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Does anyone have experience with Magic SEO URLs? According to the site it offers similar features to Ultimate SEO URLs but with some improvements.
I also see SEO-G on oscommerce but has anyone made it work for Zencart? I like the idea of having more control over what the exact URL would be.
Thanks!
I think the new ultimate seo does give you lots of control over it. But you have to make sure you installed the newest one along with all the patches.
I actually tried installing it but found it broke the information pages, all_product pages and a few others using the default installation on a freshly installed cart. I used the one in the download section from Dr Byte 2.105 with 1.3.7 specific adjustments. Is there another elsewhere I should have used?
I'd still like others comments on the other mods if anyone knows about them. I like the concepte of SEO-G where one could specify any url since it uses a database table to track them... however support seems to have vanished on the oscommerce forums when I was looking at it, and I don't see a zencart version.
I'd like to have the model# as part of the URL and maybe define a shorter URL rather than using the entire product description... it would also be nice to lose the -p-25 in the product urls.... which I don't think can be done without using extra table(s).
The Magic SEO mod claims to require only 1 line change and doesn't get in the way of upgrades, and supposedly works with all other mods which I think is an issue with the other two SEO URL mods.
Cheers
The newest is 3.0 beta 1 or so. It's in a thread called chemo's ultimate seo url something, a huge thread so you should look at the last page (114 or 115)
I've read the last 2/3's of all the pages, installed it & added the mods. Products with attributes have the URLs messed up in the shopping cart still and I'm trying to see how to fix it.
But still hoping to find someone with experience with the other mods...
We're using the Magic SEO URLs on three Zen Carts. It works, even with PayPal. The *** a pop is worth it versus the time (days?) spent trying the other mods. Set-up in minutes.
Search engines (google, yahoo) already picking up new seo urls. Had to generate a new google sitemap with new urls.
Did you have to pay for each site or can use use the one purchase and change the code to use in different sites? Have you tried the Magic sitemap and if so how did it come out?Quote:
Originally Posted by SPH
How does the code work? Do you insert it into each template or into tpl_main_page or....?
We are seriously considering this and would appreciate any other feedback about it before spending the $$ on it.
We've tried Ultimate SEO URL 3.thelatest but it's conflicting with our very heavily modded site and I've had to disable it out of frustration. I know that I am not alone by any stretch, so I know it's not just something that I've done wrong. :D
Thanks!
Matt
We are also using magic seo url and you can see it on our site by clicking on the link my signature. Both the Magic SEO URL and the FREE sitemap they provide works flawlessly. There is only one limitation which is pointed out on their site as that (you can only have the category levels with the nicely formatted seo url). If you have deeper category level, the mod still works, it just doesn't rewrite.Quote:
Originally Posted by lankeeyankee
Personally, I do not care for the a huge .htaccess file which magic seo url generates but we are on a pretty fast server so we haven't seen degradation as a result of 900+ lines of .htaccess codes.
If and when Magic SEO URL offer feed generators in addition to sitemap things will be complete then. We still use google, msn, ebay and yahoo store feeders which obviously wasn't coded to use the cached magic seo url.
The installation is a breeze, you upload on file to the includes folder, another to cache folder and add one line of code to application_top and you're ready to go.
If you have any specific question, contact them, the support is great and very fast response.
It is likely expected I write here "Magic SEO URL is The Best", but no - I don't like such kind of spam and I also believe that the real (I hope positive) experiences from our customers are more welcomed, so I only write little notes to clarify some things.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rmowles
- Yes, only one line of code is required for installation.
- Updates are available here: http://www.magic-seo-url.com/updates/
The number of lines in .htaccess depend on how much "Product types" is used in the store. It can be lowered by removing unused types in administration (you can have only about 200 lines for example).Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
How/where does one remove the unused product types in admin, like you mention?
Ah, it's under catalog....but I can't delete them from there. Still need some help.
I just have a problem with this module that has actual code interqaction with the core code,
and its closed source,
kinda odd there dont you think
ZenCart administration - Catalog - Product Types.Quote:
Originally Posted by jeking
I must be missing something. I don't see anyway to delete them. I see Edit and Edit Layout.
You DO NOT want to delete the product types.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iRAY
So we've a delete and a don't delete.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kim
iRAY, if a product type is not used in a shop does it still contribute to the .htaccess file? I'm only using one product type.
If I remember correctly, only unused Product Types can be deleted.Quote:
Originally Posted by jeking
Only Rewrite Rules for used Product Types are included in .htaccess.Quote:
Originally Posted by jeking
Can you elaborate a little more on how it interacts with the core code? It doesn't actually change the core code does it? How is this different than Ultimate SEO? I had nothing but problems with Ulitmate SEO, mostly likely due to my heavily modded cart.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merlinpa1969
Only the developer of the Magic SEO URLs mod will be able to tell you how it interacts with the core code. The mod's PHP code is encoded so that no-one can look at the code to see how it was written. Because the mod is packaged in this way no one here will be able to tell you how it interacts with Zen Cart or give you support with it. Further, as it is not freely available (has to be paid for) it is not something developers can just download and play with in order to give help and support.Quote:
Originally Posted by lankeeyankee
Regards,
Christian.
