[Contribution] Ultimate SEO URLs - by Chemo

[ari]

The data cached is the stripped definitions for the categories, products, and manufacturers.

 

I am guessing it is not caching the product description, only the name - is this correct?

 

Finally 24h ago I deployed the contribution to my production server and except for little annoyances it seems to be working well. If someone cares to check - Exit15.com. It took me some time to test because I had a few issues to deal with that needed tweaking. I will share them here for the sake of the feedback and helping others:

First, was the need to make it work with the manufacturer (mName). That's only partially working - the pull down menu is still calling up manufacturers by ID, but SE don't follow forms so I don't really care.

Secondly, I needed to make sure it works with my Article Manager contribution. Thanks to a fellow named Matti and a little tweaking, it is now working.

Third, was the effort to make it work with a mod I put in a while ago to prevent Robots from adding items to the cart (they did it even without getting a session id). This item works well in most templates (we must not mess with add to cart) except for one minor annoyance - the "alt text" on the buy button in the ?advanced_search_results.php? refuses to get the actual text displayed and Instead I have the ?TEXT_BUYTEXT_NOW?. I tried everything to fix it, but it needs a fresh eye.

Fourth, I had a redirection problem - if I turn the contribution OFF through the admin, application_top.php attempts to redirect the regular URL to itself resulting in an endless loop. I went live with this problem hoping not to have to turn the SEO URLs off (if I do, I can simply comment out the line requiring the redirect file in application top)

Last, is the caching issue ? I am missing something or there is a small bug in the contribution. The fist request to the site after re-setting the cache, comes back with an error. Consequent requests are ok, so I figured I will simply make the first request myself if, for whatever reason, I need to reset the cache.

 

Ari

[Guest]

i think it should also be mentioned that the cookie scope is a security measure to keep other domains from reading your customers' cookies and finding out any personal data in it (i would also suggest base64_encoding the data you store in them)... if you set the cookie domain with preceding dots like .allthingschildren.com, that means the cookie is valid for any domain with that in the name, meaning www.allthingschildren.com, mail.allthingschildren.com, etc... if you were to simply set the cookie domain to "allthingschildren.com", then theoretically, a person could go out and register ballthingschildren.com, wallthingschildren.com, etc... and have access to the customers' cookie contents (if they could crack the encryption on them, which is one more reason to encrypt the data :D)... just some things to keep in mind :)

 

Richard Lindsey.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Richard,

 

That information is incorrect.

 

The cookies scope determines which areas of the site the cookie information is valid for. As an example, a cookie that is set for www.domain.com will only be valid for URLs like www.domain.com/catalog/ or www.domain.com/forum/. It will NOT be valid for catalog.domain.com or forum.domain.com

 

If you set the 2 dots that does NOT make the cookie available to other hosts as in your post. If someone were to register www.2domain.com the cookie for www.domain.com will not be valid. It is set on a host basis and the 2 hosts do NOT match up.

 

Bobby

[Velveeta]

Richard,

 

That information is incorrect.

 

The cookies scope determines which areas of the site the cookie information is valid for.  As an example, a cookie that is set for www.domain.com will only be valid for URLs like www.domain.com/catalog/ or www.domain.com/forum/.  It will NOT be valid for catalog.domain.com or forum.domain.com

 

If you set the 2 dots that does NOT make the cookie available to other hosts as in your post.  If someone were to register www.2domain.com the cookie for www.domain.com will not be valid.  It is set on a host basis and the 2 hosts do NOT match up.

 

Bobby

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

i think you misunderstood what i said... if you set a cookie specifically for "www.domain.com", then yes, it is available for www.domain.com/forum/, etc, and not for something like mail.domain.com, because you specified www (although it would be available to some child domain like "mail.www.domain.com")... but if you set a cookie for simple "domain.com" (no preceding dot) and someone elses registers "mydomain.com" and knows to look for a cookie of the name that you've set on the customer's machine, it should be able to access it... by placing a dot at the beginning of the domain name like ".domain.com" you have cut off that type of access because no one could make a fake domain called something like fake.domain.com and hope to access your cookies that way, as the root domain has already been registered... and if you set it equal to ".domain.com" then other child domains of *your* parent domain will be able to access it, if you were to set up a forum.domain.com or catalog.domain.com... it's those domains without the preceding dot that are in danger of this type of hijack, and of course, the domain doing the spoofing of the name would have to also know the name of the cookie you've set on the client...

 

Richard Lindsey.

[Velveeta]

So how is this going to do with SE?

 

The old rule of thumb was the least amount of directories the better...

 

so :

http://www.yourdomain.com/category/childre...ames/index.html

 

Looks liek it is 3 folders deep... so if that 2 folder theory is still used (which I am not sure) then your did more dmanage to the URL than it was from the stock osC.

 

I am not saying that is the case as I am no SEO expert but something to think about?

