/wp-content/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/readme.txt

  1=== Google XML Sitemaps ===
  2Contributors: arnee
  3Tags: seo, google, bing, yahoo, msn, ask, live, sitemaps, google sitemaps, xml sitemap, xml
  4Requires at least: 3.3
  5Tested up to: 4.8
  6Stable tag: 4.0.9
  7License: GPLv2
  8License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
  9
 10This plugin will improve SEO by helping search enginess better index your site using sitemaps.
 11
 12== Description ==
 13
 14Use this plugin to greatly improve SEO to create special XML sitemaps which will help search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com to better index your site.
 15
 16With such a sitemap, it's much easier for the crawlers to see the complete structure of your site and retrieve it more efficiently. The plugin supports all kinds of WordPress generated pages as well as custom URLs. Additionally it notifies all major search engines every time you create a post about the new content.
 17
 18Supported since *over 9 years* and rated as the [best WordPress plugin](http://wordpress.org/plugins/browse/top-rated/), it will do exactly what it's supposed to do - providing a complete XML sitemap for search engines. It will not break your site, slow it down or annoy you. Guaranteed!
 19
 20> If you like the plugin, feel free to rate it (on the right side of this page)! :)
 21
 22Related Links:
 23
 24* <a href="http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/" title="Google XML Sitemaps Plugin for WordPress">Plugin Homepage</a>
 25* <a href="http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/changelog/" title="Changelog of the Google XML Sitemaps Plugin for WordPress">Changelog</a>
 26* <a href="http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/help/" title="Google Sitemaps FAQ">Plugin help and sitemaps FAQ</a>
 27* <a href="http://wordpress.org/support/topic/read-before-opening-a-new-support-topic">Support Forum</a>
 28
 29== Installation ==
 30
 311. Install the plugin like you always install plugins, either by uploading it via FTP or by using the "Add Plugin" function of WordPress.
 322. Activate the plugin at the plugin administration page
 333. If you want: Open the plugin configuration page, which is located under Settings -> XML-Sitemap and customize settings like priorities and change frequencies.
 344. The plugin will automatically update your sitemap of you publish a post, so there is nothing more to do :)
 35
 36== Frequently Asked Questions ==
 37
 38= Where can I find the options page of the plugin? =
 39
 40It is under Settings > XML Sitemap. I know nowadays many plugins add top-level menu items, but in most of the cases it is just not necessary. I've seen WP installations which looked like an Internet Explorer ten years ago with 20 toolbars installed. ;-)
 41
 42= Do I have to create a sitemap.xml and sitemap.xml.gz by myself? =
 43
 44Not anymore. Since version 4, these files are dynamically generated. *There must be no sitemap.xml or sitemap.xml.gz in your site directory anymore!* The plugin will try to rename them to sitemap.xml.bak if they still exists.
 45
 46= Does this plugin use static files or "I can't find the sitemap.xml file!" =
 47
 48Not anymore. Since version 4, these files are dynamically generated just like any other WordPress content.
 49
 50= There are no comments yet (or I've disabled them) and all my postings have a priority of zero! =
 51
 52Please disable automatic priority calculation and define a static priority for posts.
 53
 54= So many configuration options... Do I need to change them? =
 55
 56No, only if you want to. Default values are ok for most sites.
 57
 58= Does this plugin work with all WordPress versions? =
 59
 60This version works with WordPress 3.3 and better. If you're using an older version, please check the [Google Sitemaps Plugin Homepage](http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/ "Google (XML) Sitemap Generator Plugin Homepage") for the legacy releases. There is a working release for every WordPress version since 1.5, but you really should consider updating your WordPress installation!
 61
 62= My question isn't answered here =
 63
 64Most of the plugin options are described at the [plugin homepage](http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/) as well as the dedicated [Google Sitemaps FAQ](http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/help/ "List of common questions / problems regarding Google (XML) Sitemaps").
