MyBB Community Forums

Search engines like Google ignore the meta keywords tag. You can add a meta description for your forums main site to the index and/or portal template though.

(2012-02-04, 12:41 AM)frostschutz Wrote: [ -> ]

arka Wrote:3) Clicked on the "sitemap" button but got this:

Quote:404 Not found

Not Found

The requested URL /forum/sitemap.xml was not found on this server.

Not sure if it is normal or what...

Then your .htaccess doesn't have the sitemap rewrite rule or your rewrites aren't working for some reason.

Reading the documentations I have come across this bit (my bold):

Quote:There is no sitemap.xml file

Google SEO's Sitemap is generated dynamically every time it is accessed. This means there is no file for it, similar to how there is no file for a specific thread. Instead of looking for a file on FTP, use HTTP. By default the URL to your sitemap will be yoursite/sitemap-index.xml

so if I access
www.autosvezzamento.it/forum/sitemap-index.xml
I do see something, but am I seeing what I am supposed to see?
Instead the "sitemap" link from the forum points to
http://www.autosvezzamento.it/forum/sitemap.xml

Is this correct?

^ @Arka, as you have observed, there is no sitemap.xml ; it is sitemap-index.html . this file can be submitted to the search engines ..

(2012-02-04, 04:44 PM)ranjani Wrote: [ -> ]^ @Arka, as you have observed, there is no sitemap.xml ; it is sitemap-index.html . this file can be submitted to the search engines ..

Thanks for that.
Must I alter the link on my forum (wherever that might be defined) or is it irrelevant?

Google SEO does not (should not) add a link to a sitemap.xml anywhere - where do you see that?

Only place where it puts a link is in the admin cp plugin status page and that one should point correctly to sitemap-index.xml. The only purpose of it is to help board admins find their sitemap (people kept asking where it is to be found)

Hi frostschutz,

I have a link on my forum at the bottom of the main page on the right hand side (I didn't put it there). I just clicked on it to see what the "site map" looks like and got the error I was telling you about earlier on.

If the link is redundant I can try to get rid of it (if I can find where it is). However, I have noticed that quite often sites have a "sitemap" link, although I never really understood what it was for

OFF TOPIC : ^ that link appears to be from the theme ; check index_boardstats template of the theme for that link & remove it ..

You probably installed some other sitemap plugin at some point ... or it came with the theme.

No, it came with the theme (I certainly never installed it )

Shall I get rid of it?

---

Just checked the admin panel and found this next to your plugin:

Quote:Google Search Engine Optimization as described in the official Google's SEO starter guide. Please see the documentation for details.

! Add to .htaccess:

# Some hosts require RewriteBase to make RewriteRules work.
RewriteBase /forum/

# Google SEO 404:
ErrorDocument 404 /forum/misc.php?google_seo_error=404

! URL is passive. Apply changes to core files to activate.

! Redirect is enabled and URL is passive. Redirecting SEO URLs back to MyBB's default URLs.

v 404, Meta, Redirect, Sitemap and URL are enabled. (Configure)
Click to Apply changes to core files.

Am I expected to take some action?
The "!" are actually warning signs (triangle with an exclamation mark); the "v" is a tick.

Since installing the plugin I have done nothing except enabling all the 5 "sections" (and making some forums invisible to Google).
I have just added the meta tags to the index and portal templates (see earlier message).

@Arka. Add those to your .htaccess as those are the rewritten URLs made by the plugin. Add them right after RewriteEngine On, I believe.