Here’s the problem I’m trying to solve: I have a dynamic php-driven website that is constantly being updated with new content, and I want my XML sitemap to stay up to date automatically. Two options I see:
- Write a php script that queries my database to get all my content and outputs to http://mysite.com/sitemap.xml, execute the script regularly using a cron job.
- Simply create my sitemap as a php file (sitemap.php), query the db and write directly to that file, and use the htaccess rewrite rule
RewriteRule ^sitemap.xml$ sitemap.phpso that whenever someone requests sitemap.xml they’re directed to the php file and get a fresh sitemap file.
I’d much rather go with option #2 since it’s simpler and doesn’t require setting up a cron, but I’m wondering if Googlebot will not recognize sitemap.xml as valid if it’s actually a php file?
Does anyone know if option #2 would work, and if not whether there’s some better way to automatically create an up-to-date sitemap.xml file? I’m really surprised how much trouble I’ve had with this… Thanks!
Just make sure your script generates the appropriate
Content-Typeheader. You can do so with header().