XML Sitemaps

[Publisher-For-You]

I'm finally catching on to XML sitemaps, and recently coded a script that will create and update one for my site.

I included the path to this site map in my robots.txt file, in hopes all the engines will find it.

It's only been 3-4 days, and so far it looks like none of the engines have found the site map, which isn't surprising I guess.

I've linked to the site from some of my other sites, some of which have PR 3-4.

Do you care to share your experience with XML Sitemaps? Did you find that once the search engine bots find your sitemap, all your pages get indexed? I've got 8,000+ pages, most of which can't be reached via clickable links, so it will be interesting to see if the sitemap does the job of getting them indexed.

Any observations most welcome, thanks.

 

[jcorkern]

Write a few articles and link them to the site map, this will help. But your site should have a link structure that allows all pages to be reached from within the site. This is an important issue that needs to be resolved if you want good and decent trafffic to the site.

There has to be a mode for pagerank to travel through the site. I would make that 1st on the list.

 

[Publisher-For-You]

There has to be a mode for pagerank to travel through the site. I would make that 1st on the list.

Thanks for this suggestion, it's a good idea.

I actually have a regular link sitemap just for search engines on most of my other sites, which I put in place to make it easy for the engines to index my pages. I was thinking XML sitemaps were an easier way around this issue, but I hadn't taken the pagerank issue in to consideration.

My hope is that the engines will find my XML sitemap, which lists all my URLs in one file, and they will index my entire 8,000 page site all at once. No evidence of this yet, will keep watching.

 

[genuwine4532]

answers

I have a Google Webmaster Tools account, I submit all my urls and sitemaps directly to them.

DON'T wait for the search engines to find your sitemap or your site. Create an account from the link above, then submit your site, follow the instructions and then submit your sitemap. If there are errors or problems with the sitemap, Google's reports will show them to you and you can fix them. Plus Webmaster tools is essential because Google provides you with great analysis of how they view your site.

Google Webmaster Tools is all you need. Also you can add your url to Yahoo and they will crawl your site faster. And use Site Explorer on Yahoo to check you backlinks, they update regularly.

 

[Publisher-For-You]

Yes, I forgot to mention Google Webmaster Tools in my posts above. Agree, it's great. I did submit there earlier in the week. They haven't found me yet, but I guess they have a couple of other sites to crawl.

I just found Yahoo Explorer, but don't see the MSN or Ask site submission forms. Anybody know where they are off the top of your head?

Thanks for the tips guys!

 

[genuwine4532]

answers

MSN add URL - Live Search URL Submission

MSN Webmaster Tools - Sign In

ASK is different you have to email and "beg" for submission, I never bothered, once G and Y index you ASK will find you as well.

Google Webmaster tools takes between 1-2 weeks to crawl after the submit, but now that they have your sitemap they will have a much easier time seeing your deep pages and overall site structure.

Be patient and in the meantime, start building links:

Article Marketing
Directories
Comments on blogs
Relevant Forum Sigs
etc....

 

[Publisher-For-You]

Hey, thanks for the links, appreciate it.

I just logged in to Google Webmaster Tools, and see the bot was last on my site July 14, before I added sitemap. So like you say, they should be coming around again before long.

Ok agreed, forget about sitemap, on to link building.

Thanks for the discussion.