vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator for vBulletin 3.6.x, 3.5.x & 3.0.x

vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator - vBulletin 3.5.x
Download vB 3.8.x Compatible Version Here
Download vB 3.7.x Compatible Version Here
Download vB 3.6.x Compatible Version Here
Download vB 3.0.x Compatible Version Here

Note: Version 2.5 replaces all previous versions of the vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator, and now includes support for all the new URL types in vBulletin 3.8.x.

Overview
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Providing Google, Yahoo, Ask sitemaps is an essential step towards improving your forums.

The "vBSEO Google Sitemaps" plugin provides a solution that allows your forum to be indexed by the Google (and also Yahoo and Ask) search engines 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.x version. The current version is vBSEO 3.2. However, if you are running vBSEO, please upgrade to vBSEO 3.2 or greater before installing.

Compatibility
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Fully compatible with:

• vBulletin 3.0.x, 3.5.x, 3.6.x, 3.7.x and 3.8.x
• vBulletin Blogs 1.0.x and 2.0.x *Optional
• vBSEO 2.x, 3.x *Optional

What does it do?

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• Auto-generates a Google XML sitemap for all of your specified forum URL types (including vBulletin Blog URLs).
• Auto-generates a Yahoo text sitemap for all of your specified forum URL types.
• Auto-notifies Google when a new sitemap is generated.
• Automatically sends you a summary of the sitemap generation via email each time it is created.
• Includes only publicly accessible forums and threads.
• Allows Google/Yahoo to find all of your forum URLs without having to spider the forum to find the links.
• Allows Google/Yahoo to find your forum URLs without having to account for query string and/or session ID information.
• Allows Google to give precedence to crawling your higher priority forum pages.
• Allows Google 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 and Yahoo Slurp.
• Is 100% compatible with the static CRUs (Content Relevant URLs) used by vBSEO-enabled forums.

How does it work?
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Whenever it is scheduled or invoked via the URL, this plugin will generate both the Google XML formatted and the Yahoo text formatted sitemaps. If you selected "Yes" to the Google auto-notification setting, Google will be notified each time the sitemap is generated. The Yahoo sitemap must be manually submitted to http://submit.search.yahoo.com/free/request/.

• Google Sitemap files are gzipped
• 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
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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 (for 3.5.x/3.6.x/3.7.x/3.8.x users) OR
• vbseo_sitemap.php configuration file (for 3.0.x users) located in the vbseo_sitemap directory in your forum root.

Once you successfully login, you will be provided with a list of 'Useful Links'. Here are the 4 main links:

Show 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.

Show Sitemap 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 (GoogleBot or Yahoo) 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.

Run Sitemap Generator
The 'Run Sitemap Generator' link will automatically regenerate your Google and Yahoo sitemaps.

Your Forums Homepage
The 'Your Forums Homepage' link is a quick link back to your forum homepage.

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


Click "Install"
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Please click "Install" to show your support for this script.


Installation & Configuration for vB 3.5.x, 3.6.x, 3.7.x and 3.8.x as a Plugin
============================

Follow the installation/upgrade instructions provided in the docs/readme.html file.


Google Webmaster Accounts
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It is NOT required for you to have a Google Webmaster account to run the vBulletin Google Sitemaps plugin. If you decide to setup an account for testing purposes you can do so here:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login?sourceid=gsm&subid=us-et-about2


Copyright & Licensing

============================

• vBSEO Google Sitemaps 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) ? 2005-2009 Crawlability, Inc.


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

02/22/2009 - Version 2.5 Released

NEW FEATURE: Blog tags URLs are included.
NEW FEATURE: Social Group Discussion URLs are included.
NEW FEATURE: Smart Priority applied for the following URL types

1. Show Post
2. Member Profiles
3. Forum Display
4. Poll Results
5. Blog Entries
6. Member Profile Albums
7. Social Groups
8. Social Groups Discussions
9. Social Group Pictures
10. Tags
11. Blog Tags

UPDATE: Compatible with vBulletin 3.8.x. Includes the following updated settings:

1. Priority Range - Show Post
2. Priority Range - Member Profiles
3. Priority Range - Forum Display
4. Priority Range - Poll Results
5. Priority Range - Show Thread
6. Priority Range - Blog Entries
7. Priority Range - Member Profile Albums
8. Priority Range - Social Groups
9. Priority Range - Social Group Pictures
10. Priority Range - Tags

Fix: Social Group Discussion database error is fixed.

Upgrade Instructions
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(1) Follow the installation/upgrade instructions provided in the docs/readme.html file.

(2) For versions of vBulletin 3.6.x only: Open "Schedule Manager" in the vBulletin Admin Control Panel (admincp); Remove existing scheduled task for Sitemap Generator if you have one.
Note: The new task will be automatically setup when you import the XML product file.