Magic SEO URL does not use or alter ZenCart API. If you have a trouble, it will be great idea to contact our installation support.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merlinpa1969
Magic SEO will have this issues ?
Quote:
[Wed Nov 14 10:56:35 2007] [error] [client 66.249.73.216] mod_rewrite: maximum number of internal redirects reached. Assuming configuration error. Use 'RewriteOptions MaxRedirects' to increase the limit if neccessary. [Wed Nov 14 10:56:49 2007] [error] [client 217.42.9.252] mod_rewrite: maximum number of internal redirects reached. Assuming configuration error. Use 'RewriteOptions MaxRedirects' to increase the limit if neccessary. [Wed Nov 14 10:56:49 2007] [error] [client 217.42.9.252] mod_rewrite: maximum number of internal redirects reached. Assuming configuration error. Use 'RewriteOptions MaxRedirects' to increase the limit if neccessary. [Wed Nov 14 10:57:06 2007] [error] [client 66.249.73.216] File does not exist: /usr/local/apache/htdocs/robots.txt
Also,Do you have any discount for Vietnam customer ? we do not have many budget :D :blush:
No of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by kimsonvu
We have no Vietnam customers yet, but you may be first :) There is discount only in case of ordering two or more copies (it doesn't need to be together).Quote:
Originally Posted by kimsonvu
To clarify Merlin's earlier comment about code integration with the core code, Magic SEO URLs requires a single line to be inserted into your existing Zen Cart files. However, that line goes into your includes/application_top.php file which is a really key file and not overwritable.
Personally I have no problem with this. It has to be remembered when upgrading, but it's such a quick and easy install that even if you forget when you upgrade, it would take just a couple of minutes to re-install it.
Hi,
I have installed Ultimate SEO URL (not the latest version) on my Zencart. But now I am considering to switch to Magic SEO URL. But prior to doing so, how do I uninstall Ultimate SEO URL? Thanks in advance.
Same as my question!Quote:
Originally Posted by dealbyethan.com
you all figure out how to remove the ultimate seo.
Unfortunately no.
It comes out of the box with terms rewritten, which won't work in SSL and gives you a 404. It stops putting the - between words in a title, which greatly diminshes the value to the bot. ie. Jams all words together.
Which product are you talking about? I have not experienced the symptoms you described with Magic SEO URL. You can take a look at our site in my signature below.Quote:
Originally Posted by point0fsale
Delete the Ultimate SEO URL files you copied over and restore the backup files "you saved"
Ultimate SEOQuote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
You can fix the terms issue by deleting the "pages to rewrite" in the configuration setup. I gave up on the - issue. It worked fine for about 15 minutes and then jammed everything together. After reading the posts about it not improving the ranking; I wonder what is the point. If Google likes the old way I like the old way. It is a shame that the built in SEO doesn't work well. If it would work on SSL, and still allow searching it would be fine.
Ah, I thought as much that you must be talking about Ultimate SEO. Yeah, I dumped Ultimate SEO, too much headache and it's such a waste of time than it cost to buy a fully functioning SEO Mod that comes with support.Quote:
Originally Posted by point0fsale
Well, after having MSU installed for over 6 weeks my site still wasn't getting indexed by Google even if you searched for the domain name. Our ebay store was coming up and links here the zen forum, but not my site! I was getting a bit fidgety, I know that it can take a little while for a new site to get indexed, but I thought that 6+ weeks should have been long enough for the site to show up when you searched the actual domain name! Then I saw that my live, non MSU or any other SEO, test site was already indexed and coming up on page 1 of Google for the (real) test product that I had on it, and this was only after about 2 or 3 weeks!! That did it. I uninstalled MSU, made new XML sitemaps and submitted to the search engines, and now 10 days later I am starting to show up on Google.
There were several other things that I didn't like about MSU. Such as: I have "show cart after adding item to cart" disabled and MSU disabled the "you have successfully added the item to cart" message that would appear instead. Test users were confused about if the item had been added to the cart or not -- not good! There were a few other issues, too, like ezpages and defined pages that aren't stock zen define pages would still have the dynamic URL.
The author was fast at geting back to me when I had a little trouble getting it installed, but when it came to correcting these issues he basically said that I was on my own to figure it out(I am a fledgling coder and looking at rewrite rules was total gibberish to me then, but I am learning about them right now and it makes more sense) and then support sort of dropped off, and I started getting frustrated. I guess he must be too busy making money. :blink: When you have paid for a product you should get a fully functional product with support to correct whatever issues arise!!!
So I guess the SEO issue is a non-issue as far as indexing and ranking go, but from a human user point of view it's much nicer to see logical phrasing in the address instead of the dynamic query string in the address. And when you are searching the web for something and you see example.com/kitchen-appliances-1/professional-blender43.html versus example.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&product_id=43 you might be more inclined to choose the keyword rich address since it makes sense to you and you can see it is for the item that you are looking for.
Was using Ultimate SEO 2.105. It took some trial and error to get it working correctly, but once it did, it was great. One problem: it doesn't change EZPage URLs, and we have a lot of articles on our site posted with EZPages.
