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Seach Engine Friendly URL Support


BlueYon

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I just want to point out one thing!

 

search engine spiders do not need lower case urls!

 

if they do then they are not the proper search engine spiders.

 

I fact most search engine spiders like sentace case urls like googlebot and inktomi!

 

There is no need to install the latest contribution that sets all urls to lower case.

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I just want to point out one thing!

 

search engine spiders do not need lower case urls!

 

if they do then they are not the proper search engine spiders.

 

I fact most search engine spiders like sentace case urls like googlebot and inktomi!

 

There is no need to install the latest contribution that sets all urls to lower case.

 

It doesn't set all urls to lowercase...

The url's are still normal (upper and lowercase). But when you enter them in lowercase they will work also..

This wasn't working before.

 

so:

http://www.mysite.com/Categories/Product

AND

http://www.mysite.com/categories/product

are working now.

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IMO urls should be lower case by default. I don't see any evidence for Google preferring capitalized urls either.

But on some servers only lower case urls are working. So in effect I would appeal to the authors to use lower case urls per default.

 

What I really like about this approach is that urls still reflect the hierarchical folder structure of the site. IMO this is a plus for both usability and SEO as well.

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It doesn't set all urls to lowercase...

The url's are still normal (upper and lowercase). But when you enter them in lowercase they will work also..

This wasn't working before.

 

so:

http://www.mysite.com/Categories/Product

AND

http://www.mysite.com/categories/product

are working now.

 

 

After the update it does work both ways. I watched the spider index pages for awhile last night and they were converting all upper case to lower case so when replicating what they were doing it didn't take you to the appropriate page. Now with the update it will work. So if someone clicks on a link somewhere in internet space and it happens to be in all lowercase the link will now bring them to the right page. I read over at webmasterworld that some search engines will convert to all lowercase when indexing pages. Also I had some titles way too long, almost a book, lol, so I shortened some of them as the search engine last night was only picking up only a certain amount of characters. Really the shorter url the better.

Mair

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It doesn't set all urls to lowercase...

The url's are still normal (upper and lowercase). But when you enter them in lowercase they will work also..

This wasn't working before.

 

so:

http://www.mysite.com/Categories/Product

AND

http://www.mysite.com/categories/product

are working now.

 

 

Sorry Rik I should have installed the update beforew commenting!

 

It works ok and does not change the urls! Good work!

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IMO urls should be lower case by default.  I don't see any evidence for Google preferring capitalized urls either.

But on some servers only lower case urls are working.  So in effect I would appeal to the authors to use lower case urls per default.

 

What I really like about this approach is that urls still reflect the hierarchical folder structure of the site. IMO this is a plus for both usability and SEO as well.

 

I heard about it prefering sentance case urls a while ago.

 

At first people used to have their urls all in upper case because upper case is normally more important than lower case. Then they went to sentance case like dmoz.

 

Just like people using _ and now they are using -

 

There is a website that test this sort of stuff out some where, but I forgot the address.

 

 

Also on another point:

 

I have made a map of the old urls so I will not lose the page rank on them. This should also help if I change the product name and it changes the url.

 

You can see it here:

 

http://www.itchi-tech.com/url_map.php

 

Showing your urls like the one below does improve the page ranking but it does have its problems.

 

http://www.itchi-tech.com/Pocket-Bike/ etc..

 

I'm wondering if its better to keep apart the product names and urls! If you change the product name you can lose the link from the search results to the product.

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IMO urls should be lower case by default.  I don't see any evidence for Google preferring capitalized urls either.

But on some servers only lower case urls are working.  So in effect I would appeal to the authors to use lower case urls per default.

 

What I really like about this approach is that urls still reflect the hierarchical folder structure of the site. IMO this is a plus for both usability and SEO as well.

 

I heard about it prefering sentance case urls a while ago.

 

At first people used to have their urls all in upper case because upper case is normally more important than lower case. Then they went to sentance case like dmoz.

 

Just like people using _ and now they are using -

 

There is a website that test this sort of stuff out some where, but I forgot the address.

 

 

Also on another point:

 

I have made a map of the old urls so I will not lose the page rank on them. This should also help if I change the product name and it changes the url.

 

You can see it here:

 

http://www.itchi-tech.com/url_map.php

 

Showing your urls like the one below does improve the page ranking but it does have its problems.

 

http://www.itchi-tech.com/Pocket-Bike/ etc..

 

I'm wondering if its better to keep apart the product names and urls! If you change the product name you can lose the link from the search results to the product.

