Sitemap and url errors

Last Update: June 27, 2012
Hello WA!
Since I have a bit to say about this issue, I didn't want to put it out in a chat...too much to write so I figure a blog may be the way to go or the forum. I'm not sure which is more appropriate so here it is...here.

I am having sitemap and url error issues in Google - or so Google tells me. 2 Server errors, 11 Not found, 34 access denied, and 8 Other.

I'm noticing that the pages referred to in the errors have wp-admin after the main domain name so does this mean that people are trying to access pages that only Admin has access to? The tools also share the news that "Sitemap contains urls which are blocked by robots.txt." They have files extensions like /wp-admin/about.php, wp-admin/admin-ajax.php, and plain /wp-admin/ ....There are over 10,000 issue counts in this Warning box in one day about a week ago but it's not coming up with any other dates so something happened that day I suspect. Probably something goofy on my part but I can't say that for sure.

It also told me "This (sitemap) XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it." Well, I just used a plug-in to get the sitemap and am clueless about anything beyond that. Google's help here is over my head or no real help for what I need.

I checked here at WA for coding issues and sitemap help and did find a great tutorial on sitemaps but nothing to help with these errors. Should I start from scratch?

Thanks for all the help you guys have given me in the past. I honestly don't know what I'd do without WA.
Cheers to reaching our goals,
Renni
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Renni Premium
On the heals of this post I tried to find a wabinar on the subject and found one that I'm glad I checked out. Advanced Wordpress Strategies where Jay walks you thru Google Webmaster Tools and sitemaps. He doesn't go into what to do if you have trouble with the Google XML Sitemap plug-in but it gave me other ideas for ways around it and other helpful info on the subject. Thanks goodness and God Bless Jay! And Thank You jchilders for your help!
jchilders Premium
Cool! I was pretty sure he had done one, just couldn't remember how long ago. :)
Renni Premium
Thanks so much, jchilders! Good insights. I think the sitemap went to the root directory - is that the wp-admin directory? I'm not good about playing around in there. It's not like my pc explorer directory and I don't find it that easy to work in...plus I'm scared to work in there...
I tried Google's xml sitemap but it failed and wanted me to do techy things to fix it so then I switched to a generic xml sitemap plug-in.

My site is coming up and I even think it is on page one under the main keyword. I just can't seem to get Google Places or + Local to recognize it yet.

I'll go to the link you sent and see if it helps me.

Thanks again. You're a Peach!

Just went there and all I saw was a short post and reply but it seems to be what I might need. Here's what it says:
Does anyone know where I need to add the 'noindex' tag to my WordPress code editor to prevent Google indexing the wp-admin/admin-ajax.php page?
Modifying core files is strongly discouraged. Instead, create a robots.txt file in your web root directory with the following content (if your blog is in another directory, append it before /wp-admin/ as necessary):
User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/

Me: I think I already have a robot.txt file and that's what seems to be causing the problem - at least that's the file Google says is part of the problem.
jchilders Premium
Hmm, might try PM-ing Jay (magistudios?) or try to catch him on chat. I think he did a sitemap wabinar not too long ago and can probably help you figure out what's going on.
Renni Premium
Yeah, I sat in on that WAbinar...I didn't really get how to fix it if you have a problem with the Google XML Sitemap plug-in. Sometimes these types of things get mentioned but not detailed. I think he hit on what to do but it was over my head. I wanted to put this problem in WA Jobs but apparently it's not available in the OEP yet.

Maybe I'll catch one of the big dogs in chat.

Thanks for trying to help me.
Renni
jchilders Premium
Ok, not an XML or sitemap expert, but here's my $0.02

Does your site come up ok when you navigate to the URL? (Like a normal web surfer) From the error message, it looks like the sitemap thinks your website is under the wp-admin directory. This obviously wouldn't work too well since only the admin (you) could log in and have access to that directory.

Which sitemap plugin did you use to create the file? You might search and see if anyone else is having issues with that particular plugin...maybe it's creating bad files?

Hope you can get it fixed soon!

PS. Just found this article.. http://wordpress.org/support/topic/stopping-google-from-indexing-listing-the-wp-admin-pages Might at least get rid of the 'wp-admin' errors.
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