Removing Ultimate SEO was a bit tricky...you have to remove all the files it adds:
admin\includes\extra_datafiles\seo.php
admin\includes\functions\extra_functions\seo.php
admin\includes\reset_seo_cache.php
includes\auto_loaders\config.ultimate_seo.php
includes\classes\seo.install.php
includes\classes\seo.url.php
includes\extra_datafiles\seo.php
Then remove the chunks it adds to:
admin\categories.php
admin\product.php
includes\functions\html_output.php
Then remove the database tables and columns it adds. There's a function called uninstall_settings() in includes\classes\seo.install.php which you can grab the SQL from to do this.
The remove all the rewrite rules in your .htaccess file it adds.
Once done, I decided to try Magic SEO URLs instead.
PROS:
• Installation: truly a two-minute, painless procedure. I like that it only adds a single file to your zencart folder.
• Support: Impressive. When things didn't quite work as expected, I was very pleasantly surprised to find the vendor very responsive, even FTPing into my site (with my permission) to diagnose a misconfiguration at the webhost, and devising a workaround.
• Changes addresses for all pages, including EZPages, Define Pages, etc.
• (When properly configured) won't allow more than a single SEO-friendly address for a page, and redirects from any variations it recognizes to the correct address with a 301. Ultimate SEO URLs allows an infinite number of possible URLs as long as they end with the correct category/product/etc. ID.
CONS:
• Closed source, pay-for add-on.
• Documentation: very brief instructions for installation, nothing else.
• Adds a link to the Magic SEO site on the bottom of your site pages. Can be hidden with CSS, and if you insist, the vendor will send you another copy of the add-on with it removed.
• When the add-on didn't work with my custom 404 page, as the vendor said it should, he threw it back to me to muddle with the rewrite rules to get it working.
I also tried Ultimate SEO URLs 3.0 beta. Also impressive and quite possibly a better deal than Magic SEO.
• Installation: copy lots of new files, edit various existing files, try adding a couple different chunks of rewrite rules in your .htaccess and see which works.
• Documentation: Extensive but not yet complete.
• Various "URL Plugins" allow you to enable/disable URL rewriting specifically for products, categories, EZ pages, review pages, search results, etc.
• Must enable the "Core: Default" URL plugin, or links to Define pages (Contact, Sitemap, Unsubscribe, Privacy) don't work.
• Can choose the file extension: nothing, "/", ".html", etc.
• Can strip out invalid chars from URLs, convert to lowercase, etc.
• Like version 2.1, still allows infinite variations on URLs, exposing your site to potential duplicate content penalties.
A couple more notes:
Ultimate SEO URLs modifies the core zen_href_link() function to replace default zen cart addresses with the new SEO-friendly ones. This is nice because you can use this function in other modules and scripts to find what the new addresses are going to be.
Magic SEO URLs doesn't touch any core functions and seems to leave the links alone until all HTML output is done, at which point it does a search-and-replace through the output for all links in the form href="address" and replaces them with its SEO-friendly versions just before delivering the content to the browser. Which is okay, except there's no way to tell programatically what the new URLs are going to be (unless you wanted to go to the trouble of writing a function to emulate how it builds its URLs).
[Sidenote: There may be times when you want to know what the current page is. With MSU or USU, if you get the [FONT="Courier New"]$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'][/FONT], it'll give you MSU's or USU's URL (e.g. http://yourstore.com/prod-category-1/), but there's no way to easily figure out how this corresponds to an actual zencart page. Instead, use [FONT="Courier New"]$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'].'?'.$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'][/FONT] to find out what the actual zencart URL is (e.g. /store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_4) that the SEO URL replaces. (Probably want to strip off the catalog and zenid if any.) There may be a zen function that also provides this value.]
One more caveat about MSU: it will ONLY work on the domain you specify when you purchase it, and that server has to be live and public, which makes it impossible to use on a development server. But if you do have a development server (or additional store domain) that's public, the vendor is willing to modify the code to reference the additional domain(s).
Correction: USU 3 beta works well in some situations. Just tried it on another server (GoDaddy) and it blew up, every link giving a 404 error. Several other people cited the same problem (specifically with GoDaddy hosting), but no solution to be found anywhere.
From what I can tell on this extensive thread, the mod is riddled with known glitches that nobody is working on (though some patches have been released and can be downloaded from post 1201 on pg. 121). It appears it will probably never make it to a production version unless somebody else picks up development. Anyway, use USU 3 beta at your own risk. For now, I'm sticking with Magic SEO.
If we all agree to stick with a rather not so beautiful link like this:
site.com/name1/value1/name2/value2
and so on....
ie:
Then things will become much easier, and I can try with a super simple module that does this.Code:http://www.site.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=846&zenid=268a880d7asdqwdax12214e4c5266a0
Becomes:
http://www.site.com/main_page/product_info/products_id/846/zenid/268a880d7asdqwdax12214e4c5266a0
In my opinion, the link above is clean, predictable, understandable, nice to look at, isn't that the main point?
(And unlike magic SEO, it will work with all custom defined pages and such, no exception, no need to rewrite anything)
That's an interesting idea but, for me, it misses the point. I use these tools so the url uses words not numbers. When I shop, I do look at the url as a clue to the product and my place within the site. As a site owner, it helps those shoppers like me and causes no harm for those don't use the url.
