I need an XML sitemap expert for 5 minutes!
-
Hi all!
I'm hoping that someone with a lot of experience with XML sitemaps can help me out here...
When submitting my sitemap in Google Webmaster Tools, these are the results:
2,414,714 Submitted
34,721 IndexedAnd there's also tonnes of warnings.
Would anyone be able to take a quick look at these sitemaps to perhaps advise me on what's going wrong there? These do not load without the www, not sure if this is an issue?
http://www.eumom.ie/sitemap.xml
http://www.eumom.ie/sitemap.xml.gzThanks everyone in advance!!
Gavin
-
Few rules about sitemaps;
-
You should only include in them pages you also want crawled and indexed
-
They should not contain URLs with 404s or blocked by robots.txt
My guess is there are too many URLs in the sitemaps, since I'd guess the website is not over 2 million actual "real" pages,
Also, I randomly clicked on a URL in one of the sitemaps and it 404'd;
http://www.eumom.ie/forums/topic/oakhill-school-leopardstown-/
This is probably causing a lot of the errors you see. It's honestly not a 5 minute fix - but if it were my site, I would be using the Yoast SEO plugin and using the sitemap feature within Yoast. It makes it very easy to include / exclude certain pages and updated automatically etc.
I think there must be a way to tell your plugin what to include / exclude from the sitemap but I don't have as much experience with it.
But generally - only include pages you want crawled and indexed. Don't include pages that 404.
-
-
Hi all,
Many thanks for your input so far, much appreciated!
The sitemaps that you are seeing actually were generated using that plugin you mentioned. Formatting-wise, do you see anything wrong with the sitemaps?
Thanks!!
Gavin -
I couldn't agree more altecdesign!
http://wordpress.org/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/ all the way!
-
That XML sitemap you linked too is formatted in an odd way. I noticed the site you are generating the xml sitemap for is based in wordpress. There is a really solid sitemap plugin you could use to generate your XML and submit to google instead of the current plugin you are using: http://wordpress.org/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/
I've used that plugnin numerous times and submitted sitemaps to google with no errors. Hopefully that helps you out.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Sitemap.xml strategy for site with thousands of pages
I have a client that has a HUGE website with thousands of product pages. We don't currently have a sitemap.xml because it would take so much power to map the sitemap. I have thought about creating a sitemap for the key pages on the website - but didn't want to hurt the SEO on the thousands of product pages. If you have a sitemap.xml that only has some of the pages on your site - will it negatively impact the other pages, that Google has indexed - but are not listed on the sitemap.xml.
Technical SEO | | jerrico10 -
What would cause a sudden drop in indexed sitemap pages?
I have made no changes to my site for awhile and on 7/14 I had a 20% drop in indexed pages from the sitemap. However my total indexed pages has stayed the same. What would cause that?
Technical SEO | | EcommerceSite0 -
Internal followed links only 5
Dear members, As I understand the importancy of Internal Followed Links I want to increase them for www.ruijters.nl. What I do not understand that Open Site Explorer only counts 5 Internal Followed Links. These 5 Internal Followed Links must be the hypelinked images on the homepage? But the website in overall definately has more than 5? Any members who van help me out to fix this problem, so www.ruijters.nl can enjopy his linkjuice? Best Regards, Alain Nijholt
Technical SEO | | bmcinternetmarketing0 -
Sitemap Generator Tool
We have developed a very large domain with well over 500 pages that need to be indexed. The tool we usually use to create a sitemap has a limit of 500 pages. Does anyone know of good tool we can use to create a sitemap text and xml that doesn't have a limit of pages? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | TracSoft0 -
Do I need redirects for a .asp to a .htm?
We move to a new site and some of the pages were widgets.com/test.asp, do I need to redirect that to widgets.com/test.htm? It is the same url just the difference between .asp and .htm
Technical SEO | | EcommerceSite0 -
Animated Video and Google Ranking, need advice
Hi I will like to have a company create animated video on our home page to offer a better experience in our online store selling furnace filters and increase conversion. Can it hurt ranking? Loading Time? File format? All thing I should worry. But what about videos like this company create: http://webvideo.kickerinc.ca/explainer-videos/?gclid=CJK68770grACFYje4Aod6kR5jA# Do you have recommendation or reference about serious company producing videos animated to had on web site? Thjank you for your help, BigBlaze
Technical SEO | | BigBlaze2050 -
HTML 5 and SEO any one seen any change ?
I have seen a few articles regarding HTML 5 and its implications re: SEO Has anyone implemented HTML 5 for SEO? and has there been any discernible impact? http://www.netlz.com/seo-blog/2012/04/09/seo-for-html5/ http://searchengineland.com/seo-best-practices-for-html5-truths-half-truths-outright-lies-99406 https://seogadget.co.uk/xhtml-20-and-seo/
Technical SEO | | Metropolis0 -
Should I try to optimize for SEO a site that lives only for 5 days
Hi, we are actually building a new microsite that will live on promo.domain.com. The site will have a promo for about 5 days and will be changed for a new promo after 5 days. Considering that the site www.domain.com has a high autority (67) and is well indexed in search engine, should I try to optimise this site for keywords such as promo "keyword" rebate "keyword" cheap "keyword" even if the site will be optimized for those keywords only for 5 days. We are already doing PPC campaign on these keywords but I am wondering if Google will have the time to rank us in the top 10 results in those 5 days or if I am loosing my time. My other option is to leave the TITLE of this site always the same like Groupon is doing and focus on very generic keywords. Which option do you think is the best?
Technical SEO | | Adviso0