 65
 66= My question isn't even answered there =
 67
 68Please post your question at the [WordPress support forum](http://wordpress.org/support/topic/read-before-opening-a-new-support-topic) and tag your post with "google-sitemap-generator".
 69
 70= What's new in the latest version? =
 71
 72The changelog is maintained [here](http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/changelog/ "Google (XML) Sitemap Generator Plugin Changelog")
 73
 74= Why is the changelog on a separate page and not here? =
 75
 76The WordPress.org repository is just another place to download this plugin. I don't want to maintain too many pages with the same content. Thank you for your understanding!
 77
 78== Changelog ==
 79
 80= 4.0.9 (2017-07-24) =
 81* Fixed security issue related to donation functionality.
 82
 83= 4.0.8 (2014-11-15) =
 84* Fixed bug regarding the exclude categories feature, thanks to Claus Schöffel!
 85
 86= 4.0.7.1 (2014-09-02) =
 87* Sorry, no new features this time… This release only updates the Compatibility-Tag to WordPress 4.0. Unfortunately there is no way to do this anymore without a new version
 88
 89= 4.0.7 (2014-06-23) =
 90* Better compatibility with GoDaddy managed WP hosting
 91* Better compatibility with QuickCache
 92* Removed WordPress version from the sitemap
 93* Corrected link to WordPress privacy settings (if search engines are blocked)
 94* Changed hook which is being used for sitemap pings to avoid pings on draft edit
 95
 96= 4.0.6 (2014-06-03) =
 97* Added option to disable automatic gzipping
 98* Fixed bug with duplicated external sitemap entries
 99* Don’t gzip if behind Varnish since Varnish can do that
100
101= 4.0.5 (2014-05-18) =
102* Added function to manually start ping for main-sitemap or all sub-sitemaps
103* Added support for changing the base of the sitemap URL to another URL (for WP installations in sub-folders)
104* Fixed issue with empty post sitemaps (related to GMT/local time offset)
105* Fixed some timing issues in archives
106* Improved check for possible problems before gzipping
107* Fixed empty archives and author sitemaps in case there were no posts
108* Fixed bug which caused the Priority Provider to disappear in recent PHP versions
109* Plugin will also ping with the corresponding sub-sitemap in case a post was modified
110* Better checking for empty external urls
111* Changed text in XSL template to be more clear about sitemap-index and sub-sitemaps
112* Changed content type to text/xml to improve compatibility with caching plugins
113* Changed query parameters to is_feed=true to improve compatibility with caching plugins
114* Switched from using WP_Query to load posts to a custom SQL statement to avoid problems with other plugin filters
115* Added caching of some SQL statements
116* Added support feed for more help topics
117* Added link to new help page
118* Cleaned up code and renamed variables to be more readable
119* Updated Japanese Translation, thanks to Daisuke Takahashi
120
121= 4.0.4 (2014-04-19) =
122* Removed deprecated get_page call
123* Changed last modification time of sub-sitemaps to the last modification date of the posts instead of the publish date
124* Removed information window if the statistic option has not been activated
125* Added link regarding new sitemap format
126* Updated Portuguese translation, thanks to Pedro Martinho
127* Updated German translation
128
129= 4.0.3 (2014-04-13) =
130* Fixed compression if an gzlib handler was already active
131* Help regarding permalinks for Nginx users
132* Fix with gzip compression in case there was other output before already
133* Return 404 for HTML sitemaps if the option has been disabled
134* Updated translations
135
136= 4.0.2 (2014-04-01) =
137* Fixed warning if an gzip handler is already active
138
139= 4.0.1 (2014-03-31) =
140* Fixed bug with custom post types including a "-"
141* Fixed some 404 Not Found Errors
142
143= 4.0 (2014-03-30) =
144* No static files anymore, sitemap is created on the fly!
145* Sitemap is split-up into sub-sitemaps by month, allowing up to 50.000 posts per month! [More information](http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/google-xml-sitemap-generator-new-sitemap-format/)
146* Support for custom post types and custom taxonomis!
