meta tags !!!! Ultimate SEO URLs !!!!

[alkhataat]

Hello Every one,

 

I have read many contributions about meta tags and ultimate SEO URLs , as a newbie and I am not a tech guy I am totally lost, I don’t know what is the difference between them.

 

The main aim is to be identified by google.

 

Which one should be used ? meta tags or ultimate SEO URLs ?

 

I am using osCommerce 2.2-MS2 with some modifications for my ebooks store and I don’t know how to install one of the above to be recognized by the search engines, I have spent hard time to fix this site and don’t want to damage it, I am sure there are many people out there facing the same problem.

 

Can any one kindly advise me which one to use ? and if possible in simple guidance how to install that.

 

It will really help me and many more like myself.

 

Appreciate you assistance

Best wishes

[bill110]

Use both.

Ultimate SEO urls changes the url in the browser so it is more "search engine friendly".

Meta tags are for Keywords, Page Titles, Page Descriptions.

There are several meta tag contributions and a newer seo url contribution called seo-g(currently supported in the contribution support.)

Header tags controller goes a little further and changes a few other things in your shop to be more in line with SEO.

Meta tags on the fly dynamically changes page title, description, and keywords to match which page you are on; But leaves the page content to you.

As far as guidnce, there are instructions for install with each and a support thread in the contribution support forum.

[bill110]

Sorry double post. "Flood Control" on the forum.

[alkhataat]

Sorry double post. "Flood Control" on the forum.

 

 

Hi Bill,

 

Thanks for your guidance

 

Following your advise, I found the Ultimate_SEO_URLsv21da_1_2 contribution and did install that, every thing went well but stuck at the instruction saying :

 

==========================================================

If you install Ultimate SEO URLs for the first time, run the following MySQL-query in your osC database:

 

ALTER TABLE `categories_description` ADD `categories_seo_url` VARCHAR( 100 ) NOT NULL ;

ALTER TABLE `products_description` ADD `products_seo_url` VARCHAR( 100 ) NOT NULL ;

 

( otherwise in the admin-catalog area you may get error: 1054 - Unknown column 'cd.categories_seo_url' in 'field list' )==========================================================

 

I do have the following error :

 

1054 - Unknown column 'cd.categories_seo_url' in 'field list'

 

select c.categories_id, cd.categories_name, cd.categories_seo_url, c.categories_image, c.parent_id, c.sort_order, c.date_added, c.last_modified from categories c, categories_description cd where c.parent_id = '0' and c.categories_id = cd.categories_id and cd.language_id = '1' order by c.sort_order, cd.categories_name

 

[TEP STOP]

 

How to run the MySQL-query in osC database to alter the required tables ? advise please - - - H E L P - - -

 

Still did not touch the meta tags, can you advise which is the latest one to install?

 

I did not understand what you meant by double post. "Flood Control" on the forum “ what does that mean ?

 

Thanks again for your help

Much obliged

 

Best regards

Ahmed

[bill110]

When I tried to reply the forum came back with an error saying flood control in effect wait 30 seconds and try again. I did and my reply posted twice. I edited the second one.

Runnung the sql on your database in through phpmyAdmin.(at your host control panel) when you get to your database there is a sql tab. click it and paste the code in the box. click go and that should do it.

I use meta tags on the fly because I work on my pages myself. only had a couple of issues during development of it and the current version is stable.

Header tags controller is very good also and has you do more to your pages for SEO.

Both work good. Your choice.

SEO-g looks good also but I havent tried it.

All three are supported in the contribution support forum.

[alkhataat]

When I tried to reply the forum came back with an error saying flood control in effect wait 30 seconds and try again. I did and my reply posted twice. I edited the second one.

Runnung the sql on your database in through phpmyAdmin.(at your host control panel) when you get to your database there is a sql tab. click it and paste the code in the box. click go and that should do it.

