About google crawling

[tenzin]

hi everyone,
we have a site, which we recently updated. so, there is a vast change within the site regarding links and content. i then submitted the url and verified in google. then, i found out lot of errorsage not found(404). so, i guess its because the google is trying to find the old pages. am i right? so how can i make google understand that everything has changed and dont search for older files? or how long will it take for everything to come to normal? cos of this reason, when i search for pages in google search engine, they are not shown at all

[BreaktheSilence]

Originally Posted by tenzin

...so how can i make google understand...

Try submitting a site map...

[tenzin]

our site already has a sitemap. but its in php which google doesnt support. and we need php site so that it can be more user friendly(gets displayed in a side of site). so, should i make yet another sitemap, in xml, which doesnt get displayed in the site for viewers? and then name the php sitemap another name? what say?

[BreaktheSilence]

Originally Posted by tenzin

...should i make yet another sitemap, in xml, which doesnt get displayed in the site for viewers?...

Yes...

If I were you, I'd use the Google sitemap generator.

[tenzin]

i may sound stupid but doing as i said earlier, would it create an error? i mean, an xml sitemap standing alone(hidden) in a site, without having any links....

[tenzin]

some say that i have to redirect the pages. and with that too, for everything to come to normal, it would take 4-6 months. is it true?

[tenzin]

hello any suggestion? from anyone?

[tenzin]

anybody who can reply to this msg? plllssss?

[alex-party]

Originally Posted by tenzin

i may sound stupid but doing as i said earlier, would it create an error? i mean, an xml sitemap standing alone(hidden) in a site, without having any links....

No, xml sitemap has only 1 purpose - tell search engines about links on your web site. Users don't have to see this file at all, because pppls can't understand XML format, do you not see this? And your php sitemap which generates HTML page is the one you show to users.

some say that i have to redirect the pages. and with that too, for everything to come to normal, it would take 4-6 months. is it true?

1. What you did is you erased Google "memory" about your web site, i.e. pages that used to be there are gone now along with PR if they had any.
2. Submitting a new sitemap without taking care of what happens to old pages is the same as erasing them from Google "memory" = database.
3. If old pages are worth saving PR, then you should use .htaccess R=301 (Moved to new location) rules to connect lost links to new locations, i.e. you tell google that this page is still exist but has moved to new location and google will follow to new location to pick up the contents.

Hope this helps you a little

P.S. What do you mean "How long till it comes to normal?"

[chozzhan]

I would like to know, how do we know about google crawling