blog,member on my 4.1.1.

Any idea??
Edit/Delete Message

Are your forums open for guests? sitemap only includes public threads. And if you're worried about search engine hits, you need to make your content public.

Originally Posted by vitrag24

compatible with vb 4.1.2?

Don't see why not. I haven't upgraded yet, but there's nothing in the update list that says it will break it. Try it, view the sitemap, check webmaster tools to make sure they've accepted it correctly.

[Crotan]

So I've installed this and reports are generating fine, as I see them in the Reports list. However I'm not seeing any bots download them in my downloads log tab.

Multiple days, have a report generated once a day.