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Sitemap File
If you have the ‘Sitemap Generator’ add-on:
The Sitemap file can be acquired through a file download in the CMS.
Go to Administration → File/Upload Download → Download Files → Site Map File → Download Data File
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Alternatively, you can locate this file in your browser.
In your browser’s URL bar; enter your domain with the suffix ‘/documents/sitemap.txt’
Example: www.straightsell.com.au/documents/sitemap.txt
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We provide a system generated Sitemap file with our Sitemap Generator Add-on.
For more information review the Sitemap Generator Add-on training article here, https://straightsell.atlassian.net/l/cp/w8EHyUSW.
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Please note that we do not offer an XML file. However, you can use an online generator, or download one (search for xml sitemap generator), we have used https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ before with success. |
Common Indexing Issues
Alternative page with proper canonical tag
This error is not an issue and can be ignored. The notice is caused by a page being marked as an alternate of another page, however it correctly points to the canonical (original) page, which has been successfully indexed.
A common occurrence that causes this notice is the ‘?filters=’ attribute. This attribute is an on-page flag used to reset the Brand or any other filter, and we leave this and other on page attributes out of the canonical we report to search engines, like Google, in the page source, see an example below:
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Read more in the Google Search Console help here.
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A canonical URL is the URL of a page that Google chose as the most representative from a set of duplicate pages |
Crawled - currently not indexed
Google has crawled this page but hasn’t yet indexed. It may be indexed in the future.
You can request Google Search Console Start New Validation after selecting See Details, for example:
Select See Details:
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Select Start New Validation:
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Google Search Console will confirm a request to validate has been received via email, and also report the results of the request via email when completed. You may need to repeat the process several times, and whether the crawled and not indexed pages make it into Google’s search index or not is dependent on Google. Other than following this process, there is nothing else that can be done, other than to wait for Google to eventually index the pages.
Discovered - currently not indexed
The page has been found by Google, but hasn’t been crawled yet. The crawl was expected to overload the site and has been rescheduled to a later date.
Duplicate without user-selected canonical
This is not an error and is working as intended, Google does not index duplicate pages and therefore automatically assigning this page as a canonical.
Read more in the Google Search Console help here.
Not Found (404)
This error is returned when Google encounters a moved, deleted or deactivated page.
Google suggests that 404 responses are not necessarily a problem, if the page has been removed without any replacement in their Search Console help here, although it is commonly understood from SEO agencies that work with our customers, that all 404 errors should be 301 redirected, even if the 301 redirect is to the /home.php page.
To resolve this issue a 301 Redirect is required to redirect each page to an existing page.
Please review our 301 Redirects Addon help here to configure our 301 Redirect add-on for each page URL listed in the Google Search Console. If you are having trouble finding 301 Redirects in the CMS, or contact support.
URL blocked by robots.txt
Notify support@straightsell.com.au of the pages that are being blocked by robots.txt.
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If you do not have a robots.txt file, Straightsell can build one for you! |