Getting Sitemap/Sitelinks to be picked up by Google
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I've been using C5 for about 6 months, and reasonably familiar with it, but I've got a site that Google isn't picking up the "sitelinks" for.
The site is http://www.nausetheights.org , and it has a sitemap.xml as autogenerated by C5 every night. The sitemap.xml file has about 100 entries in it, and passes all the tests for being accurate (not a surprise since C5 generated it). Even Google's own tools say it's right.
However, I can't seem to get Google to index my pages so that when you find the domain itself in Google, it's got the "sitelinks" under the listing in nice little columns. Google's webmaster tools say "its not generated yet", but Google has fully indexed the site which has been running for about 3 months now. I know Google is reading the sitemap.xml as its own webtools say it is.
Does anyone have any clues how to get Google to create "sitelinks" on this C5 site of mine? I feel like there must be something small I am missing...
TIA,
Dave
The site is http://www.nausetheights.org , and it has a sitemap.xml as autogenerated by C5 every night. The sitemap.xml file has about 100 entries in it, and passes all the tests for being accurate (not a surprise since C5 generated it). Even Google's own tools say it's right.
However, I can't seem to get Google to index my pages so that when you find the domain itself in Google, it's got the "sitelinks" under the listing in nice little columns. Google's webmaster tools say "its not generated yet", but Google has fully indexed the site which has been running for about 3 months now. I know Google is reading the sitemap.xml as its own webtools say it is.
Does anyone have any clues how to get Google to create "sitelinks" on this C5 site of mine? I feel like there must be something small I am missing...
TIA,
Dave
Did you verify the account with Google and submit the sitemap.xml via the Google Webmaster tools?
The sitemap.xml has been submitted via Google's WebTools website and my account there shows they are reading it.
As for "verifying", I'm not sure if this has been done. Is this part of of the WebTools site? I don't see it listed there.
As for "verifying", I'm not sure if this has been done. Is this part of of the WebTools site? I don't see it listed there.
Verifying is an important part of the Google process, it should be in your Web master tools section, basically Google give you a code or an HTML file to down load and place on your server. They then check they can see the file/code and if they do then it confirms that you are the owner of the site.
I dont know if this relates to your problem but it is a good idea to do it, it all helps when getting a site listed in Google. Site links are normally at Google discretion and are for high traffic sites or ones with great relevance to the topic of the site.
Good luck.
I dont know if this relates to your problem but it is a good idea to do it, it all helps when getting a site listed in Google. Site links are normally at Google discretion and are for high traffic sites or ones with great relevance to the topic of the site.
Good luck.
Sorry - yes - I remember this now, and I remember going through the process. I can't be 100% sure it was verified, or more importunity *is* verified, but I remember trying to do it. I'll double-check the Google webtools site and see if says the site has been verified.
Your comment about the high-traffic site may be the issue. We have fantastic Google rankings (just search for "nauset heights"), but we get low traffic - under 100 unique visitors per day.
So perhaps I am doing all the right things, but Google doesn't think we're worthy enough for sitelinks. I've got sitelinks to work before, but for a site that got over 150k unique visitors a day and the HTML was coded by hand (not a C5 site), so I'm sure Google saw it in a very different light.
[EDIT: I just checked Google's webtools, and my site appears verified. Adding a new site indicates "not verified", so I can only assume without an indication that it's verified]
Your comment about the high-traffic site may be the issue. We have fantastic Google rankings (just search for "nauset heights"), but we get low traffic - under 100 unique visitors per day.
So perhaps I am doing all the right things, but Google doesn't think we're worthy enough for sitelinks. I've got sitelinks to work before, but for a site that got over 150k unique visitors a day and the HTML was coded by hand (not a C5 site), so I'm sure Google saw it in a very different light.
[EDIT: I just checked Google's webtools, and my site appears verified. Adding a new site indicates "not verified", so I can only assume without an indication that it's verified]
Hey Dave,
Its all about content ( content is King? ).
quoting Google's Webmaster site: "Google has not generated any sitelinks for your site. Sitelinks are completely automated, and we show them only if we think they'll be useful to the user."
