Not planned Better Seo Sitemap

[markoroots]

Hi there, I have noted something on the sitemaps.
First of all Xenforo use the file sitemap.php to generate the sitemap. Often is that is given to the crawlers and also to Google, but IMHO I think that is not a great idea because Google have to convert the file, to generate the right xml sitemap, that is what him want and as everyone knows just to let read normal all the links is a problem... let's imagine us if we ask also to him to make additional work.
I have read around here to says that is the same to give to Google an xml or php sitemap, but I think that if on Google site regarding the guide lines directions, is asked to have an xml sitemap (and not other) why don't give to him directly what him want?

After that, seems also that the xml generated from the php file, has the XML tree that doesn't have any XML-stylesheet. To check this you can open directly the xml sitemap (on Firefox for example) and you will read up everything: "This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it.”

that seems to be related to this problem:

Opening JSF Facelets page shows "This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it."

I'm trying to run my Eclipse JSF project on Apache Tomcat on other computer. I created a WAR file with this tutorial. However, when I deploy the WAR and open the Facelet page in Firefox, I'm gettin...

stackoverflow.com

So I think that making these things in this way we are showing to follow the "Google guide lines" we ask him less work, better understanding of the files him use and the contents available and quite sure a better ranking for the site and the pages.

 

[Hoffi]

The Sitemap is avaiable as XML direkt, and it don't need any Style Information, because its a technical XML File.

See XenForos sitemap: https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap.xml

In your Forum also the XML Version exists (to be honest, it's the same file at the end) and Google don't care which file extension you are using for the sitemap. The content is XML and the headers are set correct.
There is nothing to convert... why do you think Google need to convert that file?

 

[djbaxter]

You can submit either version to Google. It's the same end page and Google is happy either way:

Check it yourself:

https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap.php

https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap.xml

 

[Chromaniac]

you can even submit individual files! though you would have to manually add new ones with time.

https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-1.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-2.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-3.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-4.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-5.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-6.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-7.xml

 

[djbaxter]

you can even submit individual files! though you would have to manually add new ones with time.

https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-1.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-2.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-3.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-4.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-5.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-6.xml
https://xenforo.com/community/sitemap-7.xml

You can, if you have a lot of time and nothing to do. But why would you?

 

[Chromaniac]

in more than 10 years, xenforo has gained just seven files. i am sure it would not take that much time lol.

 

[djbaxter]

I don't mean it would take a lot of time to submit those individual files to Google Search Console.

I meant basically if you have a lot of time and nothing better to do than waste it doing something wholly unnecessary.

 

[Chromaniac]

i have a 17 year old forum and i have just 5 sitemap files. honestly, i was just giving him an option. submitting these individual files saves you a click if you want to see coverage data. it's not really required. but i have done this in the past with my five files and it worked fine on search console.

(i am submitting the five individual sitemap files with 50,000 links each. not individual link.)

 

[markoroots]

Hi Hoffi, the problem is that Google care of every little thing and assign penalties also if we don't know.
I have ear more persons here that has Seo problems and to me I have, my visits continue to decrease every day also if my site is quite all super optimized about Seo and about performance, so I'm trying to go deep to try to understand what work or not on my site and what can be implemented about Seo to make the board better.
First of all Google want an xml sitemap not a php.
Him read also the php one, but if ask in the him guide lines to have an xml one (and not only) than let's give him that one.
The xml one is also generated from XF, so the first thing I think is to give that one the Search Console and in the robots.txt

Build and Submit a Sitemap | Google Search Central | Documentation | Google for Developers

Google supports several sitemap formats. Follow this guide to learn about formats, how to build a sitemap, and how to submit a sitemap to Google.

developers.google.com

sitemaps.org - Protocol

About Sitemaps - Creating sitemaps for Google, Bing and other search engines - The Easy Way - XML Sitemaps Generator

About Sitemaps - Creating sitemaps for Google, Bing and other search engines - The Easy Way - Free Online Google Sitemap Generator. XML-sitemaps.com provides free online sitemap generator service, creating an XML sitemap that can be submitted to Google, Bing and other search engines to help them...

www.xml-sitemaps.com

Then I'm not agree with you Djbaxter, Google is never happy. Is enough to enter in pagespeed or in the search console to understand it but not only there...

So if you try to open an xml sitemap of the subsitemaps generated you will see that is wrote in this way

<url>
<loc>
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/russian-language-for-enhanced-search.3/
</loc>
<lastmod>2014-02-13T14:23:58+00:00</lastmod>
</url>
<url>
<loc>
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/xfr-xenia.4/
</loc>
<lastmod>2014-09-09T13:22:27+00:00</lastmod>
</url>
<url>
<loc>
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/xfservices-com-recent-activity-as-homepage.5/
</loc>
<lastmod>2012-05-22T11:45:07+00:00</lastmod>
</url>

but it seems that should be wrote in this way adding these additional informations at the top:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">

   <url>

      <loc>http://www.example.com/</loc>

      <lastmod>2005-01-01</lastmod>

   </url>

</urlset>

as shown here:

sitemaps.org - Protocol

Seems that adding the xml stylesheet improve the possiblity to let read the sitemap in more simple and clear way, from crawlers and also for the users, that is also a more important thing. Or creating an additional html sitemap is really useful as explained here:

HTML Sitemap Explained - How to create HTML Sitemaps and how does it help a website - XML Sitemaps Generator

HTML Sitemap Explained - How to create HTML Sitemaps and how does it help a website - Free Online Google Sitemap Generator. XML-sitemaps.com provides free online sitemap generator service, creating an XML sitemap that can be submitted to Google, Bing and other search engines to help them crawl...

www.xml-sitemaps.com

 

[djbaxter]

