Sitemap.php not updating

[Orioni]

Context

While reviewing my forum's data in Google Search Console, I noticed the visibility is dropping for several months now.

 

Research

This led me to discover the sitemap hadn't updated itself since March 7th, 2019. http://www.europans.com/sitemap.php

<lastmod>2019-03-07T18:54:27+01:00</lastmod>

It would make sense that Google drops my forum from its index if they see no new content appear for the past 8 months.

 

Problem

Logically, I want into the Admin dashboard to manually force a sitemap update. The cron job to do this is in the tasks.

When I manually run the sitemapgenerator task, I get this response.

"Sitemap URL has been submitted to search engines within the last 24 hours already (skipping)"

In fact, the task log is full of mentions of "skipping" the task.

 

Question

Is there a way for me to properly re-enable the sitemap generation so it adds all new content?

[Daniel F]

You can do from your ACP => System => Search Engine Optimisation site, there's a link in the top right corner which will force a sitemap rebuild, but if you don't mind, could you please submit a ticket so that we can take a look at this, before you force the rebuild?

[bfarber]

Note - the message you see from the task indicates that it ran fine without issue, and simply skipped submitting the sitemap to Google because it had already done so within the last 24 hours. This is an indication that the task is running correctly. If you are not seeing any new content in the sitemap, there may be other concerns at play, so Daniel's recommendation to submit a ticket would be your best option.

[Lucas James]

4 hours ago, Daniel F said:

You can do from your ACP => System => Search Engine Optimisation site, there's a link in the top right corner which will force a sitemap rebuild

The issue with the sitemap persist (although not related to what OP mentioned) – as I manage a number of clients forums and the sitemap <lastmod> haven't been updated for about 2-3 months of different forums; forcing me to rebuilt it manually from the ACP for every IPS forums. Despite the fact that none of the forums have any issue with the task(s) running or system/error logs, but the sitemap auto update is surely a matter to be reviewed by IPS team.

[bfarber]

Are you positive the sitemap isn't updating? In other words, if you are only looking at the <lastmod> value, is it possible perhaps that this is really what the problem is (i.e. that tag is not updating, even though the sitemap itself is updating)?

Note that the task runs through each sitemap file one by one and will not update the <lastmod> value for an individual topic or similar entry until the sitemap task reaches the point in time it needs to rebuild that individual sitemap file. On larger sites, this could take up to 30 days at times, though on smaller sites it won't take as long.

[Lucas James]

2 hours ago, bfarber said:

Are you positive the sitemap isn't updating? In other words, if you are only looking at the <lastmod> value, is it possible perhaps that this is really what the problem is (i.e. that tag is not updating, even though the sitemap itself is updating)?

It has different behavior on every forum, the <lastmod> value of some haven't changed since months, some for 2-3 months, some 1-2 months, and one with over an year. Can't mention the sites here due to clients' privacy, but surely there seems to be something wrong with sitemap.php. Many of the clients have also complained about the SEO drop during last few months (despite being abreast with any Google algorithm changes), which is evident from Google Search Console performance/coverage too. Like I said, there are no system/error logs and the tasks run perfectly and every other thing seems to be in order – that's why I'm highlighting this issue.

[Daniel F]

Please submit a ticket so that we can take a look at this.

[Adlago]

2 hours ago, Lucas James said:

It has different behavior on every forum, the <lastmod> value of some haven't changed since months, some for 2-3 months, some 1-2 months, and one with over an year. Can't mention the sites here due to clients' privacy, but surely there seems to be something wrong with sitemap.php. Many of the clients have also complained about the SEO drop during last few months (despite being abreast with any Google algorithm changes), which is evident from Google Search Console performance/coverage too. Like I said, there are no system/error logs and the tasks run perfectly and every other thing seems to be in order – that's why I'm highlighting this issue.

Is it possible to have a large cache of time in setting :"Cache sidebar, header and footer blocks " cause this? ...or Enable template disk caching?

For me is 1 min, and disable - I have no issue sitemap.php

[Lucas James]

5 hours ago, Adlago said:

For me is 1 min, and disable

Its the same for all forums.

7 hours ago, Daniel F said:

Please submit a ticket so that we can take a look at this.

Unfortunately, I've manually updated the sitemap for all forums to be current. I'll keep a watch and return later if the same happens again.

[Sonya*]

@Lucas James,

1. do you run latest version of IPS?
2. do you use recommended settings for sitemap or do you setup it yourself in ACP?

There were/are some bugs in sitemap generation depending on configuration and settings. Some of them have been solved, some still persist.

[Daniel F]

8 minutes ago, Sonya* said:

There were/are some bugs in sitemap generation depending on configuration and settings. Some of them have been solved, some still persist.

Were they all reported via ticket? I recall at least one issue which was fixed for 4.5

[Sonya*]

Yes, I have reported them in the old support ticket. I have no access to the old tickets so that I cannot say how many of them.

[Orioni]

On 11/5/2019 at 12:42 PM, Daniel F said:

You can do from your ACP => System => Search Engine Optimisation site, there's a link in the top right corner which will force a sitemap rebuild, but if you don't mind, could you please submit a ticket so that we can take a look at this, before you force the rebuild?

Thank you, Daniel. This resolved the issue for me. The sitemap was rebuilt, with new topics included. At first the entire sitemap went blank. When I checked again a few hours later, things looked normal again.

I will keep an eye on the task to see whether it updates or not. I would do this by looking at the topic id's which are always incremental.