Bahhh..this is driving me nuts

Spent my whole last 2 days on this and nothing is working out right.

I ran the sitemap thing just now.

In /vbseo_sitemap/data/ it shows the following files were created :

downloads.dat
progress.dat
sitemap_1.xml.gz
sitemap_2.xml.gz
sitemap_3.xml.gz
sitemap_4.xml.gz
sitemap_5.xml.gz
urllist.txt.gz

But when I go to mydomain.com/vbseo_sitemap/

it shows :

Your Google Sitemap Index URL: http://www.mydomain.com/sitemap_index.xml.gz

This "sitemap_index.xml.gz" file is not in my directory. I checked everywhere..Its not there.

Im using 3.0 RC3 vbSEO , 1.7 sitemap and 3.6 vbulletin.

How come a Yahoo Sitemap wasnt created..is that suppose to be created seperately? Its not there.

And how can I view these .gz files before I submit them to google or yahoo? I want to view inside them first to make sure private forum stuff isnt going to be submitted... I excluded the forums #'s in the CP, but I want to make sure.

Plus when I ran it from the Task Manager, it seemed to take 5 minutes and then when the page tried to come back it says "this page cannot be displayed".

Why cant something go right today? I did everything right.. installed everything correctly..and still problems... arghhh I wanna break something im so mad.

this is how my .htaccess file currently looks

# 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
RewriteRule ^((urllist|sitemap).*\.(xml|txt)(\.gz)?)$ vbseo_sitemap/vbseo_getsitemap.php?sitemap=$1 [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} (admincp|modcp|clientscript|cpstyles|images)/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1 [L]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} !vbseourl=
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !chat
RewriteRule ^(.*\.php)$ vbseo.php?vbseourl=$1&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteRule ^(archive/.*)$ vbseo.php?vbseourl=$1&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.+)$ vbseo.php?vbseourl=$1&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]

It definately should create the index file if it created the other files. You can submit a support ticket with AdminCP and FTP logins if you'd like us to take a look.

For Yahoo, did you turn on the option to create the Yahoo sitemap? It should be named: urllist.txt.gz

I also put in a 60 second wait time before creating another sitemap. Maybe this could of been the problem?


Keith, can you tell me how to unzip this .gz files so I can view them in a normal reader like wordpad or something?

Originally Posted by Keith Cohen

For Yahoo, did you turn on the option to create the Yahoo sitemap? It should be named: urllist.txt.gz

I turn turn it on. I see this urllist.txt.gz file in the "/vbseo_sitemap/data" folder..but nowhere else.. was it suppose to be created elsewhere like the root directory or something?

sorry for the double post.. I just want to get this darn thing to work already.

The .htaccess rule allows all the files to appear to be located in your forum root, which is the URL that you should use when you submit the sitemaps. The physical files will always reside in the data directory.

Originally Posted by mikeinjersey

Keith, can you tell me how to unzip this .gz files so I can view them in a normal reader like wordpad or something?

I think WinRAR supports gzipped files. And possibly WinZIP also. If not, there are ports of gzip for Windows I think.

Originally Posted by mikeinjersey

I also put in a 60 second wait time before creating another sitemap. Maybe this could of been the problem?

I would leave it at the default of 0 unless you see a problem with load when your sitemaps are generated. It's normally best to have the scheduled task set to run at your least busy time to cut down on load.

(I run mine at 3am nightly.)

Guess what? It worked this time. All i did was change the 60 second delay to 0 and everything was created perfectly. You guys should test it that way..maybe same error occurs for u guys.

one problem. I see my "sitemap_index.xml.gz" has sitemaps that I created hours ago..and they are listed in that file. I already deleted them from the /data/ folder yet they still appear in this file.

Is there anyway to remove them from there? Example, my last RUN created 4 sitemaps...but there are a total of 12 in there now.. their probably the same sitemaps repeated over.

Hello Mike,

you should probably remove all generated sitemap files and execute generator from the scratch.

Originally Posted by Oleg Ignatiuk

Hello Mike,

you should probably remove all generated sitemap files and execute generator from the scratch.

everything within the data file except those 2 files?

BTW, it would be great in a future update if there could be more logging to make sure our private forums arent in the sitemap list before we submit them. The only thing we can do is put the #'s in the excluded list and hope everything will be merry.

A few minor bugs i've noticed with my forums ever since installing vbSEO :

#1 when you do a simple edit of a message, the smilies show up as an X . Im guessing its a BBCODE thing that could be fixed easily..im sure you guys prolly heard of this error..think i read about it somewhere..

#2 another one is where sometimes it will say there are more pages within a thread.. when there really isnt. I would click on "2" for page two and it just brought me back to page one. The page "2" was created for no reason...there were only enough replies to that thread for everything to fit on one page only.

everything within the data file except those 2 files?

All data/sitemap* files.

BTW, it would be great in a future update if there could be more logging to make sure our private forums arent in the sitemap list before we submit them. The only thing we can do is put the #'s in the excluded list and hope everything will be merry.

vBSEO Sitemap Generator should only include those subforums visible to guests by default.

re:#1,#2
Could you please open a support ticket with details on these? (with example URLs ).

Note: If you execute the sitemap scheduled task manually through AdminCP, it will include all forums since it will be based on your Admin account login permissions (when the task runs on its normal schedule, this isn't an issue).

If you execute it from the Sitemap menu, it will only include forums that are visible to guests. So, unless you have specific public forums that you wish to exclude from the sitemap, you shouldn't need to specify any forums to exclude.

Originally Posted by Keith Cohen

Note: If you execute the sitemap scheduled task manually through AdminCP, it will include all forums since it will be based on your Admin account login permissions (when the task runs on its normal schedule, this isn't an issue).

If you execute it from the Sitemap menu, it will only include forums that are visible to guests. So, unless you have specific public forums that you wish to exclude from the sitemap, you shouldn't need to specify any forums to exclude.

omg , your about to give me a heart attack.. I DID submit it through the task manually. I clicked RUN TEST. to run it for the first time. WHY DIDNT U GUYS WARN US ABOUT THIS? I will have a heart attack if all my private forums get submitted.

I HAD those forums excluded in the options though !! Are u telling me it doesnt matter if I had those forums excluded in the options, when running the task manually? OMFG i'll have a heart attack. You guys MUST let people KNOW this stuff in the instructions. This is serious stuff. What am I suppose to guess to figure this stuff out? OMG.

If they were exlcuded specifically, then they won't be included at any time.

Most people run it manually through the Sitemap Menu anyway, which uses the correct permissions.

And, even if the URLs were in your sitemap, the spiders still wouldn't be able to reach any of the content when they tried.

Originally Posted by Keith Cohen

If they were exlcuded specifically, then they won't be included at any time.

Most people run it manually through the Sitemap Menu anyway, which uses the correct permissions.

And, even if the URLs were in your sitemap, the spiders still wouldn't be able to reach any of the content when they tried.

true...ok.. Thx for saving me from going to the ER.

I could just see it now... All the private negative remarks we have about all our members makes it public... All the outrage that would of followed. That would of probably destroyed our community. hehe..