Administrative and Maintenance Tools - vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator

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

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


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?

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

• 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?
============================

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

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"
============================

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

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

(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

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

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

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

We welcome you to join the vBSEO Affiliate Program.

[varkjie]

:up:

Originally Posted by iojam

Make sure that you have 0777 permission set for vbseo_sitemap/data/ folder.

boy do I feel smart now, I was thinking that it was a file I forgot to chmod but wasn't sure which one!!! Thanks .... going to go hide under a rock now! LOL

[Super Jinni]

Originally Posted by iojam

Super Jinni,

try to increase memory_limit and max_execution_time settings in PHP configuration on your host.

I couldn't do that because PHP configuration settings are customizable by the server administrator. They are listed for reference only.


but I don't think that is the problem, because in my other website it works fine with the same php configuration...

[Super Jinni]

I reinstalled vbseo generator and deleted the vbseo_sitemap folder form the forum root the uploaded a fresh copy that I downloaded just now from here.
when I went to the vBSEO Sitemap Reports I found that the url of (Your Google Sitemap Index) still there before I generate it. after I generated it it still the same as before. and the sitemap ends with .xml not
with .gz as in the other website...

I've done everything that mentioned... but the problem still there..
hopeless

aouuuuuugh

[varkjie]

Please forgive my lack of an intelligent question here but, How quick is this expected to work? what kind of hits results should I expect?

I ask cause tonight I have had a FLOOD of users on my forum! I LOVE IT!!!! I am just wondering if it's from this add on??? I don't see what else could have caused such a huge incredible jump in my stats?????

[nirvana43]

my sitemaps are getting stored only in vbseo/data/ folder!!! how do change 'em so that they will be stored on root????
i tried this option :

Sitemap Files URL
Enter the url to use for sitemap files in case if you want to specify non-default URLs. For instance:
http://www.example.com

Leave this setting empty to use default vB url.

i wrote my root url in there but still its not storing sitemaps on root!!

also when i generate sitemap, it shows me this :

[homepage] [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] forumdisplay [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 3, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 4, total threads: 2, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 5, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 9, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 10, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 11, total threads: 1, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 12, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 8, total threads: 13, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 6, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 7, total threads: 102, pages: 6 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 13, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 14, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 27, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 28, total threads: 4, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 29, total threads: 3, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 30, total threads: 2, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 31, total threads: 1, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 24, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 25, total threads: 4, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 26, total threads: 51, pages: 3 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 15, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 16, total threads: 14, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 18, total threads: 24, pages: 2 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 17, total threads: 33, pages: 2 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 21, total threads: 31, pages: 2 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 22, total threads: 37, pages: 2 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 19, total threads: 49, pages: 3 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 20, total threads: 49, pages: 3 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 23, total threads: 27, pages: 2 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 41, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 42, total threads: 18, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 43, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 32, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 33, total threads: 7, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 34, total threads: 83, pages: 5 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 35, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 36, total threads: 3, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 37, total threads: 6, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 38, total threads: 8, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 39, total threads: 2, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 40, total threads: 5, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 44, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 45, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 47, total threads: 31, pages: 2 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 46, total threads: 1, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 48, total threads: 0, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[forumdisplay] forum_id: 49, total threads: 1, pages: 1 [0s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] showthread [0s (+0s)]
[archive homepage] [1s (+1s)]
[SECTION START] forumdisplay archived [1s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] showthread archived [1s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] member [1s (+0s)]
[SECTION START] polls [1s (+0s)]
[create sitemap file] filename: sitemap_1.xml.gz, number of urls: 4254 [1s (+0s)]
[create sitemap in text format] part #2 [1s (+0s)]
[create sitemap index] filename: sitemap_index.xml.gz, number of sitemaps: 1 [1s (+0s)]

i have total 612 topics in my forum and 684 posts!
and in google when i look for site:mysitename.com
it shows me links to only main forums and homepage!! but none of the topics or posts are getting crawled!

In vbseo exclude pages settings i've put :

calendar.php
editpost.php
member.php
memberlist.php
misc.php
newreply.php
newthread.php
printthread.php
private.php
register.php
report.php
search.php
showgroups.php
usercp.php
impressum.php
/admincp/
/modcp/
online.php
subscription.php
sendtofriend.php
threadrate.php
poll.php
attachment.php
avatar.php
faq.php
usercp.php
profile.php
memberlist.php

then what could be the problem???
please help!

[iojam]

I did not modify anything in that file. But checking now
vbseo_sm_config30x.php

This file is only modified if you are running vBulletin v3.0.x

my sitemaps are getting stored only in vbseo/data/ folder!!! how do change 'em so that they will be stored on root????

You should create .htaccess as described in installation instructions toaccess them via forums root.

[varkjie]

Originally Posted by iojam

You should create .htaccess as described in installation instructions toaccess them via forums root.

I did that but it's also not getting stored there for me, I actually had to download from /data and reupload to my forum root to get it submitted to google. and the file is chmoded 777

[iojam]

You should not copy the files into the forums root, although files are physically stored in the data/ folder, they can be accessed via forums root with rewrite rule specified in .htaccess.

[varkjie]

Originally Posted by iojam

You should not copy the files into the forums root, although files are physically stored in the data/ folder, they can be accessed via forums root with rewrite rule specified in .htaccess.

oopps should I delete it? I got an error 404 page before

I just checked the uploaded file and it doesn't work so yeah!

[nirvana43]

Well now i did as you said.... but now when i submit sitemap url in google webmasters tool
i.e. http://www.mysitename.com/sitemap_index.xml.gz
its accepting the sitemap but after downloading that sitemap its saying there are errors which is robots.txt unreachable.

Error :

	Network unreachable: robots.txt unreachable
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.

My robots.txt is chmod 777 and contains following :

User-agent: *
Sitemap: http://www.mysitename.com/vbseo_sitemap/data/sitemap_index.xml.gz
Sitemap: http://www.mysitename.com/vbseo_sitemap/data/urllist.txt.gz
Disallow: /calendar.php
Disallow: /editpost.php
Disallow: /member.php
Disallow: /memberlist.php
Disallow: /misc.php
Disallow: /newreply.php
Disallow: /newthread.php
Disallow: /printthread.php
Disallow: /private.php
Disallow: /register.php
Disallow: /report.php
Disallow: /search.php
Disallow: /showgroups.php
Disallow: /usercp.php
Disallow: /impressum.php
Disallow: /admincp/
Disallow: /modcp/
Disallow: /online.php
Disallow: /subscription.php
Disallow: /sendtofriend.php
Disallow: /threadrate.php
Disallow: /poll.php
Disallow: /attachment.php
Disallow: /avatar.php
Disallow: /faq.php
Disallow: /usercp.php
Disallow: /profile.php

please help man... where i'm missing??