Custom Links

25 Nov 2012, 19:53

#1

New Zenner

Join Date:: Nov 2012
Posts:: 8
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Custom Links

I'm looking to move from a hand-coded e-commerce site to a Zen Cart powered site. Before going too far with this though, I've been rather put off by the lengthy and ugly dynamic links created for each page.

Forgetting the usual SEO arguments, my main issue is with advertising and sharing the links to specific areas or products.

My site needs to have sensible links such as:

• mysite.com/Official-Merchandise
• mysite.com/Black-Sabbath
• mysite.com/Black-Sabbath-T-shirts
• mysite.com/Black-Sabbath-Hoodies

Is this possible with Zen Cart and will the free Ceon URI Mapping module achieve this or something similar?

Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated as I prefer Zen Cart to Opencart, Magento etc.

25 Nov 2012, 19:56

#2

stevesh

Black Belt

Join Date:: Feb 2005
Posts:: 19,793
Plugin Contributions:: 2

Re: Custom Links

technoir:
Before going too far Is this possible with Zen Cart and will the free Ceon URI Mapping module achieve this or something similar?

Yes, it will.

25 Nov 2012, 20:20

#3

schoolboy

Totally Zenned

Join Date:: Jun 2005
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Re: Custom Links

Conor's URI re-writer is the only really reliable way to change URL's.

25 Nov 2012, 22:01

#4

technoir

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Re: Custom Links

Thank you for the prompt replies!

@stevesh:
Great news! Is there a way of automating this process or are the changes for each instance made manually?

@schoolboy:
So you recommend Conor's URI re-writer instead. Is this free and is there a way of automating the URL changes?

26 Nov 2012, 02:09

#5

gjh42

Black Belt

Join Date:: Jul 2005
Posts:: 21,876
Plugin Contributions:: 6

Re: Custom Links

Conor is the ?owner? of CEON, so stevesh and schoolboy are talking about the same mod.

As I understand it, the mod will automatically create human-friendly URLs according to whatever rules you set up for it, for all new categories/products/etc. You can manually create the same kind of URLs for existing products etc. if you are installing on a working Zen Cart store, or buy an upgrade that automates this (you wouldn't need to do this for a new store).

26 Nov 2012, 09:04

#6

technoir

New Zenner

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Re: Custom Links

Oh I see. Thank you for confirming gjh42!

I must say, I'm very impressed with the community support here. Very encouraging moving forward.

Cheers! :smile:

26 Nov 2012, 09:14

#7

technoir

New Zenner

Join Date:: Nov 2012
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Re: Custom Links

Does anyone have a link to a live site which successfully utilises re-written links by Ceon URI that I can browse?

I've just looked at about 50 different Zen Cart sites and all use the standard dynamic links apart from a few that seem to have used 'Ultimate SEO' (as evidenced by bizarre suffixes like "c-2_20").

26 Nov 2012, 09:50

#8

kateean2

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Re: Custom Links

Great site. A lot of useful information here.
http://bookstoday.info/eo/ps.jpg
http://bookstoday.info/lo/pull.jpg

26 Nov 2012, 13:15

#9

technoir

New Zenner

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Re: Custom Links

That spam has buried my last question:

Does anyone have a link to a live site which successfully utilises re-written links by Ceon URI that I can browse?

I've just looked at about 50 different Zen Cart sites and all use the standard dynamic links apart from a few that seem to have used 'Ultimate SEO' (as evidenced by bizarre suffixes like "c-2_20").

26 Nov 2012, 14:54

#10

stevesh

Black Belt

Join Date:: Feb 2005
Posts:: 19,793
Plugin Contributions:: 2

Re: Custom Links

I would guess this site uses that mod - you could contact her and ask:

bigredworkwear.com

26 Nov 2012, 15:25

#11

technoir

New Zenner

Join Date:: Nov 2012
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Re: Custom Links

stevesh:
I would guess this site uses that mod - you could contact her and ask:

bigredworkwear.com

Brilliant, this is exactly what I wanted to see! Sold!

26 Nov 2012, 16:15

#12

technoir

New Zenner

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Re: Custom Links

stevesh:
I would guess this site uses that mod - you could contact her and ask:
bigredworkwear.com

Yes it would appear you're correct, thanks again!

Reply from Big Red Workwear (edited):

"The Zen Cart guys held my hand every step of the way, they were absolutely wonderful with their time and suggestions... I did use that mapping module to change the suffixes on my individual pages. I used the Cherry Zen template and modified it heavily... Good luck to you and look to the forums for help, the contributors are absolutely brilliant."

27 Nov 2012, 01:28

#13

swguy

Administrator

Join Date:: Feb 2006
Posts:: 10,620
Plugin Contributions:: 212

Re: Custom Links

@technoir - Welcome to the Zen Cart forum. Please don't quote spam because it could lead to your account being closed if you're misidentified as a spammer. Please ask your question again.

27 Nov 2012, 08:58

#14

technoir

New Zenner

Join Date:: Nov 2012
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Re: Custom Links

@swguy - The spam seemed to be a response to my question, sorry about that. Anyway, my questions have already been answered successfully (see above).