147* 100% Multisite compatible, including by-blog and network activation.
148* Reduced server resource usage due to less content per request.
149* New API allows other plugins to add their own, separate sitemaps.
150* Note: PHP 5.1 and WordPress 3.3 is required! The plugin will not work with lower versions!
151* Note: This version will try to rename your old sitemap files to *-old.xml. If that doesn’t work, please delete them manually since no static files are needed anymore!
152
153= 3.4.1 (2014-04-10) =
154* Compatibility with mysqli
155
156= Version 3.4 (2013-11-24) =
157* Fixed deprecation warnings in PHP 5.4, thanks to Dion Hulse!
158
159= 3.3 (2013-09-28) =
160* Fixed problem with file permission checking
161* Filter out hashs (#) in URLs
162
163= 3.2.9 (2013-01-11) =
164* Fixed security issue with change frequencies and filename of sitemap file. Exploit was only possible with admin account.
165
166= 3.2.8 (2012-08-08) =
167* Fixed wrong custom taxonomy URLs, thanks to ramon fincken of the wordpress.org forum!
168* Removed ASK ping since they shut down their service.
169* Exclude post_format taxonomy from custom taxonomy list
170
171= 3.2.7 (2012-04-24) =
172* Fixed custom post types, thanks to clearsite of the wordpress.org forum!
173* Fixed broken admin layout on WP 3.4
174
175= 3.2.6 (2011-09-19) =
176* Removed YAHOO ping since YAHOO uses bing now
177* Removed deprecated function call
178
179= 3.2.5 (2011-07-11) =
180* Backported Bing ping success fix from beta
181* Added friendly hint to try out the new beta
182
183= 3.2.4 (2010-05-29) =
184* Added (GMT) to date column in sitemap xslt template to avoid confusion with different time zones
185* Fixed wrong SQL statement for author pages, thanks to twoenoug
186* Fixed several deprecated function calls
187* Note: This release does not support the new multisite feature of WordPress yet and will not be active when multisite is enabled.
188
189= 3.2.3 (2010-04-02) =
190* Fixed that all pages were missing in the sitemap if the “Uncategorized” category was excluded
191
192= 3.2.2 (2009-12-19) =
193* Updated compatibility tag to WordPress 2.9
194* Fixed PHP4 problems
195
196= 3.2.1 (2009-12-16) =
197* Notes and update messages at the top of the admin page could interfere with the manual build function
198* Help links in the WP contextual help were not shown anymore since the last update
199* IE 7 sometimes displayed a cached admin page
200* Removed invalid link to config page from the plugin description (The link lead to a "Not enough permission error")
201* Improved performance of getting the current plugin version by caching
202* Updated Spanish language files
203
204= 3.2 (2009-11-23) =
205* Added function to show the actual results of a ping instead of only linking to the url
206* Added new hook (sm_rebuild) for third party plugins to start building the sitemap
207* Fixed bug which showed the wrong URL for the latest Google ping result
208* Added some missing documentation
209* Removed hardcoded php name for sitemap file in admin urls
210* Uses KSES for showing ping test results
211* Ping test fixed for WP < 2.3
212
213= 3.1.9 (2009-11-13) =
214* Fixed MySQL Error if author pages were included
215
216= 3.1.8 (2009-11-07) =
217* Improved custom taxonomy handling and fixed wrong last modification date
218* Fixed fatal error in WordPress versions lower than 2.3
219* Fixed Update Notice for WordPress 2.8 and higher
220* Added warning if blog privacy is activated
221* Fixed priorities of additional pages were shown as 0 instead of 1
222
223= 3.1.7 (2009-10-21) =
224* Added support for custom taxonomies. Thanks to Lee!
225
226= 3.1.6 (2009-08-31) =
227* Fixed PHP error “Only variables can be passed by reference”
228* Fixed wrong URLS of multi-page posts (Thanks artstorm!)
