Header Tag Controller

**rwoody** · 09-10-2005, 01:23 PM

I have taken over an existing osCMax site. I want to get the header tag controller installed. How difficult is this going to be and does anyone have experience installing it on this loaded version that can advise me on issues that may arise.

I've installed it many times on a straight osC sites, so I very familiar with the module and for proper SEO optimization is absolutely required. The sites I've installed it on have had STS, vs BTS which I believe is the template system osC Max is using.

I'll go out to the osC forums to see if I can find any advise regarding BTS and HTC, but I cannot even mention osC Max as my post will be immediately deleted. They are not friendly to loaded versions.

Any help and or suggestions would really be appreciated.

Ruth in AZ

**rwoody** · 09-10-2005, 02:42 PM

In looking at the files and setup of osCmax, I can see the meta tag contribution is part of the install. Where this is better than not having any tag control at all, it doesn't go far enough for my needs.

Can someone tell me which meta tag contribution is installed on osCMax as there are several in the contributions d/l on the osC site. I'm rooting through to figure it out, but I thought if some nice person could tell me I would know exactly what I am working with.

I plan on removing that contribution to avoid conflicts and then install the full HTC version. This seems to be my best bet.

**jpf** · 09-10-2005, 04:09 PM

The header tag controller that MAX uses is a dynamic generated based on the PAGE it displays. Thus there is NO need to maually add in meta tag data for any page....

Now search engines DO NOT reley on the meta tag as much - AND will DOWN rank you if data int he meta tag does not closely mirror the data on the page it self. -BUT that is a whole nother topic/debate.

People get good result using the dynamic and avoids the OOPS I forgot and is a no worry solution that needs no manually updating.

FYI - I think (please correct me if I am WRONG) MAX uses:

cDynamic Meta Tags

This contribution is similar to other meta tag contributions except is utilizing some custom code that gets most of the data from the database and uses things like Category Names, Products Name, Product Description and Manufacturer Name to create the meta tags.

The big advance of this contribution is it has the ability to CACHE the results. This will speed up your store and reduce server load. It is compatible with file caching or Chemo's New Cache Class. It is not required to install Chemo's Cache Class unless you want to cache the results in the database.

**rwoody** · 09-12-2005, 12:26 PM

I understand that a certain amount of info is dynamically pulled in by this contribution. However, I want more control. I utilize many different methods regarding SEO and have a complete process in place and this contribution just doesn't go far enough for my needs.

HTC also creates dynamic content, but it is created from a master that you specifically create. Then if you wish you can add additional information on a per product/ per category basis. We have a very large site and in order to enable customers to locate products easily many subcategories had to be used. With the current system, a lot of information is lost and only the main categories, womens, mens, kids etc are displayed and this will not work for this particular site.

Thank you for the info however in regards to which contribution. There are so many that I was d/l all of them in search of the files that matched what I have. I wanted to make sure that I remove any code referencing this contribution prior to installing HTC so as not to create a conflict.

Once again thank you for your time in answering my post. You have been most helpful.

Have a super day!!

**michael_s** · 09-12-2005, 12:35 PM

It is really easy to remove the dynamic meta tags mod. Just delete the following lines from main_page.tpl.php and you have removed the mod:

Code:

&lt;?php require&#40;DIR_WS_INCLUDES . 'meta_tags.php'&#41;; ?>

&lt;title>&lt;?php echo META_TAG_TITLE; ?>&lt;/title>

&lt;meta name="description" content="&lt;?php echo META_TAG_DESCRIPTION; ?>" />

&lt;meta name="keywords" content="&lt;?php echo META_TAG_KEYWORDS; ?>" />

**rwoody** · 09-16-2005, 04:39 PM

Thank you, thank you!! I've been doing file compares and searches for any instances that might refer to this code for removal. You have saved me so much time. For most site's needs this contribution would be great, but because of our category design and the need for customization this just doesn't work for us.

Thank you so much once again for your help

Have a super day!!

**Drummer536** · 10-07-2005, 05:49 PM

I am a newbie to this. so I have a couple of questions,

Did you ever get Header Tag Controller working? I am trying to figure out how to install this and I am not sure where the code for each page will go since I there is not a <Title> Tag. Can you post a sample?

Thanks,
Don