You kinda lost me there, since I dont understand why should you look at the url to figure out where you are, while the page header + page title + page breadcrum + page content already let you know that.
The main point of seo url, for me is to clean up the query string, and to make the link look nice and neat. Most users dont care about the urls anyway.
I agree the point is to clean up the url. One huge advantage of using the names instead of numbers is in Google Analytics. Many reports use the url of the page. Obviously the product and categtory number are of little use if you can't memorize them all. Using names makes it easy. I like easy.
Good point, I shall think about that.
Something like this is possible as well:
Notice how the name goes after the products_id? It can go before or after, doesnt really matter, the point is that it will be there. Does it satisfy you know?Code:http://www.site.com/main_page/product_info/products_id/846-new_mouse_pad/zenid/268a880d7asdqwdax12214e4c5266a0
Still, it wouldnt look as neat as Magic SEO, for instance a link to a category will look like this:
Again, this is for the sake of simplicity. But unlike magic SEO, this will work for virtually all links, all mods, not only the one built in Magic SEO which is very limited.Code:http://www.site.com/main_page/index/cPath/jewelry-9
instead of
http://www.site.com/jewelry-9
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeking
Yes, I think that would be good. I'd put the name first (just a personal preference). As you say, it's a simple approach but I prefer simple. While I like Magic SEO and it's easy, this is a simpler approach. Big advantage.Quote:
Originally Posted by yellow1912
If you create something, I'd love to give it a try.
Simple SEO URL:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=86353
I can't really restore my backup since the installation since the store is live and I have customer data since the installation. I removed/restored the files to the original versions. I need to know what tables were affected. Is there and sql update I can run to remove the changes made by the SEO install?
I take it that you are talking about Ultimate SEO mod. You should check the support thread of that mod, or you can open the package, look at the code and see what it does.
Anyway, this topic is about comparing the pros and cons of each mod, and is not a support thread.
New Magic SEO URL for ZenCart update is available (1.0.16).
Check: www.magic-seo-url.com/updates/
Normally I don't announce new versions on public forums, but this version comes with significant performance boost and tons of other improvements. Update is recommended, but not required.
Some nice new features there, keep up the good work.
Since there is no change log, does anyone know what changes were included in the newest release?
Thanks!
Change logs can be found at recently launched Support forum http://www.magic-seo-url.com/board/ where you can also discuss Magic SEO URL and SEO in general.
I am proud to announce the long awaited news: Magic SEO URL for ZenCart now supports also Microsoft IIS with ISAPI Rewrite 3 installed!
If you're using this mod and you advertise with Google Adwords or Yahoo Search Marketing you want to read this post: http://www.magic-seo-url.com/board/g...roblem-13.html
There is a major issue with auto-tagging and url tracking that maybe costing you money if you don't apply the fix. Unfortunately, I was not aware of this problem for a considering period of time.
I read through the posts in that link and it made me sad. Just shows how much BS there is from so called SEO experts. There is no such thing as a duplicate content penalty that affects Page Rank, it simply does not work that way.Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
As for the gclid tag etc, it is very important that these are used because without them you will not be able to tell how your PPC campaigns are performing, how your Ad split testing is going etc. If you do not track your PPC you will not know if it is making you money or losing you money. You also need to ensure that other tracking tags such as utm_source, utm_medium etc are working and you should use them to track newsletter links, Google Product uploads, Yahoo and MSN PPC etc.
SEO covers more than just organic rankings on search engines, it is part of your larger search engine marketing strategy, a mod that breaks your analytics tracking and directs paid ads to 404 pages is very bad.
Regards,
Christian.
Boy, that sure is a big 'oops'. Not that it can't happen with an open source program, but this has been my big concern the Magic SEO (even though I do use it). Only one person really knows 'how' it works.
Jiri, you really need to inform ALL of your customers of this issue immediately. It's the responsible thing to do.
So Magic SEO and adwords is still possible with autotagging turned off?
The major dissadvantage I gather is that fraudlent clicks are not stopped - not a major problem for me as I am not in a hugley competitve market but still worrying nonetheless.
Is this a problem that will be fixed in the future?
IF you follow the link I provided, you will see this issue has been discussed to a great extent and the solution is also there. IF you put the code patch in your .htaccess you should have no problem. Although you should have no problem I am still having issues with IE7.0 and I am going to email them a link to one of our ads on google so they can see the problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zek
I installed Magic SEO after removing Ultimate SEO. The installation went fine J help was there with email support and all seems just fine until I tried to add some categories and products. Now I am getting.
404 Not Found
The requested URL /store/admin/categories.php does not exist.
I left an email for J but have not heard back. There is still something left from the Ultimate SEO install . The admin/config/ SEO is still there. What file could be left? I have double check all that was added? Also is there any file that were rewritten?
Thanks
RJ
RJ Fine Woodworking online store
http://www.rjfinewood.com/store
This is the reply from J
"This has nothing to do with Magic SEO URL. It will be likely caused by your customized .htaccess file or by missing file (MSU leaves administration untouched - is initialized only in catalog)."
Well I guess I am on my own here. The .htaccess was generated by magic SEO URL I have not touch it. There still seems to be something left over from the Ultimate SEO. I need find the files still there and or the files that have been changed.
