Google Sitemaps Plugin question

2
215 followers

I just started using the Google Sitemap plug-in, and it generates a sitemap at …/sitemap.xml, but when I try to view it, here’s what I get. Does anyone know what’s going on? I think I’m missing a schema or stylesheet, but I’m wondering why the plug-in wouldn’t have taken care of that, and I don’t know how to create that file (if that is the problem). My website is http://firstcoasthealthypets.com

Screenshot:

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Recent Comments

25

do a search on the menu bar for Google Sitemaps and you should find my link, I'm on my phone right now so I can't find it for you

The problem is solved by viewing my sitemap in Firefox instead of Chrome.

Great!. Firefox is what I use anyway.

FYI http://firstcoasthealthypets.com/sitemap.xml loads fine for me in Chrome. But I do see that you have a Chrome update available, maybe that's why.
In the left corner of browser screenshot the three bars are a different color indicating an update is available.

There is a way to view the xml-source-file, just go to the "view source" command in your browser menu (it's under developer tools). It will give you the native-xml, with all the angle brackets and everything. The Firefox browser will display the xml in its formatted form, using a stylesheet which is apparently what is tripping up Chrome.

I see your sitemap is loading fine for me, so I guess you've fixed the problem.
Please can you double check something for me.
I see you're using Chrome in the screenshot, log out of wordpress and go to your homepage, then press F5 to do a clean refresh of the browser.
Does it load ok for you?

I came across this yesterday with another members site, homepage doesn't load correctly with Chrome when you land on homepage for first time.

This is what I',m seeing http://take.ms/JVD1Y

As no one has mentioned this I'm wondering if it on my end only.

That happens to me often. I just have to click somewhere with a mouse and it will appear. It bugs me, but I haven't figured out how to solve it. Maybe it's a theme issue.

I'm on a different computer now, so I know it's a fresh cache, and I see the same thing when using Chrome. However, I just tried looking at it in Firefox, and I see the listing just fine! Every url in my site is listed (or at least I think so, it's a long list, but my site is less than two weeks old).

I think it's related to a non-Google friendly font issue.

I think initially you need to "build" your sitemap. In the plugin at the top it will tell you whether the sitemap has been built and when. When you add new pages/posts/content you can manually build it to let Google know it has changed since last build.

Darn sitemap! I'm having others issues with mine at the moment, and your issue isn't the same as mine! I get the full page when I click on it -- as you have tried to do.

All in one seo creates a sitemap for you. If that is what you are using, I would uninstall the all in one, turn everything off and re install and see what I got!

I use Wordpress SEO by Yoast.

I actually deactivated the sitemap feature of the all-in-one before setting up the Google sitemap plugin, but maybe I'll do a full reinstall tomorrow, if it's still bothering me then. In the meantime, GWT reports they have the sitemap and reports no errors.

I'll be honest, I do not know. I know that Google Webmaster Tools suggests that I create a sitemap, but my plugin should be taking care of it. So I'm confused what I should or shouldn't do. If you do get a response I'd be interested in knowing what it is.
~Amanda

If you already have your sitemap plugin, then you need to ADD the name of it to the Webmaster Tools sitemap page. I think just having the 'map' but not officially adding it to Google isn't doing a darn thing.

The Webmaster Tools site actually recognizes my sitemap and reports no errors with it, so I think the only problem is that I cannot view the data in a browser.

This the error message I receive when I try to add sitemaps:
Your Sitemap appears to be an HTML page. Please use a supported sitemap format instead.
What am I doing wrong?

IIRC I think that's the message I was getting on GWT too. If you go to the top of the GWT page, where it says "add a sitemap", just put in your site name/sitemap.xml (if that's its name) and see what happens. In addition, down below on the same page, if it is listing your sitemap name and other pages from your website in a 1,2,3, list...just DELETE the other pages (by putting "check ticks" in the boxes provided) that appear below the sitemap name. That is what I had to do, and Google recognized it after that!

I'm off to bed now, gotta get up early! Good night :-)

G'nite! Thanks for your help.

There is a difference between xml and html. xml is just a structured data that uses tags like html, but they define data, not content. I'd say that your browser doesn't recognize your sitemap file because something is wrong in the very first line, it requires an <xml.....> tag and then a .
As far as generating it, the Google sitemap tool will notify Google of it (unless you tell it not to), so that the Google Webmaster Tools will see it. The Wordpress All in One SEO plugin has that option as well. Don't use both of them, there can only be one sitemap.

Thanks! I wasn't putting it in correctly. I saw Rbwnys' comment about XML and had a "D'oh!" slap the forehead moment. I had been putting in each page of my site and not the sitemap. It's working now.
~Amanda

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