v155 Product Category Linking - issues when using CEON URI Mapping ??

155f | php 7.1 | CEON 4.5.5

I am posting this in this General thread (and not specifically in the CEON thread) as in my opinion it has / can have a marked effect on the performance of Zen Cart websites for those using CEON, and it is likely that they do not know that it is adversely affecting the optimization of their business(es) (if I am right that is) - hence I didn't want to hide this in that particular thread.

My issue was / is categories not ranking as well as I believe they should be so in digging deep I arrived at what I believe is lack of the interaction of product linking when CEON URI Mapping is installed and enabled - versus when not. This is only true if the following para is a correct assumption.

With CEON disabled if a product is linked from its Product Main Category to other categories then the url for that product will reflect the category in which the product is in when clicked, i.e. if the item is in 5 different categories it can have 5 different url's (all ending with the same product id, for canonicalisation I presume). So my assumption is that this has the advantage of showing Google that the product lies in whichever category the customer may click on the product from - hence better link juice for that category and hence better prospects for ranking better (optimally - Google is seeing the product in more places). No doubt this was part of the thinking when the system was set up..... am I correct in saying this??

With CEON enabled the url reflects only the category in which the product was initially set up, regardless of any subsequent changes to main category - regardless of how many categories the product may reside in when the product is clicked in the url resolves to the category in which it was established. So this appears to entirely negates any SEO benefit of the linking system when CEON is not enabled ... (only correct if previous para is correct)

If my thinking is correct then that results in less than optimal SEO performance for any Zen Cart site using CEON which I think is something as many users as possible need to be aware of (if I'm correct - if not then disregard).

I am not seeing anything in the configuration nor FAQ's in CEON regarding linking products period let alone a workaround for linking products. Having said that I am aware through my own experiences that CEON is extremely complicated, for those of us who are not coders, in its set up which apparently enables it to do all manner of wonderful things - and apparently more so if you use their 'Commercial version' which is apparently still not available.

This is not a whinge about CEON but moreover the expression of what I see as a possible flaw in the interaction between Zen Cart and CEON - again, if this is the case and I am not deluded or way, way off track.

If there is a fix for this issue I really look forward to it.

I'm trying to get the best SEO performance and hence best sales performance from my Zen Cart sites - a better understanding of the above will help greatly:smile:

cheers,
Mike