I have other sites done in C5 that do have links, so I don't believe this is a crawling issue with Concrete. Hopefully Google decides to generate links for you in the near future.
Best of luck!
Its all about content ( content is King? ).
quoting Google's Webmaster site: "Google has not generated any sitelinks for your site. Sitelinks are completely automated, and we show them only if we think they'll be useful to the user."
I have other sites done in C5 that do have links, so I don't believe this is a crawling issue with Concrete. Hopefully Google decides to generate links for you in the near future.
Best of luck!
Hi! this is maybe a newbie question but where can I find my sitemap.xml file?. I want to send it in to Webmaster tools. My concrete5 page has not indexed properly. Normally it takes a couple of hours for my pages to index in Google but this is my first Concrete5 website and it still hasn't showed up :( Please help! :P
It's in the root of your web site. That's the standard place for the file, and it needs to be in a standard place so that Google can pick it up without telling it.
As a followup, my site mentioned above did finally get it's site map indexed and displayed, but it took almost a year. I think it needed more traffic and fresh content, which I have been slowly feeding it.
As a followup, my site mentioned above did finally get it's site map indexed and displayed, but it took almost a year. I think it needed more traffic and fresh content, which I have been slowly feeding it.
Thank you for your answer :) One year..? :o that is a lot! I used Filezilla to look in the root folder but there was no sitemap.xml file. I looked in dashboard in "System & Maintenance" and there was an alternative "Generate Sitemap File" which was checked. Is the sitemap not located somewhere in the Concrete5 directory? Is there a common URL that might take me directly to the sitemap.xml file? :/ I'm sorry to bother you but I really can't find the sitemap :S
Yup, it took that long. Note that my site only gets about 200 users/day, so it's low traffic. I think that had something to do with it. Another site I had had 120k users/day, and Google picked up the sitemap in a few days in 2007.
As for the sitemap in C5, note below the listings and checkboxes there is a URL. If you run this URL, it will run the checked processes for you. I put mine in Cron to run once a night. I never got it to run without doing this, but there may be a way. Or you could run it by hand of course.
As for the sitemap in C5, note below the listings and checkboxes there is a URL. If you run this URL, it will run the checked processes for you. I put mine in Cron to run once a night. I never got it to run without doing this, but there may be a way. Or you could run it by hand of course.
Oh, and I forgot. Run that URL by hand, wait for it to finished (should be a few seconds), and then look for the sitemap.xml in your root. It should be there. Check for it with an FTP client or at the CLI to be sure - don't trust your browser for viewing it. That being said, your browser *should* work for viewing it.
Wow it worked! :o Once again thank you so much for your help. I did what you said and my sitemap showed up in the root folder and I submitted it to google webmaster tools. With a bit of luck the rest of my page will be visible in Gogle soon. :)
Hmm you had "only" 200 visitors/day..I think that is a lot but I'm a newbie ;). I make webpages in Swedish, so I suppose that I have a smaller market. However I think that I read in some SEO blogs that in order to get sitelinks in Google you have to be ranked number one a specifik phrase or keyword. The domain must also be quite old or you have to have a lot of traffic but I'm no expert.
Hmm you had "only" 200 visitors/day..I think that is a lot but I'm a newbie ;). I make webpages in Swedish, so I suppose that I have a smaller market. However I think that I read in some SEO blogs that in order to get sitelinks in Google you have to be ranked number one a specifik phrase or keyword. The domain must also be quite old or you have to have a lot of traffic but I'm no expert.
Well going from 120,000 to 200 was a big drop for me. One was a commercial business and the other is a small non-profit.
Glad it worked out for you, and I hope Google indexes it for you. I don't know if you need to be "first" on their rankings or not. I am a newbie myself when it comes to how Google does these things.
If you want to see the site that gets 200 a day, you can find it onhttp://www.nausetheights.org
Good luck!
Glad it worked out for you, and I hope Google indexes it for you. I don't know if you need to be "first" on their rankings or not. I am a newbie myself when it comes to how Google does these things.
If you want to see the site that gets 200 a day, you can find it onhttp://www.nausetheights.org
Good luck!