 

Chris

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

while i'm sure that search engines do rank listings partially based on directory depth, i also know that they rank it based on keywords, and that keywords in the url itself weigh in heavily, and keywords in the domain name itself weigh even more heavily (which is why a lot of people hyphenate their domain names, so they can be parsed by search engines, but search engines are getting better about nonparseable domain names, and no customer wants to type a bunch of hyphens to get to your store :D)... i suppose that if it does end up hurting my rankings, i could simply strip out the parent directories and make it simply www.allthingschildren.com/cribs/index.html, etc... if i learn anything more specific as to the current trends in optimizing for rankings, i'll post em here at OSC in a separate thread :)

 

Richard Lindsey.

[clarocque]

First, was the need to make it work with the manufacturer (mName). That's only partially working - the pull down menu is still calling up manufacturers by ID, but SE don't follow forms so I don't really care.

 

If you install the redirect this will be resolved...

 

Third, was the effort to make it work with a mod I put in a while ago to prevent Robots from adding items to the cart (they did it even without getting a session id). This item works well in most templates (we must not mess with add to cart) except for one minor annoyance - the "alt text" on the buy button in the ?advanced_search_results.php? refuses to get the actual text displayed and Instead I have the ?TEXT_BUYTEXT_NOW?. I tried everything to fix it, but it needs a fresh eye.

 

This is a definiation issue the SEO URL's should not affect this. What areyou results when SEO URL's are off?

 

 

Fourth, I had a redirection problem - if I turn the contribution OFF through the admin, application_top.php attempts to redirect the regular URL to itself resulting in an endless loop. I went live with this problem hoping not to have to turn the SEO URLs off (if I do, I can simply comment out the line requiring the redirect file in application top)

 

 

Last, is the caching issue ? I am missing something or there is a small bug in the contribution. The fist request to the site after re-setting the cache, comes back with an error. Consequent requests are ok, so I figured I will simply make the first request myself if, for whatever reason, I need to reset the cache.

 

Both of these are not normal - I have not seen those problems on any of the stores I installed this on.  Might want to look at your store closer 

 

Good luck!

 

Chris

[Guest]

Hi thank you for this contribution seems to work good. I do however have a small problem, but am not sure that it is because of this contribution or not. I have just noticed today that neither the drop down manufactures list or the Manufacturer info box work anymore. Always now when I click on a manufacturer link I just get brought back to my index page and the url is screwed. Like so

 

http://www.mysite.com/index.php?osCsid=981...fb4a8a60ca1b003

 

I have tried to disable the contribution in the admin panel to see if it works without the contribution running, but this makes my site stop working altogether. Anybody can help with this it would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks Mike

Edited March 12, 2005 by mikelc

[Guest]

Ok the URL was shortend and I cant edit the post so here is the example of the url again.

 

http://www.mysite.com/index.php?osCsid=9815906be9813564bfb4a8a60ca1b003&mName=mymanufacturer&osCsid=9815906be9813564bfb4a8a60ca1b003

[clarocque]

Start by checking your cookie settings...

 

I have not seen that before but that would be my first guess.

 

Chris

[mujina]

I've noticed that when I launch a search in the manufacturer box I can only view the first page results. If I intend to go to further pages I'm redirected to index.php. Anyone who encountered the same problem? :blink:

 

It's not really the same pb as mikelc as I can launch the search... and I can reach the 1st page results.

 

I was wondering if it has something to deal with ultimate seo?!

Edited March 12, 2005 by mujina

[Guest]

Hi force cookie setting = false

 

I have also noticed that the url is different when i click the manufacturer info box.

 

http://www.mysite.com/index.php?mName=mymanufacturer&osCsid=ac4f3a17c63a2c876b855c0d2c7bdf9a

 

which looks as it should be, but this still reverts me back to the index page also. It is strange that i have not noticed this problem before as i have had it installed for a few weeks.

[clarocque]

I've noticed that when I launch a search in the manufacturer box I can only view the first page results. If I intend to go to further pages I'm redirected to index.php. Anyone who encountered  the same problem? :blink:

 

It's not really the same pb as mikelc as I can launch the search... and I can reach the 1st page results.

 

I was wondering if it has something to deal with ultimate seo?!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I dont think so as I dont have that problem... I can bounce through t3 pages of results on my dev server using SEO URL's

 

Sorry...

 

Chris

[clarocque]

Hi force cookie setting = false

 

I have also noticed that the url is different when i click the manufacturer info box.

 

http://www.mysite.com/index.php?mName=mymanufacturer&osCsid=ac4f3a17c63a2c876b855c0d2c7bdf9a

 

which looks as it should be, but this still reverts me back to the index page also. It is strange that i have not noticed this problem before as i have had it installed for a few weeks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Is your SID staying in the URL for multiple links?

 

 

C-

[Guest]

Hi if you mean that if i navagate around my site, different products and pages etc, then does the sid stay all the way through, then the answer is yes.

[clarocque]

Richard,

 

I'm curious :huh:... what SEO contribution are you using on your test site?  Is it a modified version of Ultimate SEO? 

