tedster
msg:3799797 | 7:49 am on Dec 4, 2008 (gmt 0) |
Sitemap errors, on their own, do not cause ranking problems. Sitemaps are only an added help to Google's normal crawling, indexing and ranking - and not every site has them by a long shot. I'd suspect something about your server config has changed - such as MIME types, possibly? At any rate, something is affecting the indexing of your regular pages as well as your Sitemaps. [edited by: tedster at 8:18 pm (utc) on Dec. 4, 2008]
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GaryK
msg:3800011 | 3:36 pm on Dec 4, 2008 (gmt 0) |
I figured since Googlebot is accustomed to getting Sitemap updates at least once an hour it might be "disappointed" it wasn't getting them anymore. I'll have my sysadmin look into the issue. I was hoping it was something I could resolve without him thinking I'd messed something up again. :) ADDED: Ted, I just remembered to look at the Web crawl page of GWT. There are no crawl errors. All the ones I mentioned in the other thread you replied to are gone. So it would seem Google isn't having a problem crawling this site. [edited by: GaryK at 4:03 pm (utc) on Dec. 4, 2008]
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GaryK
msg:3801072 | 5:48 pm on Dec 5, 2008 (gmt 0) |
Ted, I created a new account with GWT and my sitemaps are no longer throwing errors. Have you ever heard of an account being the cause of something like this? Any idea who I report this to at GWT?
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tedster
msg:3801108 | 6:40 pm on Dec 5, 2008 (gmt 0) |
I'd start with the regular Reconsideration Request from within the WMT account. You can also start a thread at the Google Groups.
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GaryK
msg:3801126 | 6:51 pm on Dec 5, 2008 (gmt 0) |
I didn't see the Reconsideration Request at first. :o
Thanks.
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spiritparse
msg:3803962 | 3:18 am on Dec 10, 2008 (gmt 0) |
What turned up to be the reason? I am always interested in maintaining my FAQ about sitemaps and problems related to them.
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GaryK
msg:3804006 | 4:46 am on Dec 10, 2008 (gmt 0) |
I haven't heard from Google yet. My sitemaps are still working fine. I'm not sure it's related, but my site has started its rise back to--hopefully--the number one spot it used to reside at. Rather quickly too. Almost too fast to be related to just the sitemap issue. However, I haven't made any changes that could account for the change. Neither has my sysadmin. It doesn't appear my competitors have either. Site was at #4 when I checked yesterday. At one time it wasn't even on page one. I don't think there's enough evidence to state definitively that my error-throwing sitemap negatively affected rank, but it does seem to suggest that might be the case. Sitemap works fine, site is at #1. Sitemap goes wonky, site drops like a rock. Sitemap returns, site starts a dramatic rise in the results. So perhaps a sitemap in and of itself doesn't affect rank, but having one and then losing it might affect rank.
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