RJ
You probably are. The purpose of this thread was to allow users to compare the pros and cons of the different SEO URL options available.Quote:
Originally Posted by rjspomer
Hijacking it to seek help solving your specific problem is very anti-social. I'd recommend starting your own thread to deal with your problem (which I doubt is caused by any of the URL mods anyway).
I do not think ive seen a mod so expensive for any shopping cart...
Quote:
Originally Posted by iRAY
Quote:
Originally Posted by dscurlock
Are you kidding me? $89 expensive? Obviously, you must not have been around long enough to try ultimate seo url. I bet you on average people spend about 40 hours trying to get that thing to work. That's a little over $2 per hour which is less than minimum wage.
The time savings and support is worth more than $89. Trust me, I invested more than 100 hours into the ultimate seo url trying to use it and I was part of the people that funded it for Dreamscape to do it right which he didn't.
Some BS was written last days in this thread by posters with no good SEO knowledge. I only clarify some pending questions (thanks BlessIsaacola for defending).
All SEO beginners start here: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogsp...e-content.html and continue with http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...google&spell=1Quote:
Originally Posted by CJPinder
If I say or wrote something I really mean it seriously...
It is possible also with autotagging turned On, see http://www.magic-seo-url.com/board/g...roblem-13.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by Zek
It was solved here: http://www.magic-seo-url.com/board/z...-admin-17.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by rjspomer
The price is not low, but is lowest as possible, because Magic SEO URL is not add-on in traditional understanding. It was not developed by altering Zen Cart API as Ultimate SEO URLs does, but it uses special original-written PHP techniques which was very hard to develop.Quote:
Originally Posted by dscurlock
I absolutely agree. Please post to this thread "why do you like or hate MSU or SEO G", but all troubles you have please point to our board http://www.magic-seo-url.com/board/ Your problem will be solved faster and also everything will be on same place for better searching.Quote:
Originally Posted by kuroi
I am proud to announce Magic SEO URL for ZenCart 1.1 series!
This new series incorporate Magic SEO URL Core 1.1, is coming with increased category depth to 5 and also with new nice configuration options!
Major Changes (1.0.16 to 1.1.00)
- Category depth was increased to 5! :clap:
- Possibility to set used category depth (unused RewriteRules are removed - it improves performance)
- Possibility to disable Strict URLs (useful when Google Adwords or Yahoo! Overture (etc.) are used)
- Possibility to set Maximum number of words in one URI's level
- Possibility to set Minimum word's length (shorter words are excluded from URIs)
Original announce: http://www.magic-seo-url.com/board/m...encart-24.html
I too am using Magic SEO Urls. the URLS themselves are going to be slightly better for SEO. To me, that is worth the money, even if it is only a slight boost.
my only gripe with Magic SEO is that the "buy now" button on my site no longer works after installing it. i have unfortunately had to remove it and just go with the "more info" link.
response from developer: "make sure you have cookies enable"
perhaps that most useless response ever.
The button works just fine when Magic SEO is uninstalled.
There is also sitemap add-on, but the documentation is nothing short of useless.
Just discovered there is in fact a function in MSEO to do this:Quote:
Originally Posted by capnhairdo
. Should change any Zen URL you pass it to its MSEO counterpart.HTML Code:unmagicseomakefancyurl($url)
(Discovered by decoding the (annoyingly) Zend-encoded MSEO code.)
Edit: link removed by moderator
Michael, I have send about 12 messages to you and all other troubles were fixed by following my directions successfully (correct me if I am wrong). The problem with buy_now link is really something with bad coding or with bad configuration (lot of ZenCart, osCommerce etc. are configured incorrectly or more precisely are working, but not completely).Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeroca
How did you decode it? I would like to "look under the hood" of my MSU install to correct a few things, too. Then maybe I would re-install it. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by capnhairdo
Quote:
Originally Posted by iRAY
Jiri, I would like to rule out Magic SEO as the cause, but i cannot seem to find anyone with a store who is using magic SEO in conjuction with the buy now button. The fact is, that when i had the Magic SEO uninstalled, the button works.
Dont get me wrong, I like the mod. Google crawls my pages much faster when i have it installed.
If someone here with Magic SEO installed, will turn on the buy now button feature i their shop and confirms that it works, then I will be satisfied that it is something i screwed up.
Which Buy Now button are you talking about? IS this a standard Zen Cart function that is not working or is this a Mod that you installed?Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeroca
Thanks!
it is a standard Zen Cart feature.Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
I am referring to the setting under
Configuration --> product layout --> display product add to cart button.
setting it to "1" will enable the "buy now" button on your product listing page. I currently have it set to "0" which gives me a "more info" text link instead of "buy now".
Can you see if it works on your site and the an item is successfully added to the cart?
Well, you can test it on our site from my signature. I am not sure I understand your issue. I don't Configuration - Product Layout. I have a Configuration - Product Listing and I have Configuration - Product Info.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeroca
What version of Zen Cart are you using? I will be glad to turn on the feature (if it's not turn on already) if you can give me information on where to turn it on.
Check out site to see if what you're discussing is also happening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
Sorry, tha was a typo on my part. that should have said configuration--> product listing. I am using ver 1.3.8a.
if you change the value for "display product add to cart button." to "1" , it should enable the button.