I use meta tags on the fly because I work on my pages myself. only had a couple of issues during development of it and the current version is stable.

Header tags controller is very good also and has you do more to your pages for SEO.

Both work good. Your choice.

SEO-g looks good also but I havent tried it.

All three are supported in the contribution support forum.

 

 

Hi Bill,

 

Thanks again for the assistance

 

I did it as per your guidance and the error message disapeared thanks God, but I did not notice any changes, in fact, I was wondering when adding the code to mysql, I didn’t know if I was suppose to add the whole line:

 

ALTER TABLE `categories_description` ADD `categories_seo_url` VARCHAR( 100 ) NOT NULL ;

 

Or adding the code with out “ ALTER TABEL “ I mean just ading `categories_description` ADD `categories_seo_url` VARCHAR( 100 ) NOT NULL ;

 

I have added the whole line, was that corrcet ?

 

It was written in the instruction that

 

To add your own product or category URL go to the relevant Product / Category, in admin, and choose

edit - and edit the field called either:

 

Products SEO URL or

Category SEO URL

 

The field “ either “ did not show, have I done any thing wrong ??

 

Appreciate your help

Best regards

Ahmed

[alkhataat]

Hi Bill,

 

Thanks again for the assistance

 

I did it as per your guidance and the error message disapeared thanks God, but I did not notice any changes, in fact, I was wondering when adding the code to mysql, I didn’t know if I was suppose to add the whole line:

 

ALTER TABLE `categories_description` ADD `categories_seo_url` VARCHAR( 100 ) NOT NULL ;

 

Or adding the code with out “ ALTER TABEL “ I mean just ading `categories_description` ADD `categories_seo_url` VARCHAR( 100 ) NOT NULL ;

 

I have added the whole line, was that corrcet ?

 

It was written in the instruction that

 

To add your own product or category URL go to the relevant Product / Category, in admin, and choose

edit - and edit the field called either:

 

Products SEO URL or

Category SEO URL

 

The field “ either “ did not show, have I done any thing wrong ??

 

Appreciate your help

Best regards

Ahmed

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Bill,

 

I did install your meta tags contribution following the instruction precisely, but got the following error message on my website store :

 

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '}' in /home/qazaeboo/public_html/includes/application_top.php on line 526

 

I checked the application_top.php it has only 467 line and not 526

 

Below is almost the last 80 lines, can you kindly see what is wrong there,

Appo;ogies for the disturbance, but I am not e tech guy and also a newbie.

 

// calculate category path

if (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['cPath'])) {

$cPath = $HTTP_GET_VARS['cPath'];

} elseif (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id']) && !isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['manufacturers_id'])) {

$cPath = tep_get_product_path($HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id']);

} else {

$cPath = '';

}

if (tep_not_null($cPath)) {

$cPath_array = tep_parse_category_path($cPath);

$cPath = implode('_', $cPath_array);

$current_category_id = $cPath_array[(sizeof($cPath_array)-1)];

} else {

$current_category_id = 0;

}

// BOF Meta tags on the fly///

// include the breadcrumb class and start the breadcrumb trail with mata tags

require(DIR_WS_CLASSES . 'breadcrumb.php');

$breadcrumb = new breadcrumb;

$titletag = TITLE;

$keywordtag = KEYWORD_TAG;

$description = DESCRIPTION_TAG;

$seperator = '-';

$keywordsep = ', ';

$breadcrumb->add(HEADER_TITLE_TOP, HTTP_SERVER);

$breadcrumb->add(HEADER_TITLE_CATALOG, tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT));

// add category names or the manufacturer name to the breadcrumb trail

if (isset($cPath_array)) {

for ($i=0, $n=sizeof($cPath_array); $i<$n; $i++) {

$categories_query = tep_db_query("select categories_name from " . TABLE_CATEGORIES_DESCRIPTION . " where categories_id = '" . (int)$cPath_array[$i] . "' and language_id = '" . (int)$languages_id . "'");

if (tep_db_num_rows($categories_query) > 0) {

$categories = tep_db_fetch_array($categories_query);

