How to auto generate just product keywords from product page?

[DrByte]

Again, I give a disclaimer: You should not be altering these parts of the code unless you have a VERY SOLID business reason for doing so. Way too many people start hacking away without actually properly fixing the CONTENT in their categories, category names, products, product descriptions, etc, all in the name of thinking they're experts in SEO, when in fact Zen Cart is very intentionally doing these things FOR YOUR BENEFIT. It's a rare situation that legitimately needs alteration to this section of the code.

So, that said, if you've carefully assessed your categories and products, and feel that you need to keep categories in your store which have no relevance to SEO and thus are causing you problems, then you can override the normal intelligence by making adjustments to the code.

The section of code you quoted is what builds the category names into the default keywords.

A simpler way to bypass its use would be to define the KEYWORDS constant in your /includes/languages/YOUR_TEMPLATE_NAME/meta_tags.php file. That would prevent the code you quoted from being able to add the categories to it at all.

[Feznizzle]

Thanks again DrByte!

I am, as a matter of mathematically provable fact, an SEO expert. Not to come off as cocky, just pointing out a truth.

I'll explain my logic in a moment. But first, I don't know how to 'adjust code, but I do not how to press the delete button.

If I delete this passage, will my ZC simply skip the top level categories when it automatically creates meta keywords? Again, I want the automated meta generation... I just want to skip the top level categories.

Thanks!

[Feznizzle]

Ok, logic... (I think I am pointing out a minor flaw in an otherwise awesome system, so I will take my time to explain)

With regard to unrelated categories not being pertinent to specific products... this is actually very logical and I expect it is precisely the same truth on MOST websites.

I have 22 top level categories, with approximately 700 subcategories going three clicks deep, leading to 11,600 product pages. The only place that the top level categories are pertinent is on my main pages (index, about us, etc). That should be the same on every site.

Once you choose a top category, you have decided that the other 21 categories do not interest you. This is logical, makes sense, and is exactly how it should be. Not just on my site, but EVERY site.

If all 22 categories interest you, then you will spend a very long, very frustrating time on my site.

Maybe medical stuff is harder to relate to, so let's talk cars. Let's say you have a Ford Pinto sitting in your front yard that needs a new alternator. You visit a car part website that has 22 makes as top level categories (Ferrari, Mazda, Honda, etc, and, of course, Ford).

Since you have a Ford, nothing else matters. Next you pick your year, no other categories matter (just as it should be). Now you pick your model and so on.

But just because you have a Ford does not mean that the other categories should not matter to the next guy (or search engine bots)! It just does not matter to the specific part you want (or that I am trying to sell).

Ultimately, you may google "Pinto Alternator OEM Part 123456". The keywords that might be pertinent to you have covered over with a flood of useless words like Ferrari, Honda, Lamborghini, Mazda, bla bla bla. ZC never even scooped up the OEM part number, even though it is right there on the product description!

Similarly, my top level categories are NOT irrelevant to my site, only to a specific part that must be drilled down to find.

What I would REALLY like to do is rewrite that script to pick up top level categories and sub categories that lead to the product. But I am nowhere near smart enough to figure that out!

It is my opinion that I am pointing out a flaw that hurts all Zen Cart owners by hurting chances of climbing search engine ranks. It is a great idea to automate meta tagging and I absolutely love Zen! Just this one issue could use a bit more thought... a rewrite of the script that ONLY scoops up the relevant cat/sub cats (bread crumb).

That is my two cents!

Thanks for you help!

[Feznizzle]

A simpler way to bypass its use would be to define the KEYWORDS constant in your /includes/languages/YOUR_TEMPLATE_NAME/meta_tags.php file. That would prevent the code you quoted from being able to add the categories to it at all.

If I do this, will ZC subsequently scoop up key words from the actual product description?

[DrByte]

A simpler way to bypass its use would be to define the KEYWORDS constant in your /includes/languages/YOUR_TEMPLATE_NAME/meta_tags.php file. That would prevent the code you quoted from being able to add the categories to it at all.