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Well the beauty in an hierarchical approach is it distributes PR like water is distributed in a healthy tree. So that's why it doesn't matter too much if you lose the PR of a single product page. Nonetheless a permanent redirect helps even in those cases.

Basically the model to structure perfect SEO urls after is the breadcrumbs. Since your approach goes into this direction I would not change it by keeping product names and urls apart. Product names are like the leaves on the the PR tree.

Edited by UK61
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Hello,

I am also facing the same problem please kindly check the .htaccess code is it write or worng as i install on my site and on every product it link it show index page. waiting for reply.

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maybe make something that when a category isn't found and it isn't a known variable then send a header with page moved.

RikP, I still can't solve my bug.

When I click "add to cart" , the relative product will be added to "Cart Contents", but there is an error in the page foot. It seems that it can't find foot.php.

But if I click back to "catalog" and click on "Cart Contents" again, everything will be ok.

The same problem occurs when I visiting "product reviews".

Is it possible that the rewrite rules cause some pages can't find /includes/footer.php?

Pls be so kind to help.

You can review my site here: http://www.ourchinaseasons.com

Sorry for my site's connection speed because I am currently hosting in China and will switch to other places soon.

Edited by bobbie
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RikP, I still can't solve my bug.

When I click "add to cart" , the relative product will be added to "Cart Contents", but there is an error in the page foot. It seems that it can't find foot.php.

But if I click back to "catalog" and click on "Cart Contents" again, everything will be ok.

The same problem occurs when I visiting "product reviews".

Is it possible that the rewrite rules cause some pages can't find /includes/footer.php?

Pls be so kind to help.

You can review my site here: http://www.ourchinaseasons.com

Sorry for my site's connection speed because I am  currently hosting in China and will switch to other places soon.

 

it has something to do with the back buttons i guess....

MarryAnn had the same problem, try her fix:"

 

In shopping_cart.php find:

<?php
   $back = sizeof($navigation->path)-2;
   if (isset($navigation->path[$back])) {
?>
               <td class="main"><?php echo '<a href="' . tep_href_link($navigation->path[$back]['page'], tep_array_to_string($navigation->path[$back]['get'], array('action')), $navigation->path[$back]['mode']) . '">' . tep_image_button('button_continue_shopping.gif', IMAGE_BUTTON_CONTINUE_SHOPPING) . '</a>'; ?></td>
<?php
   }
?>

replace with:

<?php
$back = sizeof($navigation->path)-2;
if (isset($navigation->path[$back])) {
?>
<td class="main"><?php echo '<a href="' . tep_href_link($navigation->path[$back]['page'], tep_array_to_string($navigation->path[$back]['get'], array('action')), $navigation->path[$back]['mode']) . '">' . tep_image_button('button_continue_shopping.gif', IMAGE_BUTTON_CONTINUE_SHOPPING) . '</a>'; ?></td>
<?php } else {?>
<td class="main" align="center"><a href="javascript:history.go(-1)"><?php echo tep_image_button('button_continue_shopping.gif', IMAGE_BUTTON_CONTINUE_SHOPPING); ?></a></td>
<?php
}
?>

 

and in product_reviews.php find:

<td class="main"><?php echo '<a href="' . tep_href_link(FILENAME_PRODUCT_INFO, tep_get_all_get_params()) . '">' . tep_image_button('button_back.gif', IMAGE_BUTTON_BACK) . '</a>'; ?></td>

 

and replace with:

<?php
$back = sizeof($navigation->path)-2;
if (isset($navigation->path[$back])) {
?>
<td class="main"><?php echo '<a href="' . tep_href_link($navigation->path[$back]['page'], tep_array_to_string($navigation->path[$back]['get'], array('action')), $navigation->path[$back]['mode']) . '">' . tep_image_button('button_back.gif', IMAGE_BUTTON_BACK) . '</a>'; ?></td>
<?php } else {?>
<td class="main" align="center"><a href="javascript:history.go(-1)"><?php echo tep_image_button('button_back.gif', IMAGE_BUTTON_BACK); ?></a></td>
<?php
}
?>

 

I hope this fixes your problem :)

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hello , it is taking to me index page when i link on any product my site link is http://www.silverpyramidjewellery.com/catalog/ .