229* Updated many language files
230
231= 3.1.5 (2009-08-24) =
232* Added option to completely disable the last modification time
233* Fixed problem with HTTPS url for the XSL stylesheet if the sitemap was build via the admin panel
234* Improved handling of homepage entry if a single page was set for it
235* Fixed mktime warning which appeared sometimes
236* Fixed bug which caused inf. reloads after rebuilding the sitemap via the admin panel
237* Improved handling of missing sitemaps files if WP was moved to another location
238
239= 3.1.4 (2009-06-22) =
240* Fixed bug which broke all pings in WP older than 2.7
241* Added more output in debug mode if pings fail
242* Moved global post variable so other plugins can use it in get_permalink()
243* Added small icon for ozh admin menu
244* Added more help links in UI
245
246= 3.1.3 (2009-06-07) =
247* Changed MSN Live Search to Bing
248* Exclude categories also now exludes the category itself and not only the posts
249* Pings now use the new WordPress HTTP API instead of Snoopy
250* Fixed bug that in localized WP installations priorities could not be saved
251* The sitemap cron job is now cleared after a manual rebuild or after changing the config
252* Adjusted style of admin area for WP 2.8 and refreshed icons
253* Disabled the “Exclude categories” feature for WP 2.5.1, since it doesn’t have the required functions yet
254
255= 3.1.2 (2008-12-26) =
256* Changed the way the stylesheet is saved (default / custom stylesheet)
257* Sitemap is now rebuild when a page is published
258* Removed support for static robots.txt files, this is now handled via WordPress functions
259* Added compat. exceptions for WP 2.0 and WP 2.1
260
261= 3.1.1 (2008-12-21) =
262* Fixed redirect issue if wp-admin is rewritten via mod_rewrite, thanks to macjoost
263* Fixed wrong path to assets, thanks PozHonks
264* Fixed wrong plugin URL if wp-content was renamed / redirected, thanks to wnorris
265* Updated WP User Interface for 2.7
266* Various other small things
267
268= 3.1.0.1 (2008-05-27) =
269* Extracted UI JS to external file
270* Enabled the option to include following pages of multi-page posts
271* Script tries to raise memory and time limit if active
272
273= 3.1 (2008-05-22) =
274* Marked as stable
275
276= 3.1b3 (2008-05-19) =
277* Cleaned up plugin directory and moved img files to subfolders
278* Fixed background building bug in WP 2.1
279* Removed auto-update plugin link for WP < 2.5
280
281= 3.1b2 (2008-05-18) =
282* Fixed critical bug with the build in background option
283* Added notification if a build is scheduled
284
285= 3.1b1 (2008-05-08) =
286* Splitted plugin in loader, generator and user interface to save memory
287* Generator and UI will only be loaded when needed
288* Secured all admin actions with nonces
289* Improved WP 2.5 handling
290* New "Suggest a Feature" link
291
292= 3.0.3.3 (2008-04-29) =
293* Fixed author pages
294* Enhanced background building and increased delay to 15 seconds
295* Enabled background building by default
296
297= 3.0.3.2 (2008-04-28) =
298* Improved WP 2.5 handling (fixes blank screens and timeouts)
299
300= 3.0.3.1 (2008-03-30) =
301* Added compatibility CSS for WP 2.5
302
303= 3.0.3 (2007-12-30) =
304* Added option to ping MSN Live Search
305* Removed some WordPress hooks (the sitemap isn’t updates with every comment anymore)
306
307= 3.0.2.1 (2007-11-28) =
308* Fixed wrong XML Schema Location (Thanks to Emanuele Tessore)
309* Added Russian Language files by Sergey http://ryvkin.ru
310
311= 3.0.2 (2007-11-25) =
312* Fixed bug which caused that some settings were not saved correctly
313* Added option to exclude pages or post by ID
314* Restored YAHOO ping service with API key since the other one is to unreliable
315
316= 3.0.1 (2007-11-03) =
317* Changed HTTP client for ping requests to Snoopy
318* Added "safemode" for SQL which doesn’t use unbuffered results
319* Added option to run the building process in background using wp-cron
320* Added links to test the ping if it failed