If I do this, will ZC subsequently scoop up key words from the actual product description?

Yes, it would. And, this approach is actually safer than deleting the code you quoted earlier.
If you choose to delete the code, don't delete the "define" statement on the last line that you quoted.

Either approach will work. I'd lean towards putting the define into the language file instead.

If I delete this passage, will my ZC simply skip the top level categories when it automatically creates meta keywords? Again, I want the automated meta generation... I just want to skip the top level categories.

Yes, it will skip building data based on any category names.

[Feznizzle]

Either approach will work. I'd lean towards putting the define into the language file instead.

Could not get it to work!

I could not find the specified file here:
/includes/languages/YOUR_TEMPLATE_NAME/meta_tags.php

But found it here:
/includes/languages/english/meta_tags.php

I copied it to here
/includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE_NAME/meta_tags.php

I then found this code:
// Custom Keywords
define('CUSTOM_KEYWORDS', '');

And changed it to:
// Custom Keywords
define('CUSTOM_KEYWORDS', 'random,test,words');

There was no change whatsoever. What did I do wrong?

BTW, I also tested it by defining keywords before putting the file into an override folder. Made zero difference.

I also tried deleting that passage, the route you felt was less safe. When I did that, it killed the categories and grabbed the prod title for keywords. This was slightly better, but, due to grammar errors (words,are,supposed,to,have,commas,between), this is still not exceptable.

Contemplating disabling keywords entirely. The meta title/description can be manipulated satisfactorily. The SE's can do a good enough job at grabbing keywords, so maybe I should leave it be.

I found a conversation (one that included you) where this problem was discussed. At the end, apparently a good solution was had but not posted!

Here is the last page of that conversation, check out post #84:
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showth...t=37195&page=9

[DrByte]

Apologies for leaving out the "english" foldername. Sorry.

You missed what I told you: add a define for KEYWORDS to that file.

define('KEYWORDS', '');

[schoolboy]

I am, as a matter of mathematically provable fact, an SEO expert. Not to come off as cocky, just pointing out a truth.

Yes... there are perhaps 100 million SEO experts in the world today (tomorrow there will be 110 million)...

But if you are an "expert" why are you concerning yourself with meta keywords when ALL MAJOR SEARCH ENGINES completely ignore them, and have ignored them for the better part of 5 years?

(A real, true SEO expert)

[Feznizzle]

I see that this conversation has continued without me (I thought I was getting email updates to this thread).

moosesoom, can you keep me posted on what you are working on? I wouldn't mind testing it on a demo site if you want to share.

schoolboy, I joined the forum about 2 years ago when I first started using ZC. At that time I intensively studied pretty much any SEO thread I could find up here. I encountered your posts many times, recall clearly that you are very skeptical of the use of meta tags.

The use of meta tags is not extremely critical in helping a page get to the top. However, intelligent use of meta title/description is the SINGLE BEST TOOL for controlling how you get listed in search engines. Anybody who does not know this by now... well, should not claim to be an SEO expert.

I mean no disrespect, especially if you agree that meta title/desc is significant. I have benefited numerous times from you ZC advice, sometimes from your direct help, many other times from just reading answers you have given others. But if you disagree that a person can control how they appear on SE's using meta title/tag, I would be delighted to school the schoolboy!

With regard to keywords specifically, I tend to agree with you. I have never had any quantitative proof either way. For keywords to matter, they must be imbedded in content anyway. So do the SE's scoop them up without your help? Definitely. Does it help to emphasize which words are important by adding them to meta keywords? Maybe, though I lean toward skeptical.

But my daddy always said, any job worth doing is worth doing right. There is an automated keyword generator, why not use it? Cuz it sucks. So why not fix it?

I don't build a site to take it down tomorrow. I'm putting finishing touches on 3 sites right now, one that has 11,600 products. To get keywords right, it took me 2 days of manually weeding through crap. But once it's done, it's done.

If the keywords help, super. If not, I wasted two days. Man, I sure wish there was an automatic way to do it. Oh wait, there is and it bites the biggun!