BTW: Thanks for doing this
It's already a 1. Are you by any chance using Designer Box?Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeroca
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
what about your Display "Product Price/Add to Cart" setting. what is that set to?
I dont have designer boxes installed yet, but that is on my list to do.
P.S You have one of the best Zen Cart signs I have ever seen. did you do the template work yourself?
That's set to a 4. Keep in mind that when you are on configuration - product listing, the first few options basic controls the column sequence and doesn't affect functionality. So product image is one, product name is 2....and so forth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeroca
I am also using the column layout module so I don't know if that affects anything or not because with my setting of 1 I don't see a buy now button. The customer gets the option to add one item or multiple items to cart and click on add selected products to cart.
Thanks for the compliments on our site.
They probably meant to say to set this setting to 0:
Layout Settings->Display Multiple Products Qty Box Status and Set Button Location
Closed Source, No Decent Support, You have to pay for it.
I've always heard, 3 strikes, YOUR OUT!
Ultimate SEO URL's is the best FREE and FULLY supported mod of this type I've used to date. It is ALSO compatible with Sitemaps, and ALL of the product feeders, information pages, more information pages, everything. It just flat out works, right out of the box.
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=231
That's My story and I'm stickin' with it!
do you get the button if you change setting below to the following:Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
Display Product Add to Cart Button (0=off; 1=on; 2=on with Qty Box per Product):1
Display Multiple Products Qty Box Status and Set Button Location:0
That setting is done and you can now see samples of buy now button here and it still works: http://www.clevershoppers.com/clever-deals-2265/Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeroca
Thanks:smile:Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
Anyone know if the standard behavior for that button supposed to take you to the product page? I thought it would add the product directly to the cart?
Either way, looks like i am in need of a developer to fix this. :cry:
Thanks to BlessIsaacola on his help in confirming that this is definitely a problem with my site and not Magic SEO.
Now that we are done testing, I have reverted back to my original setting. If you're having problem with MSU you can post the problem on that forum and we can pick it up from there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeroca
Re: lack of support for Magic SEO URLs. Have just done another maddening and unproductive round of correspondence with the developer. I reported several minor issues I was having with MSEO, to which I was alternately told that the problems did not exist, weren't really problems, or were mine to deal with...and that if I didn't like it, I didn't have to use his software. Though he claims to not have enough time to offer answers to support questions, Jiri seems to have plenty of time to write combative and dismissive emails to his customers and vehemently defend the decision to make his software closed-source. Which would be fine if he'd only support it.
MSEO is a very decent product. I continue to use it. Just know that any attempts to get support or suggest improvements seem usually to become arguments. Probably easier to ask the Zen community...at least you MIGHT get an answer that way.
One issue I discovered is that products that have incorrect categorizations, e.g. associated with disabled/deleted categories or with an invalid "master" category, seem to throw a 404 with MSEO installed. The pages still come up fine, but if you look at the header, you'd see 404 instead of 200. Of course, these miscategorized products should be fixed anyway (I think it's not cool Zen even allows this to happen); but be vigilant in checking your links sitewide with MSEO installed to make sure you don't have any of these erroneous 404s popping up.
Just upgraded from 1.0 to 1.1. A few nice new features. However, suddenly all my product page URLs now have the categories removed from them (though the category page URLs themselves are fine). e.g.,
babybestbuy.com/baby-bedding-1/crib-bedding-11/vinyl-mattress-cover-438.html
is now
babybestbuy.com/vinyl-mattress-cover-438.html
Anybody else experiencing this? I suppose it's not a huge problem for us since we just launched, and attempts to hit the old URLs redirect to the new ones anyway; and it could actually be better for search engines, since the new version means no duplicate content for products that are in multiple categories.
Could you please specify exact minor issues you have reported?Quote:
Originally Posted by capnhairdo
I spend big amount of time replying to your "reported issues" which was found by you, but it looks like I waste my time...
I really don't know what do you mean by this (@all: I have send 17 very long emails to Mr. Cameron Clark alias capnhairdo even if I may not to do so (he decoded MSU) - this is "lack of support"...).Quote:
Originally Posted by capnhairdo
capnhairdo it is unfortunate that's been your experience. We've been using MSU since October 2007 and I can honestly say the support we've received has been excellent in terms of speed and accuracy. We've never had a support that wasn't answered within 24 hours.
We even received assistance in writing custom codes to rewrite codes that were not part of the default Zen Cart for MSU processing.
I will agree with you that it's obvious at times that the founder of MSU gets to emotionally involved and takes things a bit personal in responding to email or questions. However, we've been able to get all issues we had resolved.
I acknowledging this (it is caused by my simple/bad English - and also - some times by me :blush:).Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
Capnhairdo, assuming that your interest is in getting your issues resolved, I'd suggest to post your problems with the Mod (if you have any) on the forum for Magic SEO URL. That will guarantee that you get support from both MSU Team and the users on that forum. You will also be able to learn from others experience.
It's a great addition to MSU that there is forum now because I have already picked up some useful information from that forum.
This thread title includes SEO_G, but I cant find a version for ZenCart.
All I can find is on the OSC site and it seems to be a very OSC only mod.