321
322= 3.0 final (2007-09-24) =
323* Marked as stable
324* Removed useless functions
325
326= 3.0b11 (2007-09-23) =
327* Changed mysql queries to unbuffered queries
328* Uses MUCH less memory
329* Option to limit the number of posts
330
331= 3.0b10 (2007-09-04) =
332* Added category support for WordPress 2.3
333* Fixed bug with empty URLs in sitemap
334* Repaired GET building
335
336= 3.0b9 (2007-09-02) =
337* Added tag support for WordPress 2.3
338* Fixed archive bug with static pages (Thanks to Peter Claus Lamprecht)
339* Fixed some missing translation strings, thanks to Kirin Lin
340
341= 3.0b8 (2007-07-22) =
342* Fixed bug with empty categories
343* Fixed bug with translation plugins
344* Added support for robots.txt
345* Switched YAHOO ping API from YAHOO Web Services to the “normal” ping service
346* Search engines will only be pinged if the sitemap file has changed
347
348= 3.0b7 (2007-05-17) =
349* Added Ask.com notification
350* Added option to include the author pages like /author/john
351* Fixed WP 2.1 / Pre 2.1 post / pages database changes
352* Added check to not build the sitemap if importing posts
353* Fixed wrong XSLT location (Thanks froosh)
354* Small enhancements and bug fixes
355
356= 3.0b6 (2007-01-23) =
357* sitemap.xml.gz was not compressed
358* YAHOO update-notification was PHP5 only (Thanks to Joseph Abboud!)
359* More WP 2.1 optimizations
360* Reduced memory usage with PHP5
361
362= 3.0b5 (2007-01-19) =
363* WordPress 2 Design
364* YAHOO update notification
365* New status report, removed ugly logfiles
366* Added option to define a XSLT stylesheet and added a default one
367* Fixed bug with sub-pages, thanks to [Mike](http://baptiste.us/), [Peter](http://fastagent.de/) and [Glenn](http://publicityship.com.au/)
368* Improved file handling, thanks to [VJTD3](http://www.vjtd3.com/)
369* WP 2.1 improvements
370
371= 3.0b4 (2006-11-16) =
372* Fixed some smaller bugs
373* Decreased memory usage which should solve timeout and memory problems
374* Updated namespace to support YAHOO and MSN
375
376= 3.0b2 (2006-01-14) =
377* Fixed several bugs reported by users
378
379= 3.0b (2005-11-25) =
380* WordPress 2.0 (Beta, RC1) compatible
381* Added different priority calculation modes and introduced an API to create custom ones (Some people didn’t like the way to calculate the post priority based on the count of user comments. This will give you the possibility to develop custom priority providers which fit your needs.)
382* Added support to use the [Popularity Contest](http://www.alexking.org/blog/2005/07/27/popularity-contest-11/) plugin by [Alex King](http://www.alexking.org/) to calculate post priority (If you are already using the Popularity Contest plugin, this will be the best way to determine the priority of the posts. Uses to new priority API noted above.)
383* Added option to exclude password protected posts (This was one of the most requested features.)
384* Posts and pages marked for publish with a date in the future won’t be included
385* Added function to start sitemap creation via GET and a secret key (If you are using external software which directly writes into the database without using the WordPress API, you can rebuild the sitemap with a simple HTTP Request. This can be made with a cron job for example.)
386* Improved compatibility with other plugins (There should no longer be problems with other plugins now which checked for existence of a specified function to determine if you are in the control panel or not.)
387* Recoded plugin architecture which is now fully OOP (The code is now cleaner and better to understand which makes it easier to modify. This should also avoid namespace problems.)
388* Improved speed and optimized settings handling (Settings and pages are only loaded if the sitemap generation process starts and not every time a page loads. This saves one MySQL Query on every request.)
389* Added Button to restore default configuration (Messed up the config? You’ll need just one click to restore all settings.)
