Location of xml files

[Datagg]

I just bought the UFG (ultimate feed generator) as im tired of using so many programs to make these sitemaps.

Anyways...there seems to be some confusion on where they all go.

Would these files go in the root / or in /Merchant2?

what was said to me is that since the base<href> points into /Merchant2 this leaves a question mark in his mind

this all came up since Google has NOT been indexing my site right......

His thoughts he sent me the other day are below......
--------------------------------------------

Dan,

Well you do have something that Google has picked up, you have the tag:
<BASE HREF="http://www.girlfriendslingerie.com/Merchant2/">

That's your root directory as far as the search engines are concerned.

Now, you have this robots exclusion protocol:
User-agent: googlebot
Disallow: /Merchant2/

In other words, you've disallowed Google from what is effectively your root directory. It's my feeling that you'll never get spidered as long as this continues!

I'm not sure, but I don't think the sitemap will help because of the base href tag.

Can forward this email to your developers and say I would be happy to discuss this with them. I think there may be an htaccess solution, but I would have to discuss it with the people working on your shopping cart.

Do ask if you have any questions Dan, but I hope we're close to getting to the bottom of this!

Cheers,
Carl.
------------------------------

anyways he has been trying to help me out of this problem....yet He will freely admit he is not a MIVA expert, only in seo for normal situations with normal carts.

Well that’s why I wrote here.... With going back to dynamic pages and the end of this week purchasing Ultimate SEO links, which is to be released by Sebenza(according to last email I got from scott yesterday), im trying to get all of this sitemap stuff and where it goes sorted out.

If anyone has any suggestions or a slap in the face for me on asking too much and rambling on ill take it....

Thanks all

[Vic - WolfPaw Computers]

Have you asked NetBlazon's support? They wrote the module and should be able to tell you where they go.

While I have not used UFG, the other feed modules I've used store the sitemaps in the www root.

[Datagg]

Have you asked NetBlazon's support? They wrote the module and should be able to tell you where they go.

While I have not used UFG, the other feed modules I've used store the sitemaps in the www root.
Sorry Vic I did not mean it that way..sorry for the confusion..I know where they are exported to once created by the module(mivadata/export). What i was trying to confirm as to where they should go when they are completed. Where should the engines see these site maps.... UFG does allwo me to change the path for them..so thats what im trying to establish..where to put them

I know about the sitemap.html goes in the root.... but what about the

ror.xml
sitemap.xml(google)
urllist.txt)(yahoo)
others

the price grabber..by defualt UFG sends all files to the export folder.....

All im trying to establish is to where they should all be for the engines too see them. And if the letter that was sent to me regarding the base<href>. It is odd though as the <base> would convert all the links as far as the engines see into /Merchant2 ..

yet we are advised to robot /Merchant2 from the engines eyes when we use shorter links ...

this is where the confusion sets in

[Vic - WolfPaw Computers]

These would be good questions for the developer.

[Datagg]

These would be good questions for the developer.

i shall write and ask.... yet I think this is a good question for anyone doing sitemaps and such.... and the confusion on where they should be on your server.

As carl mentioned, that base<which is the norm as you said Vic for all miva stores, throws the engines into the /Merchant2 folder..... which we try to discourage and as my own host said " NOTHING SHOULD BE CALLED FROM THAT FOLDER " only confuses the matter even more....

And google in its own words says to pu the site map in its highest level....

Well the root would be....... but that base call throws it off IMO....

I hope Jason or another MIVA SEo expoert can shed some light on this...as im sure im not the only one who sees this as odd and confusing....

[jason - jmh web services]

i shall write and ask.... yet I think this is a good question for anyone doing sitemaps and such.... and the confusion on where they should be on your server.

As carl mentioned, that base<which is the norm as you said Vic for all miva stores, throws the engines into the /Merchant2 folder..... which we try to discourage and as my own host said " NOTHING SHOULD BE CALLED FROM THAT FOLDER " only confuses the matter even more....

And google in its own words says to pu the site map in its highest level....

Well the root would be....... but that base call throws it off IMO....

I hope Jason or another MIVA SEo expoert can shed some light on this...as im sure im not the only one who sees this as odd and confusing....