I installed it in an OSC demo site and it seems to be pretty comprehensive.
Does anybody know if its been adapted to work with ZC? and if so where I can find it?
thanks
l.
New update version is available. Only one tiny, but one of the most requested Feature was added.
Major Changes (1.1.00 to 1.1.01)
- URIs without trailing slash "/" at the end are now working like real folders and are redirected with HTTP 301 to correct URIs
Original announcement: http://www.magic-seo-url.com/board/m...encart-43.html
Making this private conversation with BlessIsaacola public for the benefit/feedback of all:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that when you have a product in multiple categories, MSEO always uses the MASTER category for the product URL, rather than the current category. For example, in this category on your site:
http://www.clevershoppers.com/music-9/classical-16/
Most of these products listed are in multiple categories, and when you click on them, you end up in a completely different category, at least according to the URL, e.g.:
clevershoppers.com/####################s-12/music-video-concerts-186/symphonies-the-volume-1-dvd-audio-55078.html
clevershoppers.com/featured-brands-227/so-smart-348/so-smart-musical-cd-3-pack-sleepytime-cartime-playtime-1401.html
clevershoppers.com/music-9/instrumental-26/inspired-joy-2-8126.html
But the breadcrumbs for each product show the original path (music / classical).
Even more interesting, say you were browsing the Instrumental Music category instead and clicked on the Inspired Joy CD product from there:
clevershoppers.com/music-9/instrumental-26/inspired-joy-2-8126.html
The URL now agrees with how you got there, but the breadcrumb shows a completely different category (music / classical)...and it's NOT the master category. Either way, it seems the breadcrumb and the URL are NOT related in MSEO. (They are when MSEO is not installed; Zen of course determines the current category for the breadcrumb via the cPath query string var.)
This is probably good thing in terms of not having duplicate content/pages, but it's confusing to not have the URL and the breadcrumb agree, nor to have the breadcrumb actually reflect the path you took to get a product.
BTW, which version of MSEO are you running? 1.0, or 1.1?
Thanks...wanted to make sure I was understanding things correctly.Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
I agree that the single URL approach is probably better for search engines (and that of course is the stated point of MSEO); but if MSEO is going to include the category names in th URL, I think they should be the categories that reflect how you got to a product, or they shouldn't be included at all. Same goes for the breadcrumbs; there's no point in having them there, I think, if they're not an accurate reflection of how you found something (and doubly so if they're not going to agree with the URL).
Yes, multiple URLs + accurate navigation path vs. single URL + incorrect navigation path...that's the conundrum here. ZC w/o MSEO chooses the former; MSEO chooses the latter. The latter is better for SEO, of course.Quote:
Originally Posted by BlessIsaacola
Of course, breadcrumbs are a different story, because they have nothing to do with multiple content. Breadcrumbs are generally used in two ways: to show the navigation path the visitor took to get to the current page; or to show all the "parent" pages (the ancestry, if you will) of the current page in your site hierarchy...which often is the same thing. But in this case of ZC and multiple product categories, these are not necessarily the same thing, and so which is the correct method?
The term "breadcrumbs" (as I understand it) originates from the story of Hansel and Gretel. I think for most users, like Hansel, breadcrumbs are most useful and intuitive when they show you how you got somewhere, rather than showing some arbitrary site hierarchy.
I agree that ZC isn't retrieving the categories correctly. When ZC doesn't know the category you want—because no category is defined in the URL (cPath)—then init_category_path.php runs zen_get_product_path() to determine and set it. zen_get_product_path() (in functions_categories.php) does a general query of the products_to_categories table to find all product/category associations. However, this query has a limit=1, so it only gets the first record it finds there. For products in only one category, this is fine; but if a product is in multiple categories, then the category it returns is essentially random. Which defeats the purpose of a "master" category. If a category is going to be determined automatically by ZenCart, it should be the master category for the product, not a random one.
This change to functions_categories.php fixes this (additions to original code in red):
With this change, at least the URLs and the breadcrumbs should now agree with MSEO installed.Code:// first, try to get master category id
$category_query = "select p2c.categories_id
from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p, " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_TO_CATEGORIES . " p2c
where p.products_id = '" . (int)$products_id . "'
and p.products_status = '1'
and p.products_id = p2c.products_id and p.master_categories_id = p2c.categories_id";
// in case the master category is invalid, fall back on getting first product/category association instead
$category_query .= " union distinct select p2c.categories_id
from " . TABLE_PRODUCTS . " p, " . TABLE_PRODUCTS_TO_CATEGORIES . " p2c
where p.products_id = '" . (int)$products_id . "'
and p.products_status = '1'
and p.products_id = p2c.products_id limit 1";
Regarding whether customers actually pay any attention to the URL and/or breadcrumbs...most probably don't. Which is why I think that the breadcrumb should probably just be eliminated if it's not going to show the correct navigation path. Why waste the space to show it? On our site, it's even more moot because we're using the CSS click-show-hide menu, and (at least for categories with subcategories), it "remembers" which submenu (subcategory) you just came from and automatically opens it. So the breadcrumb is just redundant (if it matches the menu) or confusing (if it doesn't).
