We have a static sitemap and a blog...Uh oh!
-
Hi
We have a static sitemap and a blog...Uh oh! We are are just realizing that the 2 are not very compatible!! We need a dynamic sitemap. Is there such a thing as a "set and forget" sitemap that updates itself without us maintaining a database of sitemap data?
Thanks
Andrew
-
You have a very typical case here, Studio33. The usual way to handle multiple sitemaps most efficiently is to create a sitemap index file at the root of the site which would list the locations of the two actual xml sitemaps you have.
Then in both Bing and Google webmaster tools as well as your robots.tx file, you point to the sitemap index file. This way, you're giving the maximum number of signal for where the engines can find your sitemaps. (A sitemap in internal directories may not be found by search engines - they're trained to look for a standard sitemap file in a standard location at the root of your site - no sense making it hard for them!).
Here's Google Webmaster Tools' help doc on making a sitemap index file.
Hope that helps?
Paul
-
As long as the pages are linked you need not have them in the site map.
a sitemap is not even necessary for most sites,but the best way to generate is http://www.bing.com/blogs/site_blogs/b/webmaster/archive/2013/02/20/building-sitemaps-manually-stop-until-you-read-this.aspx
Google has something simuar
-
Cheers problem solved!
Thanks
Andrew
-
1: not sure, but it opens ok. but if you submit to WMTs it would warn you if there is a problem
2: to my knowledge, its ok to have more than 1 sitemap (seen a few places have 2 with no issue)
-
http://www.dotnetblogengine.net/page/feature-table.aspx
Google sitemap Yes
so it already generates a sitemap, you just have to find the link
a bit of googling says ther url is www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.axd (but that was a very old refferance might be different now)
-
Hi Paddy,
Your answer prompted me to dig a little further and I have just found that it already has a dynamic one..under /Blog/sitemap.axd.
This raises 2 more questions for me:
1. what is axd, is it ok to use axd not xml.
2. Can a site have 2 sitemaps. I will have 1 in www.example.com/sitemap.xml and 1 in www.example.com//Blog/sitemap.axd. Is that ok? Anything to be aware of with this set up?
Thanks
Andrew
-
-
what cms are you using? most have sitemaps auto generated, or the there is a plugin available.
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
-
XML Sitemap works fine in GWT, but does not show in SERP
XML Sitemap works properly in GWT, but when I run a search in Google for "site:example.com/sitemap.xml" it does not show. However, my XML image sitemap show when I run the same search in Google. Is this potentially an issue on my end and is there a solution?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | khi50 -
Canonical URL & sitemap URL mismatch
Hi We're running a Magento store which doesn't have too much stock rotation. We've implemented a plugin that will allow us to give products custom canonical URLs (basically including the category slug, which is not possible through vanilla Magento). The sitemap feature doesn't pick up on these URLs, so we're submitting URLs to Google that are available and will serve content, but actually point to a longer URL via a canonical meta tag. The content is available at each URL and is near identical (all apart from the breadcrumbs) All instances of the page point to the same canonical URL We are using the longer URL in our internal architecture/link building to show this preference My questions are; Will this harm our visibility? Aside from editing the sitemap, are there any other signals we could give Google? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | tomcraig860 -
XML sitemaps questions
Hi All, My developer has asked me some questions that I do not know the answer to. We have both searched for an answer but can't find one.... So, I was hoping that the clever folk on Moz can help!!! Here is couple questions that would be nice to clarify on. What is the actual address/name of file for news xml. Can xml site maps be generated on request? Consider following scenario: spider requests http://mypage.com/sitemap.xml which permanently redirects to extensionless MVC 4 page http://mypage.com/sitemapxml/ . This page generates xml. Thank you, Amelia
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | CommT0 -
Blogs and E-Commerce websites
I have recently launched an e-commerce website which has a whopping domain authority of 1! I was thinking about adding a blog to it (it's in open cart), but that would mean creating it in a wordpress but using the same domain name. Would this be beneficial from an SEO stand point (i.e sending traffic to w blog that isn't actually on the e-commerce website itself) , or am I better off creating content as blogs/articles on other people sites?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | lindsayjhopkins0 -
How do I create a XML Sitemap?
It appears that the free online tools limit the number of URLs they'll include. What tools have you had success with?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | NaHoku1 -
Blog posts, blog archives and duplication
Just reviewed a blog integrated with my website, and have noticed duplicate content - the blog homepage includes blogpost summaries (not a major issue as now set up so only put in opening paragraphy then anchor text to full blog post). Then that's a full blog blog post if you click for more - then that's carbon copied over in the archive. So one near exact duplicate. Is this something worth taking action on with nocrawl tags, etc., on archive duplicates of blog posts, or shouldn't I be to hung-up on this? I'm a scientist by training, so tend to go further and further once I get going...
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | McTaggart0 -
So I am creating an xml sitemap but what can I do to make it look better?
I want to make viewable the xml sitemap I created with the xml tool. However I am not sure that if I throw in html code to make it look nice if it will interfere with the site map. Should I just use the xml with google and submit it there then have a separate stiemap.html that is viewable on my site? Or will two sitemaps complicate things?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ENSO0 -
Move blog from subdomain to main domain on ecom site?
I am wondering what my fellow mozers think. Pretty set about my direction but want to get any other input to aid in my decision. Have an ecom site with a www.blog.maindomain.com. The blog is fairly new and no major rankings. There are only about 30 posts. This isn't a super competitive market and the blogging won't be a huge part of our content strategy but I would like to use it for passing juice etc. Would you go through the trouble to move the blog to www.site.com/blog and redirecting all the old content to new?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PEnterprises0