 

in application_top.php find:

if((trim($PHP_SELF, '/') == FILENAME_DEFAULT)and(sizeof($url_array) > 0)){

 

replace with:

if((trim($PHP_SELF, '/') == trim(DIR_WS_HTTP_CATALOG.FILENAME_DEFAULT, '/'))and(sizeof($url_array) > 0)){

 

It should work now ;)

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Hi all, excellent contribution!! by the way. I have just installed this and it appears to be working this time. (the first release didn't work for me at all.

The only problem i have come accross up to now, is my pop up windows don't work on my product info pages. HERE.

But they work on my review pages. HERE.

The only difference i can see, is that the review pages are the original addresses, and the product pages are the new ones created with this contribution. Has anybody got any ideas on how i can resolve this issue. I suspect it's the javascript for the pop-up somewhere.

 

Thanks in advance, any help appreciated.

 

Julian

A little knowledge is dangerous, I SHOULD KNOW.

If Life Begins At 40, What ends????

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Hi all, excellent contribution!! by the way. I have just installed this and it appears to be working this time. (the first release didn't work for me at all.

The only problem i have come accross up to now, is my pop up windows don't work on my product info pages. HERE.

But they work on my review pages. HERE.

The only difference i can see, is that the review pages are the original addresses, and the product pages are the new ones created with this contribution. Has anybody got any ideas on how i can resolve this issue. I suspect it's the javascript for the pop-up somewhere.

 

Thanks in advance, any help appreciated.

 

Julian

 

the fix is in this thread:

 

cocornote wrote:

Copy the JS function "popupWindow" from product_info.php.

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CODE

if((trim($PHP_SELF, '/') == FILENAME_DEFAULT)and(sizeof($url_array) > 0)){

 

 

replace with:

CODE

if((trim($PHP_SELF, '/') == trim(DIR_WS_HTTP_CATALOG.FILENAME_DEFAULT, '/'))and(sizeof($url_array) > 0)){

 

 

It should work now

 

Thanks its work :D

 

one thing more if i want http://www.silverpyramidjewellery.com/catalog/DVD-Movies/ insted of http://www.silverpyramidjewellery.com/catalog/DVD-Movies a / after the url . where to change that.

 

Thx

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the fix is in this thread:

 

cocornote wrote:

Copy the JS function "popupWindow" from product_info.php.

OK, thanks i'll give it a go. I missed that when i read the thread, sorry. Getting a bit PHP'd out at the moment. :blink:

 

Julian

A little knowledge is dangerous, I SHOULD KNOW.

If Life Begins At 40, What ends????

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put it between the <head> tags of the index.php....

 

when you're testing please report any bugs you find in this thread :)

Hi,

The following pertains to this contribtion, in case anyone is wondering why I am asking this: do you know what I could put in my code or htaccess so that when a mistake is made entering an address in the url, that it will show a 404. As it is right now it redirects everything back to my homepage when an error is made in the url, also old pages when clicked on take me to the homepage and I really don't want google or whoever to get a 200 in the header but rather a 404 so they can get rid of my old pages. Hate for them to think double content here. It would take me eons to redirect old pages with a 301 redirectpermanent in htaccess. Thanks so much.

Mair

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put it between the <head> tags of the index.php....

 

when you're testing please report any bugs you find in this thread :)

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll let you know how the tests go, i'm in London for two days now so don't think i've forgotten.

 

Cheers

Julian

A little knowledge is dangerous, I SHOULD KNOW.

If Life Begins At 40, What ends????

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Just tried adding the script in my index.php between head and /head and it did nothing??? is it the right script that i've posted?

Cheers

Julian

 

Going to bed now, hopefully an answer before i fly off in the morning :thumbsup: , because it will really bug me what i've done wrong. :blink:

 

TIA

 

Julian

A little knowledge is dangerous, I SHOULD KNOW.

If Life Begins At 40, What ends????

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Just tried adding the script in my index.php between head and /head and it did nothing??? is it the right script that i've posted?

Cheers

Julian

 

Going to bed now, hopefully an answer before i fly off in the morning :thumbsup: , because it will really bug me what i've done wrong. :blink:

 

TIA

 

Julian

 

just paste this:

<script language="javascript"><!--
function popupWindow(url) {
?window.open(url,'popupWindow','toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,scrollbars=no,res
izable=yes,copyhistory=no,width=100,height=100,screenX=150,screenY=150,top=150,le
ft=150')
}
//--></script>

before the

</head>

 

uuhm don't know what the problem is then, because i can't reproduce :(

 

tag in index.php.

Make sure it isn't in <?php ?> tags (it's normal html!!)

Edited by RikP
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