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  1. #1
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    help question Display of index page, new product image, metatags & SEO

    I am so confused. This is my first Zen Cart and I've been working my way through the book. I'm used to XHTML and CSS and having access to the doc type and head tags.

    My client's website is Team Breaks Barriers.

    When I just enter http://teambreaksbarriers.com, I get, in the center section, "Congratulations, you have successfully installed..." and there is no new product image - just a "No product image" image. When I click on the HOME link on the page, all corrects itself - the Congratulations message goes away, and the new product image shows up. When I try to do a permanent 301 redirect from teambreaksbarriers.com to the URL for the home page in the hosting account, I'm given a looping error message. How do I fix this?

    Google is not seeing this site *at all* (site name entered into the Google search field), and I'm very concerned about the SEO of the site. I thought Zen Cart was supposed to be search engine-friendly. Granted the home page has virtually nothing on it, but I think it's also a function of the whole looping thing. Where do I enter the description for the description metatag? Where do I enter the code for Google Analytics?

    Can anyone help me? This shopping cart is the most tedious, mind-boggling thing I've ever done, and I do all my XHTML and CSS coding by hand!!

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Display of index page, new product image, metatags & SEO

    When you go just to the domain name you are actually seeing the index page of ZC, when you click the home button you are being taken to an ezpage because that is where it is set to go.

    Doing the redirect from the actual index page to the fake home page is the wrong way to approach it. Your even bypassing the built in contact us page by linking to an ezpage also.

    Where do I enter the description for the description metatag?
    I assume you mean the site description, that would be adjusted in includes/languages/english/meta_tags.php and then that should be copied to an override folder and edited there.

    the following text:
    Congratulations! You have successfully installed your Zen Cart™ E-Commerce Solution.
    can be edited in includes/languages/english/index.php

    The reason google (or any of the search engines) is not indexing the site is the following which is on every page of the site:
    Code:
    <meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />
    Now this would normally be associated with a bug in Zen cart when you have categories set to display on the index page, but since I don't see categories on the actual index page I'm not sure. I will dig up the thread with the fix for the no index, no follow bug.

    After looking at the view source on the template you purchased to use I'm not sure you are triggering the bug, it just might be a problem with the template. The only way to know for sure would be to switch to the classic template and check the view source to see if the no index, no follow remains.

    There is a mod for google analytics that will put the code in there automatically and let you also track adwords conversions.

    Learn to use admin>tools>developers tool kit to search for text you want to change
    Mike
    GeekHost - Zen Cart Certified & PCI Compliant Hosting
    The Zen Cart Forum...Better than a monitor covered with post-it notes!

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Display of index page, new product image, metatags & SEO

    What would be the fix for the index page redirect, then? I'm seeking solutions.

    I've just been correcting things in the pages and code, not the overrides folder, which I have not created because I'm already using a custom template.

    I've been using the admin>tool>developers tool kit, but half the time I can't find the file/image/text I'm looking for. Incredibly frustrating. I've tried looking for <title> and it tells me it doesn't exist. That just doesn't make sense.

    I tried using the built-in Contact Us page, and I couldn't get it to display.

    Actually, the description metatag (as you refer to the site description) should be modified to reflect the description of the page, since every page should function as its own landing page. Obviously, there is no way to do this with Zen Cart.

    Thank you for your patience and helpfulness.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Display of index page, new product image, metatags & SEO

    The fix for the index page redirect would to be to use the cart correctly and not try and do a redirect. Change the ezpage link for home to point to index.php?main_page= on the internal link line or if you don't want the index_php?main_page= on the link you can use the external link block and send the link to http://teambreaksbarriers.com

    Even though you have a custom template already you should be following override procedures in the language files and other places were overrides would be used. You would name the overrides folder the same as the custom template name, in your case that would be theme136. So your overrides folder for the meta_tags.php file would be includes/languages/english/theme136/meta_tags.php

    Zen Cart will build the meta description for each page based on its content and title it, in the case of products, with the the product name. When you goto admin>categories/products>category you will see a list products, if you look over to the right you will see a round black and white icon, click on it. On that next page you can put your own title, keywords, and description for the meta for the product page. You have the similar ability at the category level. in the includes/languages/english/meta_tags.php file you will find the following section:
    Code:
    // EZ-Pages meta-tags.  Follow this pattern for all ez-pages for which you desire custom metatags. Replace the # with ezpage id.
    // If you wish to use defaults for any of the 3 items for a given page, simply do not define it. 
    // (ie: the Title tag is best not set, so that site-wide defaults can be used.)
    // repeat pattern as necessary
      define('META_TAG_DESCRIPTION_EZPAGE_#','');
      define('META_TAG_KEYWORDS_EZPAGE_#','');
      define('META_TAG_TITLE_EZPAGE_#', '');
    Which will allow you to do title, keyword, descriptions for each of you ezpages based on its number id.
    So your statement:
    Obviously, there is no way to do this with Zen Cart.
    is Obviously wrong.