$breadcrumb->add($categories['categories_name'], tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, 'cPath=' . implode('_', array_slice($cPath_array, 0, ($i+1)))));

$titletag .= $seperator . $categories['categories_name'];

$keywordtag .= $keywordsep . $categories['categories_name']; } else {

break;

}

}

} elseif (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['manufacturers_id'])) {

$manufacturers_query = tep_db_query("select manufacturers_name from " . TABLE_MANUFACTURERS . " where manufacturers_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['manufacturers_id'] . "'");

if (tep_db_num_rows($manufacturers_query)) {

$manufacturers = tep_db_fetch_array($manufacturers_query);

$breadcrumb->add($manufacturers['manufacturers_name'], tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, 'manufacturers_id=' . $HTTP_GET_VARS['manufacturers_id']));

$titletag .= $seperator . $manufacturers['manufacturers_name'];

$keywordtag .= $keywordsep . $manufacturers['manufacturers_name'];

}

}

// add the products name to the breadcrumb trail

if (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'])) {

$name_query = tep_db_query("select products_name, products_description from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_DESCRIPTION . " where products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "'");

if (tep_db_num_rows($name_query)) {

$name = tep_db_fetch_array($name_query);

$breadcrumb->add($name['products_name'], tep_href_link(FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO, 'cPath=' . $cPath . '&products_id=' . $HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id']));

$keywordtag .= $keywordsep . $name['products_name'];

$titletag .= $seperator;

$titletag .= substr(preg_replace('[^a-zA-Z0-9]',' ',(strip_tags($name['products_name']))),0,100); $description = substr(preg_replace('[^a-zA-Z0-9]',' ',(strip_tags($name['products_description']))),0,300);

// In above code change 300 to the length you want the description tag to be.

}

}

//// EOF Metatags on the fly//////

$model_query = tep_db_query("select products_model from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " where products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "'");

if (tep_db_num_rows($model_query)) {

$model = tep_db_fetch_array($model_query);

$breadcrumb->add($model['products_model'], tep_href_link(FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO, 'cPath=' . $cPath . '&products_id=' . $HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id']));

}

}

// initialize the message stack for output messages

require(DIR_WS_CLASSES . 'message_stack.php');

$messageStack = new messageStack;

// set which precautions should be checked

define('WARN_INSTALL_EXISTENCE', 'true');

define('WARN_CONFIG_WRITEABLE', 'true');

define('WARN_SESSION_DIRECTORY_NOT_WRITEABLE', 'true');

define('WARN_SESSION_AUTO_START', 'true');

define('WARN_DOWNLOAD_DIRECTORY_NOT_READABLE', 'true');

?>

</body>

</html>

 

I don't know what went wrong.

Please advise

Thanks

[bill110]

Ok this bit at the bottom is not normal for stock application_top.php

</body>
</html>

there should be nothing after the last ?>

Those two tags are the ending tags at the end of a displayed page.

Are you using some kind of template?

Even then I do not think they should be there.

also found this for sure needs correction

//// EOF Metatags on the fly//////
$model_query = tep_db_query("select products_model from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " where products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "'");
if (tep_db_num_rows($model_query)) {
$model = tep_db_fetch_array($model_query);
$breadcrumb->add($model['products_model'], tep_href_link(FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO, 'cPath=' . $cPath . '&products_id=' . $HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id']));
}
}

try removing the last }

[bill110]

Last post is incorrect. The board would not let me edit it

here is the correct solution

If you want the model number in the breadcrumb change the below code

//// EOF Metatags on the fly//////
$model_query = tep_db_query("select products_model from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " where products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "'");
if (tep_db_num_rows($model_query)) {
$model = tep_db_fetch_array($model_query);
$breadcrumb->add($model['products_model'], tep_href_link(FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO, 'cPath=' . $cPath . '&products_id=' . $HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id']));
}
}