Other vBSEO Plugins

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• vBSEO - vBulletin Search Engine Optimization
  
• vBSEO Conditional Signatures for vBulletin

vBSEO Affiliate Program
============================

We welcome you to join the vBSEO Affiliate Program.

[theodonnells]

Everything installed ok but yahoo and google cant find the sitemaps.....They are there in the data folder....How do i know my .htaccess is redirecting them properly?See here http://www.toonsunited.com/vb/vbseo_sitemap but when i look there has been no downloads of the files.I logged into google and submitted the sitemap manually, and it reported google tried to download the site map but gave the Error that it couldnt be found!

[iojam]

theodonnells,

it seems that .htaccess rewrite rule doesn't work correctly at your host. You can check that by entering the sitemap URL in browser:
http://www.toonsunited.com/vb/sitemap_index.xml.gz

Please make sure that .htaccess entry is inserted correctly in /vb/.htaccess and mod_rewrite is supported by your server.
Also try to add the following directive in .htaccess before the RewriteRule line (which is required in some configurations):

RewriteBase /vb/

[Monolith]

Hi!

Thanks for making this available. I appreciate your work.

Ive got one question, though... does google still take advantage of the sitemaps this mod creates even though theyre buried under a few subdirectories?

I read this at Google, which got me a little concerned:

The location of a Sitemap file determines the set of URLs that can be included in that Sitemap. A Sitemap file located at http://example.com/catalog/sitemap.gz can include any URLs starting with http://example.com/catalog/ but can not include URLs starting with http://example.com/images/.

If you have the permission to change http://example.org/path/sitemap.gz, it is safe to assume that you also have permission to provide information for URLs with the prefix http://example.org/path/. Examples of URLs considered valid in http://example.com/catalog/sitemap.gz include:

http://example.com/catalog/show?item=23
http://example.com/catalog/show?item=233&user=3453

URLs not considered valid in http://example.com/catalog/sitemap.gz include:

http://example.com/image/show?item=23
http://example.com/image/show?item=233&user=3453
https://example.com/catalog/page1.html


URLs that are not considered valid are dropped from further consideration. It is strongly recommended that you place your Sitemap at the root directory of your web server. For example, if your web server is at example.com, then your Sitemap index file would be at http://example.com/sitemap.gz. In certain cases, you may need to produce different Sitemaps for different paths e.g. if security permissions in your organization compartmentalize write access to different directories.

So if this mod is generating sitemaps in example.com/forum/vbseo/data/, does Google still consider URL's in the sitemaps for higher directories valid?

Sorry if im missing something simple. :ninja:

[ConqSoft]

That's the purpose of the .htaccess file, to make it appear that the sitemap files are located in your forums directory.

[theodonnells]

Originally Posted by iojam

theodonnells,

it seems that .htaccess rewrite rule doesn't work correctly at your host. You can check that by entering the sitemap URL in browser:
http://www.toonsunited.com/vb/sitemap_index.xml.gz

Please make sure that .htaccess entry is inserted correctly in /vb/.htaccess and mod_rewrite is supported by your server.
Also try to add the following directive in .htaccess before the RewriteRule line (which is required in some configurations):

Adding RewriteBase /vb/
fixed it now yahoo and google have found my files....
Thanks for your advice iojam, i must have uploaded and changed my .htaccess a million times as i was sure it was something i had done wrong

[Monolith]

Originally Posted by ConqSoft

That's the purpose of the .htaccess file, to make it appear that the sitemap files are located in your forums directory.

Ahhh... ok, thanks.

Do you (or anyone) know how i would get this to work with vBadv? My forums are in example.com/subfolder/, so i think sitemaps are only being generated for everything in that subfolder.

How would i get this mod to generate sitemaps for everything in my root directory?

[noppid]

Originally Posted by Monolith

Ahhh... ok, thanks.

Do you (or anyone) know how i would get this to work with vBadv? My forums are in example.com/subfolder/, so i think sitemaps are only being generated for everything in that subfolder.

How would i get this mod to generate sitemaps for everything in my root directory?

You'll have to add those files to the extra-urls.txt file by hand I believe.

[ConqSoft]

1.5 came with an addon to auto-generate CMPS links into your sitemap I believe.

[MissKalunji]

im kind of lost

i installed everything it submits i receive e-mail no error

but in google sitemaps website it says

Not found We couldn't find the Sitemap at the location you provided. Please make sure the Sitemap URL is correct and resubmit your Sitemap.


whats the link of the : sitemap_vb_index.xml

am i suppose to give?

i gave the following : http://www.dancehallareaz.com/forum/...p_vb_index.xml

[iojam]

MissKalunji,

the sitemap index file URL is:
http://www.dancehallareaz.com/forum/...p_index.xml.gz