    This displays perfectly fine:
    Code:
    http://teambreaksbarriers.com/index.php?main_page=contact_us
    So that would mean to use the carts contact us page you would change the ezpage link to index?main_page=contact_us in the internal link block on the edit page for that ezpage.
    Mike
    GeekHost - Zen Cart Certified & PCI Compliant Hosting
    The Zen Cart Forum...Better than a monitor covered with post-it notes!

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Display of index page, new product image, metatags & SEO

    double post cause of some sort of forum glitch......
    Last edited by barco57; 18 May 2009 at 07:07 AM.
    Mike
    GeekHost - Zen Cart Certified & PCI Compliant Hosting
    The Zen Cart Forum...Better than a monitor covered with post-it notes!

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Display of index page, new product image, metatags & SEO

    The fix for the index page redirect would to be to use the cart correctly and not try and do a redirect. Change the ezpage link for home to point to index.php?main_page= on the internal link line
    Awesome...now I have to go in and fix that center box header.

    Even though you have a custom template already you should be following override procedures in the language files and other places were overrides would be used. You would name the overrides folder the same as the custom template name, in your case that would be theme136. So your overrides folder for the meta_tags.php file would be includes/languages/english/theme136/meta_tags.php
    I think I'm confused here, and it probably covers it more in-depth in the book under advanced customization (almost there, but not quite, and the client wants his site), but that doesn't confuse the server, for lack of a better phrase? Two folders, named the same, at the includes level? And how do I know which folder is my overrides folder?

    So your statement: is Obviously wrong.
    I stand corrected. I will have to play around with the metatags more.

    This displays perfectly fine
    Fixed. Ugly, but fixed. I'll see what I can do to clean that up.

    From an SEO standpoint, Google is looking for my <title> and my <h1> to essentially match each other, but I'm not seeing any <h1> tags. What's up with that?

    http://www.ewebmarketing.com.au/seob...nce-of-h1-tags

    http://blogingenuity.com/2009/04/14/...ct-or-fiction/

    I was able to find the nofollows and delete them. I'll give it a couple of days or so and see if we pop up in Google.

    Thank you again. I'm learning a lot!

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Display of index page, new product image, metatags & SEO

    I see the following on product pages:
    Code:
    <!--bof Product Name--><h1 id="productName" class="productGeneral">Acid Zapper 120-count tablets</h1>
    
    <!--eof Product Name-->
    Which matches the title tag for the page

    On the category page (product listing)
    Code:
    <h1 id="productListHeading">Nutritional Supplements</h1>
    Ezpages have similar behavior of picking up the name of the page as the title and wrapping it in a h1.

    On the main index page you are left to create your own, when you edit page content with the define pages editor(define_main_page)

    What browser are you using? I would suggest firefox with the web developer toolbar. With that tool you will be able to quickly look at the tags for each element on the page.
    Last edited by barco57; 18 May 2009 at 01:31 PM.
    Mike
    GeekHost - Zen Cart Certified & PCI Compliant Hosting
    The Zen Cart Forum...Better than a monitor covered with post-it notes!

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Display of index page, new product image, metatags & SEO

    I think I'm confused here, and it probably covers it more in-depth in the book under advanced customization (almost there, but not quite, and the client wants his site), but that doesn't confuse the server, for lack of a better phrase? Two folders, named the same, at the includes level? And how do I know which folder is my overrides folder?
    No it doesn't confuse any thing. For an example, you have the following:

    includes/english/, within that folder is a classic folder (that folder is actually an override folder matching the classic template) so you can add a theme136 folder at that level. Copy only those files you edit from that level into that overrides folder. You can do that at each level of the directory tree where you see a classics folder. The classics folder is sort of a roadmap to where overrides can be placed as it is a template with overrides itself. The overrides systems isn't that difficult and once you see the pattern you'll slap yourself in the forehead and wonder why you thought it was difficult. It will just click all of a sudden. The book you refer to doesn't go into much depth about the process of using the overrides system. Using the overrides makes it much faster to find what your looking for and protects you on upgrades....though the next upgrade to 2.0 will be more complicated than in the past
    Mike
    GeekHost - Zen Cart Certified & PCI Compliant Hosting
    The Zen Cart Forum...Better than a monitor covered with post-it notes!

 

 

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