Google Sitemap Filenaming Convention Changed

Google has changed their naming convention without alerting users

[cabowabo]

I noticed this about a week ago and didn't think anything of it - until others I have been talking to have noticed the same thing. When you log into your Google Sitemaps account, the status is set to "Verify" and the sitemap file is no longer being crawled.

Google changed the naming convention from ALL CAPS to lowercase.

Example: GOOGLE4537....232.html is now google4537...232.html. Google no longer recognizes the upper-case version of the file. I didn't see this mentioned anywhere in the Google blogs or reported by Matt Cutts.

Just a heads up to ensure that your sitemap file is being crawled on a continual basis.

Cheers!

CaboWabo

[abates]

Yes, and now the site which I had verified before the change will no longer verify.

I changed the name of the verification and verified in my logs that Google was hitting it and getting a 200 response, but the sitemaps verification page is permanently stuck on "Verification is pending. We will process this verification as soon as possible. Please check back later for an updated status"

I'll have to bug Google about it, I guess!

[s_clay]

hmmm. Last Crawled 9 hours ago, Sitemap Status OK for me, with the verification filename in CAPS.

[cabowabo]

but the sitemaps verification page is permanently stuck on "Verification is pending

I am getting the same thing on 2/3rds of my domains. The others are working fine with the ALL CAPS version, but I think it is a matter of time until those stop working too.

Cheers,

CaboWabo

[Ledfish]

I have a site that has had the "pending Verification" thing for almost 3 weeks now. Not sure what the problem is.

[BillyS]

>>>I have a site that has had the "pending Verification" thing for almost 3 weeks now. Not sure what the problem is.

There is some kind of problem. The verification process is nearly instantaneous.

[Key_Master]

I haven't had a problem with verification. I think they're being a little picky about the sites they're testing sitemaps on.

My understanding is they search for both upper and lower case versions of the verification file.

[sitemaps.blogspot.com...]

[cabowabo]

My understanding is they search for both upper and lower case versions of the verification file.

That used to be the case, but for some reason it has changed and Google isn't doing that any longer.

There is a definite bug in the system as I cannot delete the offending accounts to recreate them.

I am hoping all returns to normal on the 1st, but this is stressing me out bigtime right now. I may just start the drinking early!

Cheers,

CaboWabo

[Key_Master]

Hmmm, mine is still uppercase. No problems yet.

[prairie]

No problems here. It is in Beta, and you can contact them with feedback.

[acemi]

5 minutes after the site was verified I deleted the file and the sitemap is still being fetched daily after over a month on 2 different sites. The status still shows verified.

[encyclo]

Bear in mind that filenames are case-insensitive on Windows servers and case-sensitive on Linux/Unix/BSD servers: so on a Windows server the file will be found whatever the capitalization.

[bumpski]

When this happened to me I verified the file remained intact. I hadn't noticed the case change.

I clicked "Verify Now" and everythings OK!

If you read the help all that happens is certain stats aren't available.

But I'll be keeping this up to date. This could be a very important aid in content ownership verification, etc.

[abates]

I just now checked and it looks like they've solved the problem - the site in question is verified! I didn't get around to contacting them in the end either. :)

[GeorgeK]

I've been waiting weeks to be verified, too.

[rebelde]

My site went "pending verification", too. I updated the URL to lowercse, and had to stop load-balancing my servers with DNS (go from two servers to one) and the site went "verified" the next time I requested verification.

HINT for Google: Your verification routine seems to have problems with round-robin DNS.

[cabowabo]

Google never responded to the queries sent (due to holiday I suppose) but everything is back to normal and working correctly (as long as the file name was changed).

Cheers,

CaboWabo