390* Added log file to check everything is running (In the new log window you can see when your sitemap was rebuilt or if there was any error.)
391* Improved user-interface
392* Added several links to homepage and support (This includes the Notify List about new releases and the WordPress support forum.)
393
394= 2.7 (2005-11-25) =
395* Added Polish Translation by [kuba](http://kubazwolinski.com/)
396
397= 2.7 (2005-11-01) =
398* Added French Translation by [Thierry Lanfranchi](http://www.chezthierry.info/)
399
400= 2.7 (2005-07-21) =
401* Fixed bug with incorrect date in additional pages (wrong format)
402* Added Swedish Translation by [Tobias Bergius](http://tobiasbergius.se/)
403
404= 2.6 (2005-07-16) =
405* Included Chinese (Simplified) language files by [june6](http://www.june6.cn/)
406
407= 2.6 (2005-07-04) =
408* Added support to store the files at a custom location
409* Changed the home URL to have a slash at the end
410* Fixed errors with wp-mail
411* Added support for other plugins to add content to the sitemap
412
413= 2.5 (2005-06-15) =
414* You can include now external pages which aren’t generated by WordPress or are not recognized by this plugin
415* You can define a minimum post priority, which will overrride the calculated value if it’s too low
416* The plugin will automatically ping Google whenever the sitemap gets regenerated
417* Update 1: Included Spanish translations by [Cesar Gomez Martin](http://www.cesargomez.org/)
418* Update 2: Included Italian translations by [Stefano Aglietti](http://wordpress-it.it/)
419* Update 3: Included Traditional Chinese translations by [Kirin Lin](http://kirin-lin.idv.tw/)
420
421= 2.2 (2005-06-08) =
422* Language file support: [Hiromasa](http://hiromasa.zone.ne.jp/) from [http://hiromasa.zone.ne.jp](http://hiromasa.zone.ne.jp/) sent me a japanese version of the user interface and modified the script to support it! Thanks for this! Check [the WordPress Codex](http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Localization) how to set the language in WordPress.
423* Added Japanese user interface by [Hiromasa](http://hiromasa.zone.ne.jp/)
424* Added German user interface by me
425
426= 2.12 (2005-06-07) =
427* Changed SQL Statement for categories that it also works on MySQL 3
428
429= 2.11 (2005-06-07) =
430* Fixed a hardcoded tablename which made a SQL error
431
432= 2.1 (2005-06-07) =
433* Can also generate a gzipped version of the xml file (sitemap.xml.gz)
434* Uses correct last modification dates for categories and archives. (Thanks to thx [Rodney Shupe](http://www.shupe.ca/) for the SQL)
435* Supports now different WordPress / Blog directories
436* Fixed bug which ignored different post/page priorities (Reported by [Brad](http://h3h.net/))
437
438= 2.01 (2005-06-07) =
439* Fixed compatibility for PHP installations which are not configured to use short open tags
440* Changed Line 147 from _e($i); to _e(strval($i));
441* Thanks to [Christian Aust](http://publicvoidblog.de/) for reporting this!
442
443== Screenshots ==
444
4451. Plugin options page
4462. Sample XML sitemap (with a stylesheet for making it readable)
4473. Sample XML sitemap (without stylesheet)
448
449== License ==
450
451Good news, this plugin is free for everyone! Since it's released under the GPL, you can use it free of charge on your personal or commercial site.
452
453== Translations ==
454
455The plugin comes with various translations, please refer to the [WordPress Codex](http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress_in_Your_Language "Installing WordPress in Your Language") for more information about activating the translation. If you want to help to translate the plugin to your language, please have a look at the sitemap.pot file which contains all definitions and may be used with a [gettext](http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/) editor like [Poedit](http://www.poedit.net/) (Windows).
456
457== Upgrade Notice ==
458
459= 4.0.9 =
460Thanks for using Google XML Sitemaps! This release includes an important security fix that has been reported.