Google wont verify my site. AAAArrrggghh

[supersheppey]

I have tried over and over and over. keep getting


Errors
5xx error
robots.txt unreachable

Also google tells me

Verification status: Pending verification
Last attempt Aug 11, 2006: The system is currently busy. We will process this verification as soon as possible. Please check back later for an updated status.

Its been telling me this for days. Any ideas anyone please.

[paul_r]

I'm pretty confident we can sort Google out, having been through it once. I'll try to have a look at what you've done over the next few days.

[paul_r]

Meant to check ... did you follow the Tutorial HERE (http://www.visport.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=446#post446)?

I assume you did but thought I'd double check.

[supersheppey]

Ended up losing the bap last night. Deleted the site and tried restarting again. Got to the stage where it wouldn't show my site on the net at all even when typing in the URL. Now I cant get pictures to show on site builder and it wont allow me to upload any either.

[paul_r]

ok, there are a couple of problems here.

1. Somehow your site had grown to a huge size - way over the size allocated, so it had been suspended by Direct Admin. At this stage I've no idea how that happened but it looks like it was at just after midnight Friday night if that's a clue?

I couldn't see what was wrong so I deleted the account and set it up again (several times now in case you're wondering about all the Welcome emails!

2. Next problem is that the sitebuilder isn't installing properly on new sites being set up. I'm trying to see if this is something I can sort out from teh sitebuilder admin panel but I haven't found it yet, so may have to wait until next week.

It's possible there is some problem in the sitebuilder that is causing a few hiccups with a few of the sites. We'll work it out but may take a few days because of the weekend.

[supersheppey]

I dont know how it grew so big paul. I was just tinkering with the layout when things seemed to start to go wrong around midnight. But it's all sorted now thanks. I really appreciate the effort you put in to help.

[supersheppey]

Back to the problem with verification. I've been following the tutorial and we get to step 11 and my sitemap file doesn't look like yours its like this - http://212.108.68.66/~fonacabfal/sitemap.xml
Then when i click verify on google to verify my site I get the folowing message - Verification status: Pending verification
Our system has experienced a temporary problem.
This has been the same message I've been getting for days. I dont get any further screens with submit a sitemap on. Any ideas?

[paul_r]

There are 2 possible problems that I can see here.

1. Your sitemap is using the IP address in the URL instead of the domain name. That's something that I need to look at to see why it's using the IP.

2. The Google sitemap process might be down for some reason. I'd say that's unlikey for 3 days but possible as Google sitemaps are still in Beta form (being tested so not fully complete).

First step is to get sitebuilder doing it's bit right.

[supersheppey]

Thanks Paul. Sorry to be a pain all the time. Oh the Installatron is working now.:1 (40):

[paul_r]

Getting there slowly with the sitebuilder issues.

The reason the sitemap isn't right is because it's been produced using the IP address rather than the domain name (as mention in a previous post). Now I know how to fix this:

If you open sitebuilder from the Direct Admin panel then it publishes using the IP. If you open it using thedomainname.com/zen then it publishes the sitemap using the domain name. This is fine, as it's faster and easier in almost every way to open the sitebuilder that way (domainname.com/zen).

I only have one issue to crack now, which is that the fonacab site (and possibly some others) aren't accessing images properly when you go in through the domainname.com/zen route so you can't edit the site properly.

I think this is a simple matter of changing some read/write permissions on the sites affected and the server guy is looking at that this afternoon. We're trying to check a few sites where the sitebuilder is working perfectly, then copying across all those settings to the rest of the sitebuilder sites.

This has been happening because they've closed down all the permissions they could to tighten security, but some folders etc. need a bit more access. I believe this is affecting several of the sites and could explain why there have been a few problems. Hopefully sort this properly today/tomorrow.

[paul_r]

John

I'm starting again with your site. There's something weird going on in there with it looking for a load of images that aren't there.

I've deleted the account and st it up again and we'll need to have a good look to see what's happening before I put it back up - hopefully in tyhe morning. I've saved the team picture and your logo so I'll replace those when we get it working properly again.

[paul_r]

DOH!

Having set the whole thing up again and still having the same problem I've just realised what the problem is. You domain's DNS has to be changed to point to our server.

Domains registered through www.ourdoaminsite.com (http://www.ourdoaminsite.com) are automatically configured to work on our server but I've just realised yours was registered somewhere else. That means you need to make a change to the DNS settings wherever you registered.

It isn't hard to do and will only take a minute. Instructions were in your original email but I've repeated them below:

When you bought the domain you will have been given login details to your domain account. Somewhere in there you will find where you can change DNS settings. You need to change nameservers. You have 3 set at present to:

ns2.phase8.net.
ns1.phase8.net.
ns0.phase8.net.

Replace two of these with:

ns2.visport.co.uk
ns3.visport.co.uk

and delete the third.

This information simple tells the web where your site is, so when someone browses for your domain name the web has a record of which particular server on the planet it is stored on.

[supersheppey]

Paul,

:1 (40): Thats the ticket now. I hadn't sorted the DNS thingammydoofer out right. Was a bit complicated on the old control panel at the domain people, but I stumbled across it and we're up and running now.


Thanks,

John:1 (49):

[paul_r]

I hadn't sorted the DNS thingammydoofer out right.

:pcguru:


:thumbsup:

As long as you use domainname.com/zen to access the sitebuilder rather than through Direct Admin control panel the sitemap should be fine. Far easier now too, as you don't need to go through the secure connection first.