It goes where the search engine or comparison engine tells you to put it. Most want or expect it in a publicly accessible directory. Most people just put it http://www.yourdomain.com/somefile.some-extension

[Datagg]

It goes where the search engine or comparison engine tells you to put it. Most want or expect it in a publicly accessible directory. Most people just put it http://www.yourdomain.com/somefile.some-extension
Thanks Jason.... yet with the Base HREF pushing all into merchant2 wouldnt that change the string in the url that it sees...

Even if i have it showing

domain.com/somefile.extension

wouldnt they see....

domain/Merchant2/somefile.extesnion....

[jason - jmh web services]

Thanks Jason.... yet with the Base HREF pushing all into merchant2 wouldnt that change the string in the url that it sees...

Even if i have it showing

domain.com/somefile.extension

wouldnt they see....

domain/Merchant2/somefile.extesnion....

No, base href doesn't mean anything in this case. They see the location url only and full urls included within file.

[Datagg]

No, base href doesn't mean anything in this case. They see the location url only and full urls included within file.

Thank you Jason

[netblazon]

FYI - I have been planning a new feature for some time, just haven't gotten around to it yet. It will allow different feeds to go into different locations on your server. So you can post one file to the root directory, another to /Merchant2, another to /google, whatever.

Right now, you can have the module automatically copy all feeds to a single location in the publicly accessible area of your server. If you click "Module Settings", enter something in "Copy to scripts location" to have it copied to the public area. For instance if you enter a single / here, it will copy everything to the root directory. Or if you enter /feedsoutput/, it will copy all feeds to a directory called "feedsoutput" under your root directory. (And will create the directory if it doesn't exist.)

I tend to use the latter to keep my server filesystem cleaner. However, the new feature will definitely add some flexibility around the different requirements from different engines/portals.

I expect it to be available in a week or two. (Marv, if you're reading, I know, I said that about a month ago!)

Thanks,
Susan

PS - by way of a small unobtrusive announcement, everything right now is dependent on my never-ending morning (more like all-day) sickness!

[Vic - WolfPaw Computers]

Congrats Susan & Pete :) Another soon to be Mivite on the way?

[Datagg]

FYI - I have been planning a new feature for some time, just haven't gotten around to it yet. It will allow different feeds to go into different locations on your server. So you can post one file to the root directory, another to /Merchant2, another to /google, whatever.

Right now, you can have the module automatically copy all feeds to a single location in the publicly accessible area of your server. If you click "Module Settings", enter something in "Copy to scripts location" to have it copied to the public area. For instance if you enter a single / here, it will copy everything to the root directory. Or if you enter /feedsoutput/, it will copy all feeds to a directory called "feedsoutput" under your root directory. (And will create the directory if it doesn't exist.)

I tend to use the latter to keep my server filesystem cleaner. However, the new feature will definitely add some flexibility around the different requirements from different engines/portals.

I expect it to be available in a week or two. (Marv, if you're reading, I know, I said that about a month ago!)

Thanks,
Susan

PS - by way of a small unobtrusive announcement, everything right now is dependent on my never-ending morning (more like all-day) sickness!
Thank you susan for the update.....

And yes congrats

[netblazon]

Yes, scarily enough. ;) I'm about 25% of the way there! (In months, not number of kids, LOL)

Dan, you're welcome. You definitely aren't the first to ask about this!

I'm also planning to add a "throttle", which will allow the module to process more than one product/category at a time. Should speed things up tremendously. The store owner will be able to control the throttle (at the overall module level, not individually for each thread) so they can determine how many to process at any given time, depending on the server speed and application timeout settings. Just another FYI. :) I plan to code both of these for the next release.

Will also be providing a default template for GoogleBase.

[Datagg]

Yes, scarily enough. ;) I'm about 25% of the way there! (In months, not number of kids, LOL)

Dan, you're welcome. You definitely aren't the first to ask about this!

I'm also planning to add a "throttle", which will allow the module to process more than one product/category at a time. Should speed things up tremendously. The store owner will be able to control the throttle (at the overall module level, not individually for each thread) so they can determine how many to process at any given time, depending on the server speed and application timeout settings. Just another FYI. :) I plan to code both of these for the next release.

Will also be providing a default template for GoogleBase.

Sounds great.....

You take care of yourself though..Us mivites will wait for those updates..you and your baby come first....

My prayers are with you ...