Hi Hoffi, the problem is that Google care of every little thing and assign penalties also if we don't know.
I have ear more persons here that has Seo problems and to me I have, my visits continue to decrease every day also if my site is quite all super optimized about Seo and about performance, so I'm trying to go deep to try to understand what work or not on my site and what can be implemented about Seo to make the board better.
First of all Google want an xml sitemap not a php.
Him read also the php one, but if ask in the him guide lines to have an xml one (and not only) than let's give him that one.
The xml one is also generated from XF, so the first thing I think is to give that one the Search Console and in the robots.txt

Build and Submit a Sitemap | Google Search Central | Documentation | Google for Developers

Google supports several sitemap formats. Follow this guide to learn about formats, how to build a sitemap, and how to submit a sitemap to Google.

developers.google.com

sitemaps.org - Protocol

About Sitemaps - Creating sitemaps for Google, Bing and other search engines - The Easy Way - XML Sitemaps Generator

About Sitemaps - Creating sitemaps for Google, Bing and other search engines - The Easy Way - Free Online Google Sitemap Generator. XML-sitemaps.com provides free online sitemap generator service, creating an XML sitemap that can be submitted to Google, Bing and other search engines to help them...

www.xml-sitemaps.com

Then I'm not agree with you Djbaxter, Google is never happy. Is enough to enter in pagespeed or in the search console to understand it but not only there...

So if you try to open an xml sitemap of the subsitemaps generated you will see that is wrote in this way

<url>
<loc>
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/russian-language-for-enhanced-search.3/
</loc>
<lastmod>2014-02-13T14:23:58+00:00</lastmod>
</url>
<url>
<loc>
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/xfr-xenia.4/
</loc>
<lastmod>2014-09-09T13:22:27+00:00</lastmod>
</url>
<url>
<loc>
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/xfservices-com-recent-activity-as-homepage.5/
</loc>
<lastmod>2012-05-22T11:45:07+00:00</lastmod>
</url>

but it seems that should be wrote in this way adding these additional informations at the top:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">

   <url>

      <loc>http://www.example.com/</loc>

      <lastmod>2005-01-01</lastmod>

   </url>

</urlset>

as shown here:

sitemaps.org - Protocol

Seems that adding the xml stylesheet improve the possiblity to let read the sitemap in more simple and clear way, from crawlers and also for the users, that is also a more important thing. Or creating an additional html sitemap is really useful as explained here:

HTML Sitemap Explained - How to create HTML Sitemaps and how does it help a website - XML Sitemaps Generator

HTML Sitemap Explained - How to create HTML Sitemaps and how does it help a website - Free Online Google Sitemap Generator. XML-sitemaps.com provides free online sitemap generator service, creating an XML sitemap that can be submitted to Google, Bing and other search engines to help them crawl...

www.xml-sitemaps.com

You are overcomplicating something that is very simple. Go back and re-read this thread.

Sitemaps are not SEO. All they do is tell Google what there is to crawl. If it's not a new site, Google is already crawling your content. Strictly speaking, once that happens googlebot doesn't need further instructions - it follows links on your sites to new content.

And sitemaps aren't going to speed up how or what googlebot crawls: that is determined by Google.

And finally, you can disagree all you like but what I'm telling you is based on verifiable data, not gut feeling. Your intuition isn't going to help you rank any better.

 

[markoroots]

Yes I know that this will not increase SEO ranking, but my doubt was if this code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">

is needed in the subsitemap to be compiled well, becaue are mentioned in the guide lines given from Goole to create a good sitemap.

 

[djbaxter]

Yes I know that this will not increase SEO ranking, but my doubt was if this code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">

is needed in the subsitemap to be compiled well, becaue are mentioned in the guide lines given from Goole to create a good sitemap.

No. The sitemaps that Xenforo generates are fine. All that is needed. Nothing wrong with them. Nothing to fix.

 

[markoroots]

Are we sure?
Because Google Search Central here https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/sitemaps/build-sitemap
says this:

 

[Mike]

I just need to echo this:

No. The sitemaps that Xenforo generates are fine. All that is needed. Nothing wrong with them. Nothing to fix.

The sitemaps follow the correct format for an XML sitemap and make all the adjustments needed automatically.

If you check the sitemap in webmaster tools (or whatever they renamed it to now; I can never remember), Google will tell you if there are any errors. If it weren't formatted correctly, it would be clear.

 

[markoroots]

Yes Mike in search console of Google aren't found any errors relative to the sitemap, that is for sure. But I was asking myself, because I have an italian site that use UTF-8 charset, if was useful to specify in the subsitemap the UTF-8 ecoding to to let read better the crawlers, the links that are wrote in italian where we use also these symbols/characters:
è
'
à
ò
and so on.
And reading the Google guide lines about the sitemap I have seen that, so I have thinked to ask here if was useful to add it.
For this if we are sure that are not needed those informations in the sitemap code is ok. But was my doubt because I see that code in all the sitemaps.

 

[Harvey]

my site is quite all super optimized

Not sure what you mean, but maybe this is an issue.

 

[Wesker]

XF sitemaps work great for both XF1 and XF2. Also have a software sitemap generator as well.

 

[Harvey]

XF sitemaps work great for both XF1 and XF2.

Once I saw this thread I submitted mine on GSC, easy, worked as expected.

 

[markoroots]

Yes to work it works, but on Google Search Central (here: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/sitemaps/build-sitemap?hl=en#text )
is reccomanded to compile it in this way:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
  <url>
    <loc>http://www.example.com/foo.html</loc>
    <lastmod>2018-06-04</lastmod>
  </url>
</urlset>

adding the UTF-8 encoding.

 

[Wesker]

Site maps aren't really a big issue. 3rd party site map tools also work great.