Sitemap.xml issue

[Baz Watkins]

Hi all,

Has anyone else had this problem when uploading a new sitemap to Webmaster tools:

"Your Sitemap appears to be an HTML page. Please use a supported sitemap format instead."

The file type is identical to my previous one, has exactly the same.xml format, the URL hasn't changed, and I have made no amendements to anything in my WT account, and yet GWT won't accept the new sitemap.

Can anyone please tell me how something that worked recently now has a problem? My domain is not new (PR4), and I have submitted many sitemaps with no issue, and yet I can't submit this one, I'm more than a little confused.

Any clues as to fixing it, as Google have so far been useless?

Thanks in advance, B.

 

[fisicx]

Best advice:

Delete your sitemap. All your pages are in the index and google can navigate to all of them so you don't need a sitemap. In fact you could be hurting your ranking by having one.

If it's this page: http://www.create-enable.com/sitemap.xml then it is an html page.

An XML sitemap has a totally different structure: http://www.sitemaps.org/

 

[Baz Watkins]

Hi mate...thanks.

My onsite sitemap is html and has been that way for the last few years, but my webmaster sitemap is an uploaded xml file generated by xml-sitemap dot com, again the same format it has always been.

The checks I have done have shown up this problem a lot, but nobody seems to know a fix and Google is playing dumb, or I just haven't found the right answer, either way my sitemap.xml used to work and now it doesn't, and with the exception of a reduction in total URLs listed its identical to the old sitemap which Google had no issue with.

Best advice:

Delete your sitemap. All your pages are in the index and google can navigate to all of them so you don't need a sitemap. In fact you could be hurting your ranking by having one.

If it's this page: http://www.create-enable.com/sitemap.xml then it is an html page.

An XML sitemap has a totally different structure: http://www.sitemaps.org/

 

[Baz Watkins]

Also how does a sitemap hurt my rank? I always thought it was standard practice for all bar the smallest sites.

Should I delete my onsite one completely, what about navigation for those of limited common sense?

Best advice:

Delete your sitemap. All your pages are in the index and google can navigate to all of them so you don't need a sitemap. In fact you could be hurting your ranking by having one.

If it's this page: http://www.create-enable.com/sitemap.xml then it is an html page.

An XML sitemap has a totally different structure: http://www.sitemaps.org/

 

[emailblaster]

You could try using an xml sitemap generator, we've used the following for years with no issues:
http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/

 

[ITsoldUK]

Should I delete my onsite one completely, what about navigation for those of limited common sense?

I wouldn't, not if your users use it...

 

[ITsoldUK]

Also how does a sitemap hurt my rank? I always thought it was standard practice for all bar the smallest sites.

It 'could' hurt your site if it were full of old pages(soft 404's)

To be honest, I rarely submit one these days, I just make sure the nav is easy to use and all internal/canonical links work fine first time.

HTH

 

[fisicx]

Also how does a sitemap hurt my rank? I always thought it was standard practice for all bar the smallest sites.

You need an XML sitemap for the reasons listed here: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=156184

None of these apply to you. Ergo, you don't need an xml sitemap.

The sitemap creator you are using misses out one of the most important features: priority. Because everything gets set to the default of 0.5 you are telling google that every page has the same ranking value. You can of course use the auto priority generator but this now negates any onsite SEO work you have done on your navigation, anchor text and so on.

It follows therefore that a sitemaps can hold you back. I've tested this. I set up a sitemap for a well established site. All priorities set to 0.5. Ranking dropped like a stone. I removed the sitemap and ranking returned.

As to the onsite sitemap. How many people use the page? Is your site so bad to navigate that people go there to find their way around? What do your stats say? If lots of people go there to find what they are looking for then that should tell your something about your navigation system.

 

[ITsoldUK]

You need an XML sitemap for the reasons listed here: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=156184

Brill, cheers me old mucker...a VERY useful post indeed.

 

[Baz Watkins]

Ok, I think I've worked it out, instead of getting a standard sitemap.xml get the .gz compressed version, GWT seems to like that.

 

[fisicx]

Errr....

Didn't you read my post. You DON'T NEED AN XML SITEMAP!

Delete, remove, expunge.

I'd put money on your ranking improving when you get rid of the thing.