I just upgraded from MSEO 1.015 to 1.1 yesterday. Strange that the new version suddenly dropped the categories from all my URLs (as described in my previous post). It's not doing it on your store. Wonder what the difference is? Anybody else experiencing this? Which version of Zen are you running? We're on 1.37 still...wonder if that makes any difference.
Oh well...I think I actually prefer it without the category; as with the breadcrumbs, why include it if it doesn't necessarily match the navigation path? Seems better to just omit it and keep things clean, uncomplicated and unconfusing.
Well, I think a lot of this with regards to breadcrumb and url formatting is a personal preference, business and SEO objectives. Like you rightly pointed out without code modification to ZC core, when a product belongs to multiple categories ZC does not always use the master category as the category in the breadcrumb.
If I search for apple on google and google send me to a Zen Cart that sells apple, what would be right category in the breadcrumb? The issue is what has been discussed (multiple ways or multiple path of getting to product).
It's not as easy because if you have a breadcrumb for visitors to my house, well if they come in from back door, you'd want to reflect they come from back door and if they come from front door you'd want to reflect they come from front door. Zen Cart currently does not do that so the next best thing will be to use something that is consistent (master category id to determine the category in the breadcrumb).
I am not convinced that how you've described breadcrumb is the intention of how the breadcrumb in zen cart in envisioned. I don't think it's intended as some sort of tracking trail of how did you get here.
Like you rightly pointed out, the breadcrumb is not require for Zen Cart to work so you can turn it off if it doesn't meet your need.
As far as category path not showing in your url, did you regenerate a new .htaccess file after upgrading? Did you by any chance use another seo url mod prior to MSU and if so which one?
No new posts for a long time in this thread :( Let me introduce new small MSU update version.
Major Changes (1.1.01 to 1.1.02)
- Improved compatibility with some old mod_rewrite revisions
- disabled Strict URLs are now officially supported
- Strict URLs are now disabled by default
- disabled categories are now excluded when unique path is assigned to products
Original announcement: http://www.magic-seo-url.com/board/m...encart-62.html
If you're from the company that produces this product, I *DO* wish you would stop Zend encoding your stuff. It makes it incredibly painful to work with people who use your stuff, because I don't run with the Zend decoder in my stack.
Also seems a bit of Thread hi-jacking, to purposely keep annoucing updates to a pay-for Module when this thread is discussing the pros 'n cons of various SEO modules.
Start your own thread, iRay, leave this one alone if you have nothing to input on the Subject.
Speaking of which, having installed both; Magic SEO and Ulitmate SEO for Clients, I can state from experience that Magic SEO offers nothing more than the Ultimate SEO does. But, since Ultimate SEO is Free and does not require a link-back, it offers a lot more than Magic SEO does.
Agree. Emailing customers would seem a more appropriate method of keeping them up-to-date with upgrades.Quote:
Originally Posted by Website Rob
Since there was Google AdWords auto-tagging problem discussed previously, I think it is good to let other know, that was completely solved and Strict URLs are now supported and working correctly both enabled and disabled.Quote:
Originally Posted by Website Rob
Also other announcements I have posted here were coming with solutions/features which were discussed in this thread (but I agree, own thread is much more better instead of doing this mis-mush :) ).
Agree that MSEO needs its own thread for troubleshooting/product announcements.
I also have tried both, and spent probably over 50 hours investigating, comparing, installing and troubleshooting both (plus several more hours decoding and reviewing MSEO's code and suggesting improvements to and extending it). See my previous posts in this thread. I am by no means part of the MSEO fan club—I too hate the fact that it's Zend encoded, hate the link back (got a version of MSEO with it removed), and find correspondence with the vendor often frustrating. With those disclaimers, I can state that MSEO DOES offer a bunch of features that USEO does not, not least of which is the fact that it disallows multiple URLs for pages, with automatic redirects to the one true URL for each page. Also nice is the fact that it's actually still being worked on, improved (including feature requests), and supported.Quote:
Originally Posted by Website Rob
USEO 3.0, last I checked, was a half-finished dead project. 2 supports product and category pages but not much else.
In short, MSEO is just a more complete, thorough, serious product, and generally, it's much easier to install (and if not, the vendor will help you with it). I too wish it was free, but $89 is a small price to pay, and knowing what I do now, would happily pay 2-3x that for the advantages offered.
As long as we are comparing SEO mods, I found that Ultimate SEO will break the Edit Cart mod. Several others have reported this as well. Does anyone know if Magic SEO is compatible with the Edit Cart mod?
BTW has anyone heard any more about SEFU?
I can confirm that MSU is compatible with Edit Cart MOD.Quote:
Originally Posted by mauryg
DrByte answered that question for me in another thread. Even though a default feature it is now turned OFF by default and best not to be used.Quote:
Originally Posted by mauryg
Hey,
I have this contribution installed on my 1.3.8a store and it works great (although renaming ezpages would be great!).
However, i would like to know the consensus of opinion - does this help your search engine ranking or not? And if not, is one of the other mods better at doing so?
Thanks,
Fergus
How about me doing some SHAMELESS self advertising for this module here as an alternative for both Ultimate SEO and Magic SEO, you get most of the features you have in magic seo (and more soon), plus active support ^_^
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpo...&postcount=182