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Rochelle
April 23, 2008 Edit: This mod is for Build A Niche Store (BANS) sites that are v1 or v2 only. BANS v3 includes a dynamic sitemap so there is no need to add this mod to v3+ sites.
You can help Google index your site by submitting a sitemap to them. The sitemap below is a dynamic sitemap, which means it automatically updates whenever you add a new store or content page. You probably already know that sitemaps are beneficial but if your sitemap isn’t dynamic then you have to update it whenever you add a new page to your site. And chances are good that you either won’t want to take the time to do this with every new page or you will forget.
This dynamic sitemap, created by BANS member WebMogul, is an excellent mod that will automatically update when you create new pages. Once you add the mod there is nothing more you need to do to have an up-to-date sitemap that you can submit to Google.
This sitemap is strictly for search engines and is not meant to be viewed by people. You can also add Mark’s sitemap, which is meant for people. It is ok to have both this dynamic sitemap and Mark’s sitemap on your sites together.
You can view WebMogul’s instructions and download the needed files here.
My instructions to add a dynamic sitemap to your site: |
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Step One
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| Go to WebMogul’s web site and download the files needed for this mod. | |
| Step Two | |
| Upload the sitemap.php file to your site’s root folder (click here to read my opinion of the best FTP client). You will upload it to where your site’s index.php page is located. | |
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Step Three
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| Go to the .htaccess file (click here if you don’t know how to do this). | |
| Save a copy of the original code (click here for instructions on how to do this). | |
| Copy and paste the contents of htaccess-changes.txt BELOW the RewriteRule .* - [L] tag. | |
| Save changes and view site for errors | |
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Step Four
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| Verify that the dynamic sitemap works by viewing the URL where the sitemap is located. It will be something like http://www.YourSiteURL.com/sitemap.xml. | |
| Potential Problem : When I first did this mod I found that my sitemap wasn’t accurate. There were many pages missing. It turned out I had previously created and uploaded a sitemap.xml page and this older sitemap was overwriting the one I was now trying to create. | |
| I resolved this by deleting the sitemap.php from my server and starting from scratch at step two above. | |
| You can tell you are looking at WebMogul’s dynamic sitemap if the top of your dynamic sitemap says: | |
| <!– Generated by WebMogul’s BANS sitemap generator: http://mogul.webmogulenterprises.com –> | |
| The color and alignment of this message may vary but not the wording. | |
| Step Five | |
| Log in to your Google Webmaster Tools account. (If you don’t yet have one you can get one at Google Webmaster Tools.) Submit your dynamic sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools. | |
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Step Six
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| Add the dynamic sitemap to your robots.txt (click here if you don’t yet have a robots.txt). Instructions to add your dynamic sitemap to your robots.txt are located here. | |
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done
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Rochelle
Related Posts:
Hi I have just used these instructions to add a sitemap to my site. I’m getting a format error. The file is in my c-panel in the main folder and it is named sitemap.php. I have edited my .htaccess file as instructed. Is it possible I’m supposed to rename this file sitemap.xml for google? Did I upload the sitemap.php file to the right folder in c-panel. Or should it be in the public html folder as suggested by some forum members?
hartlenn - I just looked at the website linked to your name. If that is the site you are referring to then your sitemap looks perfect. You do not need to rename it sitemap.xml as it will be seen by either extension name. In other words, you can see it by typing sitemap.php or sitemap.xml.
If this isn’t the site you are talking about can you include a link to it so I can see the error you get?
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle
I noticed the next day that my sitemap at google was now error free. I did make 2 edits the evening before. The positioning of the new line in my .htaccess file; Imoved it to the exact position as your index at NichesStoreStradegies.com how to add a dynamic sitemap to your BANS site
I guess that’s what fixed it. I had put it where webmoguls’ instructions advised somewhere around line 16. Anyway, thanks for your reply. And I just today found Rochelles “HOW TO” index of listings. SWEET! I really can’t wait to start finding out what I don’t know by reading them all. Thanks a WHOLE BUNCH
HL
ArtBeat.name
TheGameShop.mobi
Rochelle,
Trying to add your dynamic sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools but I keep getting this error:
The Sitemap must be located at http://www.bestgpssite.com/. To add a Sitemap at http://www.bestgpssite.com/htt.....ssite.com/, first add that site to your account and then click the Add a Sitemap link beside it.
I do have the sitemap at http://www.bestgpssite.com/sitemap.php but Google is not seeing it for some reason. Any advice greatly appreciated.
Graham
Graham - I just checked your site and I don’t see the dynamic sitemap. Did you complete all the steps after uploading the sitemap.php file?
Also, when you submit the sitemap to Google use the .xml extension. I don’t know if this makes a difference but it seems to be what Google wants. If someone reading this knows more about this please clarify.
Rochelle
Hi Rochelle,
I’ve just followed your instructions above, however not all pages are showing in the sitemap.xml.
I deleted and did over 2nd time with same result.
Is there any further advice you could offer.
Thanks
Shelley
Rochelle, scratch the message above. The order of the pages were changed on the sitemap. All ok.
hello rochelle, quick question, how can i change the dynamic aspect of it from weekly to daily? Thanks in advance.
P.S. your site has been very helpful.
Ameer,
I’m sure you can. Probably the easiest way to achieve this is to delete your sitemap.php and start over. But before you add this mod open the sitemap.php file that you download from WebMogul and change the setting from ‘weekly’ to ‘daily’.
The reason I suggest starting over is the sitemap.php on your site will contain links to every page you have. It would be quicker to start over than to change the frequency for every link.
Rochelle
ok sounds good rochelle, thanks for the response. Keep up the good work!
Hi Rochelle
I’m just finally adding Marks ’store view’ sitemap to my V2 stores. They have both been upgraded to V2 EPN. Is there anything different I need to do to install marks sitemap. Also do I need to re submit the dynamic sitemap to google again now that I’ve upgraded to EPN or is it still fine. Google has downloaded my sitemaps frequently and recently and the status of both my
V2 store sitemaps is OK
thanks a bunch
HartLenn
Hartlenn,
No, you don’t need to do anything more.
As to resubmitting the sitemap to Google, if your previous sitemap was not dynamic then, yes, you will want to resubmit it.
Rochelle
HI Rochelle
Thanks for the reply. I have gone through the sitemap instructions on your site and no luck. I did all the steps and had no error that I could see until I did step 4 ( copy & paste header-changes-01.txt to my header.php just above the tag)
After updating the header, my store now has a double high header. When I go to my sitemap page it is just blank. I did change all the text color codes for the sitemap in styles.css because my store background color is black.
If you could suggest what the problem might be, I’ll go check it out.
ONE QUESTION, The first step where I mod my CONT/fontcontrol.php file in cpanel, Do I mod the CONT folder in my main folder or the one in public-html or both? Maybe that’s the problem?
Thanks a bunch again
HartLenn
Hi Again,
Re my last post about problem adding marks sitemap. I just looked at the header code that I had added above the tag, and I noticed a couple of bits of it have changed, since I hit the update header button. I had not modified the header with rss or permalink mods.
The line <?php has changed to <?php
and line ?> has changed to ?>
Thought this might be a clue.
Thanks again.
HartLenn
So UPDATE: forget about the code change comment above; the code actually changed in my comment as well, after I submitted it. I guess it’s supposed to do this.
YT
HL