Google Sitemap Question

[Walter R.]

I developed a sitemap from my website, using Coffeecup Google Sitemapper
4.5. The resulting files were sitemap.xml, sitemap.html and 3 small images.

I imported these 5 files into the root of my FP localhost web.

However, when I look at my website in my browser, the .xml and .html files
do not show up. Are they supposed to be visible to visitors, or are they
merely for Google spiders?

 

[softplus]

What do you mean "do not show up"?

You'll have to submit the sitemap.xml file at Googles Sitemaps services
to make it work. The HTML sitemap file needs to be linked from your
main URL. I don't know what kind of images Coffeecup generates, but you
probably don't need them

Cheers
John ( http://gsitecrawler.com <-- does the same + for free )

 

[Walter R.]

Sorry I did not make myself clear:

When I look at my web in my browser, I do not see the sitemap. Is that
because it is supposed to be accessed only by the Google spider? Are
visitors to my website supposed to see this sitemap?

I am a little confused because I am new to sitemaps. Your website provides
hours and hours of reading on the subject. I wonder if all this is worth the
effort.

Thanks

 

[p c]

URL?

 

[Walter R.]

URL is www.rationality.net

I uploaded the sitemap.html and the sitemap. xml files. They are on the
server but I suppose they are visible only to the google crawler.

They show up when I manually type in www.rationality.net/sitemap.xml and
www.rationality.net/sitemap.html Does this look OK?

Now I have to open an a/c with Google and show them were to find my sitemap.

 

[Trevor L.]

What do you mean "do not show up"?

You'll have to submit the sitemap.xml file at Googles Sitemaps
services to make it work. The HTML sitemap file needs to be linked
from your main URL. I don't know what kind of images Coffeecup
generates, but you probably don't need them

The images are part of the sitemap, so he does need them.

Walter,
Your code refers to these images, but I don't thnk they are there (on the
website) because when I view sitemap.html, they appear as blank boxes, which
is not correct - they should display as an image of a folder or of a file.

You need to upload these files
smfile.gif
smfolder.gif
smimg.gif
to the same directory as your index file
i.e. http://www.rationality.net/

 

[Trevor L.]

Walter

When I wrote:
In your case, you could add it to this list, but it needs the link as above

The list I was referring to was elements such as
<tr>
<td width="28%">
<!--mstheme--><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica"><b>
<a href="the_universe.htm"><font color="#0000FF" size="2">The
Universe</font></a></b><!--mstheme--></font></td>

<td width="72%">
<!--mstheme--><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">
<font color="#000000" size="2">A New
Perspective</font><!--mstheme--></font></td>
</tr>

That is, you can add another <td> with the link in it.

 

[Walter R.]

Hi, again Trevor

That's odd. The sitemap.xml and .html show up just fine in my browser. Just
checked it on my wife's computer and it works fine on her computer, too.
Puzzling.

I suppose the Google crawler just looks for the sitemap.xml file and is
happy if it finds it. So, I think I will open an a/c with Google and tell
them where to find it.

Haven't heard from anyone saying that it does much good, though. They say it
will not enhance the rankings.

Have a nice day

 

[Trevor L.]

Hi, again Trevor

That's odd. The sitemap.xml and .html show up just fine in my
browser. Just checked it on my wife's computer and it works fine on
her computer, too. Puzzling.

I suppose the Google crawler just looks for the sitemap.xml file and
is happy if it finds it. So, I think I will open an a/c with Google
and tell them where to find it.

Haven't heard from anyone saying that it does much good, though. They
say it will not enhance the rankings.

Have a nice day

Walter,
Thanks for the reply

I agree with the above, but my last post was to say that the images in
sitemap.html are not present.

It isn't a great problem - you just see a blank square where you should get
a pretty icon. See the sitemap on my site. All three images are on my site
in the folder:
http://tandcl.homemail.com.au/images/display

You can upload these using FP Publish if you want to see them.

Yes, it may not do much good, but there is no harm in trying.