 

It's very nice, and the Site Map actually displays beyond one sub-category level. :thumbsup:

 

Thanks,

EricK

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Erik, here is a fix for that:

 

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,2208

 

Chris

[clarocque]

Hi if you mean that if i navagate around my site, different products and pages etc, then does the sid stay all the way through, then the answer is yes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Well that would mean that your cookies are most likely wrong.... Read through this thread as this has been addressed several times.

 

It is not an issues with SEO URL's - it is an issue with your store configuration.

 

C-

[mujina]

I dont think so as I dont have that problem...  I can bounce through t3 pages of results on my dev server using SEO URL's

 

Sorry...

 

Chris

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Allright Chris!! But really nothing to deal with beta3 seo redirect? Actually I had to uninstall this update as it was blocking my site on the index page (kind of a everlasting loop).

 

PS : I had time to install Javascript InfoBox for osCommerce-MS2 and it's GREAT!!! thanks!!!!!!!!!!

Edited March 12, 2005 by mujina

[Guest]

Ok I changed the cookie configuration to how is mentiond in a previous post. Now all the urls seem correct but i still am redirected back to my index page. All the urls for the for the manufactures now look like this.

 

http://www.mysite.com/index.php?mName=mymanufacturer

 

Just a thought but i have the redirect beta installed could this cause this problem.

[mujina]

mikelc,

 

I don't know if it's gonna solve your pb but it did solve mine. Just modify your catalog/includes/application_top.php file as follows :

 

Just after

if (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['pname']) && defined(urldecode($HTTP_GET_VARS['pname'])) ) {
$pid = str_replace('products_id=', '', constant(urldecode($HTTP_GET_VARS['pname'])));
$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] = (int)$pid;
}

 

Paste

if (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['mname']) && defined(urldecode($HTTP_GET_VARS['mnane'])) ) {
$pid = str_replace('manufacturers_id=', '', constant(urldecode($HTTP_GET_VARS['mname'])));
$HTTP_GET_VARS['manufacturers_id'] = (int)$pid;
}

 

Hope it helps! :thumbsup:

[clarocque]

Allright Chris!! But really nothing to deal with beta3 seo redirect? Actually I had to uninstall this update as it was blocking my site on the index page (kind of a everlasting loop).

 

Hmmm... if you did all the mods corectly - than I am not sure on that one... maybe Bobby has an idea. I am usign the Redirect script was well and has been ok with the install si have used it on...

 

Wish I had more info for you...

 

PS : I had time to install Javascript InfoBox for osCommerce-MS2 and it's GREAT!!! thanks!!!!!!!!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Glad you like you are one of few that have it. You have to be creative to get it right now but heopefully soon it will be available to all.

 

Chris

[clarocque]

Ok I changed the cookie configuration to how is mentiond in a previous post. Now all the urls seem correct but i still am redirected back to my index page. All the urls for the for the manufactures now look like this.

 

http://www.mysite.com/index.php?mName=mymanufacturer

 

Just a thought but i have the redirect beta installed could this cause this problem.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Do you ahve the latest of all the code and updated yout .htaccess for manufactureres?

 

I use the Reirect and it is working fine ....

 

C-

[mujina]

Chris,

 

I solved my pb with the manufacturers search. Look at the post above.

 

According to the redirect script I really did try to install it many times but you might be right, I surely made mistakes! But hopefully ultimate seo works pretty fine on my site!

 

According to Javascript InfoBox I found it was an amazing tool!!! Do you thing it is possible to link to pictures in the infobox?

[clarocque]

Chris,

 

I solved my pb with the manufacturers search. Look at the post above.

 

According to the redirect script I really did try to install it many times but you might be right, I surely made mistakes! But hopefully ultimate seo works pretty fine on my site!

 

According to Javascript InfoBox I found it was an amazing tool!!! Do you thing it is possible to link to pictures in the infobox?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes it will take some html just have to be careful with " and ' - basicaly dont use... PM/Email me if you need help. As this is really not the thread and the one on osC is still down.

[mujina]

Yes it will take some html just have to be careful with " and ' - basicaly dont use... PM/Email me if you need help. As this is really not the thread and the one on osC is still down.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ok.. thanks Chris!

[Guest]

Hi I am using the cname option, which I had assumed did not need a change to the .htaccess file. I had a problem when it came to changing the htaccess file so just went with the cname and not the rewrite option. I got the latest of both files installed.

I also tried the fix that mujina suggested but that didn't work either, but thanks anyways.

 

Mike

[asifh]

Hi Chemo

 

I have two sites (both online), the ultimate seo contribution works perfectly on one site but not on the other. The rewrite option fails with a 404 page not found - the pages' names are rewritten correctly but seems like they are not being redirected correctly to pages that exist. Not sure if it is something on the server side (I am not hosting personally but the hosting compnay is reasonably helpful).

 

I also would be interested in the other little seo Gems that you said you had for paying cutomers..

 

Your contribution is excellent and I would love to just solve the 404 page not found error and get it working. The .htaccess file has been checked again and again (it is the same as the stock file - catalog in root)

 

I am up for paying for support here as the time factor is crucial.

 

Cheers

 

Asif