Support/Comments for sitemap

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[grad]

This is an auto-generated support/comment thread for SiteMap. Use this forum to post any comments about this addition or any questions you have regarding its use.
Brief Description:
Outputs a machine-readable site map for search engines and robots. Outputs the following formats:

• Sitemap Protocol used by Google Sitemaps (XML)
• URL list in text format (e.g. Yahoo! submission)

Author: Grzegorz Adamiak [grad]
Version: 1.0.2 @2006-07-21 15:03:04
License: LGPL
MODx: 0.9.2.1
History:
# 1.0.2
- Reworked fetching of template variable value to get INHERITED value.
# 1.0.1
- Reworked fetching of template variable value, now it gets computed value instead of nominal; however, still not the inherited value.
# 1.0
- First public release.

TODO:
- I'm not sure at the moment which way will it go...
Documentation is available in MODx wiki article SiteMap: Google sitemaps in MODx.

[openagate]

o.k.

I try it...

but what about that:

we have template with chunks. for example, we do SE's Optimisation: we change chunks, template... and so... we change document, but we don't change editdone of document.

do you have statistic of  how Google's bot goes through site, if lastmod date  isn't changes?

[garryn]

Hi openagate,

My knowledge of google sitemaps is that it doesn't matter what the editedon date is for a particular document. The update frequency specified within the sitemap XML (in this case, I believe it's set using a TV) is the important thing. For example, you can specify a page is updated weekly, monthly etc.

Hope that helps,
Garry

[openagate]

Thanx a lot, garryn!

btw, what about other search engines? now MODX doesn't send the lastmod date to the header. may be to add it to the wishlist?

[grad]

The update frequency specified within the sitemap XML (in this case, I believe it's set using a TV) is the important thing.

According to Sitemap Protocol documentation the 'changefreq' property is only informative and googlebot doesn't stick to it. However, IMO it may be assumed that it may have important influence on how often Google indexes the documents.

Google fetches sitemap automatically every day so the 'lastmod' property is far more important, as it actually tells google if the document has changed since last indexing.

now MODX doesn't send the lastmod date to the header. may be to add it to the wishlist?

Apparently much needs to be done regarding response headers served by MODx:

• status codes (error 404 especially) - AFAIK this is to be resolved in 0.9.5,
• Expires - which seems to be always Thu, 19 Nov 1981 08:52:00 GMT,
• Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0 and Pragma: no-cache - which require documents to be fetched from server with each display.

... to name a few.

what about other search engines?

The sitemap protocol is being developed and used by Google. However, search engines - including Google - also use sitemaps in ROR format which slightly differs from sitemap protocol. This is what I'm working on at the moment. If I have some spare time I'd like to publish a new version with ROR output in few days. So be patient

[davidm]

Thanks grad this is a great snippet !
I'll go on and test it right away

[openagate]

Thanx, grad!

I can say exactly, after I have made sitemap, Google has nearly immediately added majority of the pages into index.

[mo]

hi,

Very flexible snippet, but I think there is still something to do.
In my site I've got web links with no template - (blank) - how to exclude them?
It will be usefull to add new argument 'excludeParent' for exclude all documents under given parent id.

[grad]

Very flexible snippet, but I think there is still something to do.

Always is

In my site I've got web links with no template - (blank) - how to exclude them?

Simply create an empty template and use it for documents/links you want to exclude.

It will be usefull to add new argument 'excludeParent' for exclude all documents under given parent id.

It can be easily achieved with use of @INHERIT binding.

[arphaus]

how does one use this snippet?

[grad]

how does one use this snippet?

What you mean?

- How to make a sitemap document?

Usage instructions are included on the snippet's repository page. IMO they are detailed enough.

- What to use it for?

Check Google Sitemaps and you should get the idea.

- Something else?

Elaborate, please.

[arphaus]

the repository makes no sense to me - it doesn't say anything about what to do in terms of a step-by-step process.  i'm not a programmer, by any definition.

[grad]

the repository makes no sense to me - it doesn't say anything about what to do in terms of a step-by-step process.  i'm not a programmer, by any definition.

You don't need to be a programmer to use it. It is just a snippet which means you need to call it from within a document to make it generate any output. However, you're right there is no step-by-step procedure. Thus I plan to make one and publish it in MODx wiki once I get some spare time.

Anyway here is the shortest possible how-to:

1) Create a document in the root level of the document tree, use a blank template, set the content type to 'txt/xml' and alias to 'sitemap.xml'.

2) In the document content field call the snippet:

Code:

[[sitemap? &format=`sp`]]

3) Log in to your Google sitemaps account and register your new sitemap file.

You can examine it at http://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. If you want to get a readable output, you have to get an XSL stylesheet as described in the repository entry. Once you downloaded it, simply duplicate your 'sitemap.xml' and paste the contents of the XSL into it. Then change the document alias to 'sitemap.xsl' and save. Now, you should be able to see it better

The sitemap you created includes each and every document from your site. This is not necessarily what you would want. To exclude documents from it follow instructions from the repository entry.

I hope this will help you to get started.

[rthrash]

I'd assume it should probably be an uncached page too.

[arphaus]

thanks very much - that i can understand.

ryan: i've taken to keeping my pages uncached by default since it seems like every page i make has a snippet, chunk or tv in it. cached pages are only for static content, right?