Help with SEO URLs

[subtleinstrument]

Greetings:

We've recently figured out that our online store is ranked so poorly compared to our competition is that Google isn't reading our dynamically generated PHP pages. We were going to create a bunch of static directory pages, but then we discovered the SEO URLs feature.

There's the "Use Search Engine Safe URLs (still in development)" switch on the "My Store" page, and the set of 4 switches on "SEO URLs" page. We assume that the latter are the best.

Before we flip these switches, we wanted to know what the potential risks and problems are.

All the other forum posts on SEO seem to be about Apache, which we aren't using.

Our setup:
Windows IIS
PHP
OscMax v2.0
MySQL database

If anyone has a reason why not to turn SE friendly URLs on, or help on how to do it properly, we'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

[michael_s]

You will not be able to use the rewrite method of seo urls unless you configure IIS to use the equivalent of mod_rewrite in apache. You can use the cname rewrite method out of the box though.

Do not use the 'still in development' switch. It has been replaced by the SEO URL's feature which is much better. Use the cname url method, not the rewrite method.

A common misconception is that your dynamic url is causing your site to be ranked lower. That simply is no longer true. Google has long since dispensed with the need for urls to be 'friendly' for ranking.

The most likley reason your site is ranking low is that you have no inbound links to your site from other relevant sites. This is what you need to concentrate on more.

[subtleinstrument]

You will not be able to use the rewrite method of seo urls unless you configure IIS to use the equivalent of mod_rewrite in apache. You can use the cname rewrite method out of the box though.... Use the cname url method, not the rewrite method.

The reason I proposed this potentially site-damaging change was to get rid of those product URLs full of "&" and "=" and "?", which I thought were making Google ignore us. If that doesn't matter, however, what is the difference between the two methods, cname and rewrite?

Do not use the 'still in development' switch. It has been replaced by the SEO URL's feature which is much better.

Noted. Thank you.

A common misconception is that your dynamic url is causing your site to be ranked lower. That simply is no longer true. Google has long since dispensed with the need for urls to be 'friendly' for ranking.

If that's the case, what does turning SEO URLs on do? Does it make any difference in in SE results?

The most likley reason your site is ranking low is that you have no inbound links to your site from other relevant sites. This is what you need to concentrate on more.

That's the job after this.

Thank you for your help.

[michael_s]

The reason I proposed this potentially site-damaging change was to get rid of those product URLs full of "&" and "=" and "?", which I thought were making Google ignore us. If that doesn't matter, however, what is the difference between the two methods, cname and rewrite?

cname urls are not as keyword rich as the mod_rewrite urls

If that's the case, what does turning SEO URLs on do? Does it make any difference in in SE results?

2. Google is very smart and it can now index any url and does not penalize you for an unfriendly url. What the rewrites do is add relevant keywords to the urls. This is desireable and will help, but is just one of many factors that google uses. If your site has a lot of good quality inbound links, your url could be anything, it will rank high in the searches. That was my point. You should still do it, but it is just not as important as most people assume, it is on piece of a large pie.

[subtleinstrument]

We flipped the switch to cname at 10am Friday morning, and it's working well. All the URLs on our site now include product and category names, and the links are good. The server still handles old links from the sister site too.

It's still including session IDs in the URLs, but we have "Prevent Spider Sessions" turned on. If I understand correctly, that means when spiders visit they won't get session IDs and thus won't get confused.

Thank you.

[michael_s]

Great!

The SEO urls mod does not do anything with the session ids. You have to configure the sessions settings for that.

Now, regarding the session id's, does your site use shared ssl or do you have your own ssl certificate?

If you have your own ssl certificate, to get the session ID's out of the urls, turn on 'Force Cookies' in the Sessions settings in the admin panel.

If you are using shared SSL, you cannot use the 'Force Cookies' settings though.

[argentbeads]

We flipped the switch to cname at 10am Friday morning, and it's working well. All the URLs on our site now include product and category names, and the links are good. The server still handles old links from the sister site too.

I know I must be slow catching on to the latest in SEO URL implementation.

I've got the osCMax RC2 modified install at aabox.com.

Enable SEO URLs? true
Choose URL Type cName
Filter Short Words 4
Reset SEO URLs Cache false

Use Search-Engine Safe URLs (still in development) false

I still get the error:
"1064 - You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1

delete from customers_wishlist WHERE customers_id=1 AND products_id="

when logged in and attempting to "Add to Cart".

As an anonymous user, the cname URLs work.

Did I miss a fix, was this issue fixed in the RC3 or RC3 patch?

I have the fix from Issue 00011 installed. I have not attempted the Rewrite method and mod_rewrite or .htaccess modifications.

Thanks in advance.

Paul
argentbeads.com
ohiobeads.com/catalog/ (the site where the error is actually manifesting)

[michael_s]

Paul,

Take a look at this in the bugtracker:
036: Two separate bugs activated by logging in. - Bug Tracker - open source Commerce Maximized :: osCMax

In the notes, you will see a fix from ganast. Add it to your shop and check to see if it resolves your issue.

This is his fix:

find this line (26) in includes/classes/tax.php:

function getTaxRate($class_id, $country_id = -1, $zone_id = -1) {

after it, add this line:

global $customer_zone_id, $customer_country_id;

[argentbeads]

Paul,

Take a look at this in the bugtracker:
036: Two separate bugs activated by logging in. - Bug Tracker - open source Commerce Maximized :: osCMax

In the notes, you will see a fix from ganast. Add it to your shop and check to see if it resolves your issue.

This is his fix:

I have looked at the 0036 Bug and have the code in includes/classes/tax.php.

Did the interaction with Separate Pricing Per Customer get fixed? I thought that it had by reading the lit.

I do have some semi-custom mods for Anti-Robot Registration contribution and Quantity Price by Product contribution.

As point of clarification:
When logged in, one cannot add a product to the cart from the "cname" category page, but CAN add the product from the product page.

Thanks again.

Paul
OhioBeads.com
argentbeads.com

P.S. I spent the day doing most of the RC2 to RC3 conversion, with Beyond Compare file comparison. (except the \admin\categories.php and tje \classes\shopping_cart.php. At least categories.php has Quantity Price by Product code that differs from the RC3 code somewhat. A few differences with shopping_cart.php also.). I tried to shop again, but logged in, I still get the "1064" error for the "cname" category page, but no error if I add to cart from the "product" page.

[argentbeads]

I tried uncommenting the AcceptPathInfo statement in .htaccess to get SEO URLs working, but received the 500 Internal Server Error.

That is with what I believe is the latest fix for .htaccess:
#<IfModule mod_php4.c>
# php_value session.use_trans_sid 0
# php_value register_globals 1
#</IfModule>

I still have not tried the Apache mod-rewrite method. Is that my next step?

Thanks!

Paul
OhioBeads.com (the site I'm focusing on)
Argentbeads.com