 

to this

//// EOF Metatags on the fly//////
// add the products model to the breadcrumb trail
 if (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'])) {
$model_query = tep_db_query("select products_model from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " where products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "'");
if (tep_db_num_rows($model_query)) {
$model = tep_db_fetch_array($model_query);
$breadcrumb->add($model['products_model'], tep_href_link(FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO, 'cPath=' . $cPath . '&products_id=' . $HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id']));
}
}

The contribution actually replaced that code thereby deleting the model number from the breadcrumb because

the product name and model link to the same place anyway.

 

still not sure about your two ending tags being there as I said in previous post

[alkhataat]

Last post is incorrect. The board would not let me edit it

here is the correct solution

If you want the model number in the breadcrumb change the below code

//// EOF Metatags on the fly//////
$model_query = tep_db_query("select products_model from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " where products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "'");
if (tep_db_num_rows($model_query)) {
$model = tep_db_fetch_array($model_query);
$breadcrumb->add($model['products_model'], tep_href_link(FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO, 'cPath=' . $cPath . '&products_id=' . $HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id']));
}
}

 

to this

//// EOF Metatags on the fly//////
// add the products model to the breadcrumb trail
 if (isset($HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'])) {
$model_query = tep_db_query("select products_model from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " where products_id = '" . (int)$HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id'] . "'");
if (tep_db_num_rows($model_query)) {
$model = tep_db_fetch_array($model_query);
$breadcrumb->add($model['products_model'], tep_href_link(FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO, 'cPath=' . $cPath . '&products_id=' . $HTTP_GET_VARS['products_id']));
}
}

The contribution actually replaced that code thereby deleting the model number from the breadcrumb because

the product name and model link to the same place anyway.

 

still not sure about your two ending tags being there as I said in previous post

 

 

 

You are a treasure, I added the code and removed the </body> </html> from the end and voila, the store is back to life, appreciate your support.

 

AT my post #6 I did mention that after installing the SEO The field “ either “ did not show, have I done any thing wrong ? but I notice a new category came under the admin/configuration called “ SEO URLs “ with the following fields :

 

http://www.qazaebooks.com/images/problem3.jpg

 

IS this what suppose to show after the installation ? and is the setup OK ?

 

 

I did add few keyword for testing at the configuration/Meta Tags like (ebook. book, work from home, wealth, make money, affiliate,) but they did not show at the index.php file as following:

 

<TITLE><?php echo $titletag; ?></TITLE>

<META NAME="Keywords" content="<?php echo $keywordtag; ?>">

<META NAME="Description" content="<?php if (tep_not_null($cat_description

 

Or I have to add them manually at the index.php file

 

Thanks for your constant support

Best regards

Ahmed

[bill110]

When you right click and view source you should see the meta info.

Is is not there?

This should be all you need to add to the index.php file at the top in the head section

<title><?php echo $titletag; ?></title>
<META NAME="Keywords" content="<?php echo $keywordtag; ?>">
<META NAME="Description" content="<?php if (tep_not_null($cat_description['categories_description'])){
echo (strip_tags($cat_description['categories_description']));
} else { echo $description; }?>">

For ultimate SEO there is a support thread that will be a better place for those answers relating to it.

http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=154166

[Guest]

Hi Bill,

 

I did install your meta tags contribution following the instruction precisely, but got the following error message on my website store :

 

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '}' in /home/qazaeboo/public_html/includes/application_top.php on line 526

 

I checked the application_top.php it has only 467 line and not 526

 

I have also had a lot of trouble uploading application_top. When I upload it through dreamweaver or ftp, I get an error page or it only uploads part of it and chops the rest.

I maintain two stores, and I don't have this problem with any other file, just application_top. (One store is basically a copy of the other)

I am able to upload this file through the oscommerce admin file manager or my host's cpanel.