Google Webmaster submission error, .xml.gz is not a supported format?

Every time I try and submit my forum sitemap (mysite/forum/sitemap_1.xml.gz) into my Google Webmaster profile I get an error that says, "Your Sitemap does not appear to be in a supported format. Please ensure it meets our Sitemap guidelines and resubmit."

If you go directly to the file mysite/forum/sitemap_1.xml.gz on the background it says "XML Parsing error: no element found" Is the sitemap just not being created correctly?

When I go to my reports though it shows success. View attached. I am so confused. I just updated the plugin to v2.5. I tried removing files then reinstalling, deleting the xmls and recreating the sitemap, still same result. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Seems as though your .htaccess rules are missing. What is your exact .htaccess?

Hi Michael, thanks for the help. My root forum .htaccess reads

# Comment the following line (add '#' at the beginning)
# to disable mod_rewrite functions.
# Please note: you still need to disable the hack in
# the vBSEO control panel to stop url rewrites.
RewriteEngine On

# Some servers require the Rewritebase directive to be
# enabled (remove '#' at the beginning to activate)
# Please note: when enabled, you must include the path
# to your root vB folder (i.e. RewriteBase /forums/)
#RewriteBase /

#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.yourdomain\.com
#RewriteRule (.*) http://www.yourdomain.com/forums/$1 [L,R=301]

RewriteRule ^((urllist|sitemap).*\.(xml|txt)(\.gz)?)$ vbseo_sitemap/vbseo_getsitemap.php?sitemap=$1 [L]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(admincp/|modcp/|cron)
RewriteRule ^((archive/)?(.*\.php(/.*)?)?)$ vbseo.php [L,QSA]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !^(admincp|modcp|clientscript|cpstyles|images)/
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ vbseo.php [L,QSA]

Hello,

What if you make:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(admincp/|modcp/|cron)

to:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !(admincp/|modcp/|cron|vbseo_sitemap/)

No luck... should there be an XML parsing error at all when you go to the XML sitemap directly in a browser?

No their should not. It should look like www.vbseo.com/sitemap_index.xml.gz.

Please open a ticket with FTP and admincp access as well as your vbseocp.php password so we can troubleshoot your issue.

Ok, so I downloaded the sitemaps directly and all the lines of coding were in there without a problem. So then I simply created a new folder in the forum root, /sitemap and stuck the sitemaps in there. Then I tried accessing them directly and they opened without a hitch! Something is simply messed up with the htaccess or something to cause the problem.

Luckily for me my forum is shut down now so one up to date sitemap is all I need. Thanks again for the help!

Why move them? the htaccess will open them directly without movement.

I would suggest using the default htaccess and the default file placement.

Hi Brian, thanks for the assistance. I was forced to move them because at their regular location, when I would go to read them, I would get an XML Parsing error,

"XML Parsing error: no element found
Location: mysite.com/forum/sitemap_index.xml.gz
Line Number 1, Column 1".

But, if I simply move that file to a dif location anywhere else on the site, it opens without a hitch. Thus, something is screwing up with htaccess (my guess) to cause the XML parsing error. Thoughts?

please open a ticket with ftp admincp and vbseo cp passwords so we can investigate.

Done. I look forward to hearing from you guys, thanks in advance for the help.

Have you cmod 777 your data folder?

Hi Steve, thanks for helping. Yes, the data folder has been chmod'd to 777.

OK Try removing the # from #RewriteBase / some server like mine require the rewrite base.

Done, no luck though. Any other ideas?