Google Webmaster Tools happen to be discussed heavily since Google first announced the discharge back in the summer of 2005. The issue most Webmasters have with Google Sitemaps is the submission format. It's been estimated that 90% of the Webmasters available don't know the proper way to compile an XML feed. Sad, but true.
I've tested almost all software packages and scripts that claim that they can create an XML sitemap file for Google. The answer from Google? They want you to definitely install Python scripts on your server. Take my advice; you don't want to go there. It comes with an easier solution.
To begin, go to Google Webmaster Central, choose Webmaster Tools and login to your account. If you do not have one, create one. According to testing, the very best program for creating sitemaps is SOFTplus GSiteCrawler. If you don't want the hassle of installing a program, make use of the online version of XML Sitemaps.
The free online version will crawl a maximum of 500 pages. If you opt for SOFTplus, install and launch the program. In the lower left-hand corner, click the "Add" button and choose "Yes" to operate the New Site Wizard. Next, in the Main Address section enter the domain that you want the sitemap for and then name your project.
I highly recommend NOT skipping the server check. This method helps in compiling the sitemap correctly. Other programs that do not have this feature often produce incorrect feeds. If it detected that you are on a Linux/Unix server, it'll automatically select the "URLs are case sensitive" option. It runs on the filter to detect Session IDs which comes in handy for dynamically generated sites. It also has an area to include the file extensions you utilize for web development. I remove everything except for .htm and .html.
The next area shows "other file extensions". I uncheck many of these. Personally, I have no need for any images, videos, or Office files, etc., to be indexed. However, you might. Your images or videos might be great advertising pieces for your products or services. If so, allow the appropriate images to become included.
Next, you have the option to upload the new sitemap files to your server via FTP. I highly recommend this option as it saves you time. The final screen prior to sitemap creation will check the following:
Robots.txt - There are some domains that exclude GoogleBot. This ensures yours aren't excluded.
Check for Custom "File Not Found" Error Pages - If you have your domain setup with custom 404 pages, Google may not verify the sitemap. You might need to disable this function before sitemap file is verified. Do not let the program to pull files already in the index. Often, you may have older files that you want purged from the index. Just let the programs find the files by themselves.
Scan Your Website Now- Make sure this really is checked. This is why you came here in the first place, right? Click "Finish" to begin the process. Although the program has six crawlers, time required to crawl your site depends upon your connection speed and also the number of pages on your site. Once the program completes, it saves the files in a project folder:
The Aborted file is really a list of all the URLs that the crawlers attemptedto crawl, but couldn't. These could be bad links, old pages or just some general housekeeping that needs to be done. The Robots.txt file is really a copy of your robots.txt file, nothing more. The other three files relate to the Sitemap.
Upload all three files to the root of your server. The sitemap.xml is the file you want to submit to Google through Webmaster Tools/Google Sitemaps; however, if your site is HUGE, give Google the compressed file (sitemap.xml.gz). I would also suggest that you compress the file if it's over 500kb.
Once the files are uploaded, get into Google Webmaster Tools, click the "ADD" tab and go into the location of your sitemap.xml file. If you just signed up for Webmaster Tools, or your sitemap file still needs to be verified, my suggestion is to choose the "Meta Tag" option for verification. Google will generate a Meta Tag and you just place the tag in the Meta section of your index page, and verify. Other verification options can cause problems.
Once the file continues to be verified, Google will grab the file and spider it again, usually every couple of days to a week. You will start to notice GoogleBot on your site more frequently and spidering pages that it hasn't spidered in a while.
If you make constant site changes, I advise you to update the sitemap file every week. By resubmitting the file to Google, it alerts GoogleBot of a change and will return and re-index your site. This can be a better way to get your modified pages re-indexed.
If getting all of your pages indexed is really a challenge, I recommend changing the "Priority" Levels within your sitemap. Like a default, the index page receives a Priority of 1.0 and every other page receives a Priority of 0.5. If you assign true Priority to each page (marketing pages above 0.5 and pages for example "Privacy" a 0.1) you need to see improvement in the way Google indexes your site. Don't become greedy and put high Priority on all files. Google engineers aren't kindergartners, they're smarter than you.
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Note: This article was sent to us by: Keith B. Reed at 02242011
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