sitemap.xml is a compressed folder. Inside that folder you will find url's pointing to the individual rss links. If you have not created any rss pages or updated your sitemap with a cron job, than the sitemap is going to be empty.

HERE IS HOW IT WORKS:

1. First, you must check that your sitemap.xml permissions are correct. I believe it has to be 666 but double check. The instructions are part of the installation instructions.

2. To create a rss page you don't have to do anything special. All you have to do is create a news item or blog and the rss page is created for you.

3. To update your sitemap.xml you have to do one of two things. Create a cron job in your host server to update the sitemap automatically or update it manually. I do it manually.

MAKE SURE YOUR SETTINGS ARE PROPERLY SET IN THE CP

1. go to CP - settings - choose automation from the drop down menu

2. Cron URL will be filled in automatically for your site. It will look something like this

GET "http://www.yoursite.com/index.php?hp=1&m=cron&s=very_secret_word"

3. Security hash by default is: very_secret_word -- you need to change that to what you want it to be. In this example I will change it to myfuture

4. Now that you have your security hash changed, you need to change the cron URL in step 2  to reflect your security hash.  In this example it would be

"

http://www.yoursite.com/index.php?hp=1&m=cron&s=myfuture

"

DONE

Ok you are all setup.  Now all you have to do is take the cron job url and put it in your browser window to update sitemap.xml. The update will automatically add the rss pages (i.e news, blog) to your sitemap.

After that, submit sitemap.xml again  to google webmaster tools and see what happens. Let us know if it works out.

cheers
dan

p.s. you can also create a link to click so you don't have to paste your cron link in your browser window every time. I added it to my dashboard in my CP.

Last edited by db3204 (2010-07-24 14:10:46)