Comparing URI mapping plug-ins - which is better?

[DrByte]

1. Yes. Upgrade to at least 1.3.9h to get the majority of them patched.
2. Yes. The standard upgrade procedure takes care of all that: www.zen-cart.com/upgrade Discussion about upgrading belongs in another thread
3. Yes. No dates. For all news about upcoming development or releases, subscribe yourself to the "Release Announcements" section of the forum. It's the first forum in the list on the forum home page.

[SPH]

Greenhat,

I have some experience with all four re-writers.

1. Simple SEO URL, insofar as I know, has not been upgraded for zencart 1.5.x and I do not know if it will be, as the developer is long gone. But IMO it is actually pretty nice and comparable to the highly regarded CEON writer. In some ways, I think it even better than CEON. I still use it on a 1.3.9h cart and am keeping the cart at 1.3.9h specificially for Simple SEO URL for now. See fashion-mart.biz in my signature.

2. Ultimate SEO URL: I am using it on my main site, prommart.com. It has been upgraded for 1.5.x and in my experience works flawlessly. I think it the safest rewriter, as I did a fresh zencart install not long ago back on dynamic urls, did not have Ultimate SEO installed at all, and so long as its htaccess was kept in place, google links still returned to the proper page. This plugin is currently being actively supported by Ihungil for only zencart version 1.5.x and perhaps 1.3.9h.

3. CEON URI: I've tested but never put on a production site. Its main drawback, for us, was that it did not re-write existing categories/products (but it had a commercial addition that would allow that.) Unfortunately, its developer recently passed-away so there may be uncertainty with its future as far as support. But it is an excellent choice.

4. Magic SEO URL: a commercial re-writer that I've used in the past on prommart.com and my sister still uses on her two main sites. I have to say, it does work...very well. My best seasons were when using this re-writer and my sister's two main sites are still hanging in there in a very competetive business. Drawbacks: its htaccess virtually takes over the htaccess file, so you can't do much more with it. Also, category/product names cannot end with a number. Unfortunate for us, as our dresses usally go by designer and style number. So we have to add something like "dress" at the end. Also supposed to have a back-link, even though paid for. Cannot use the free zencart Google Sitemap plugin with this re-writer; however, the developer has a free one for this re-writer that does work. Developer is somewhere in Europe and apparently one person, insofar as I know. Should he one day disappear, what then? But I have to say again, this re-writer has carried my sister thus far.

[greenhat]

Thank you Steve! That was a very helpful post.

Have you found your traffic change in any way after you've installed these plugins?

I've ended up installing Simple SEO few days ago. But still ironing out some small issues (for example: product name that has "abc 1: " breaks down), so i havent turned it on in production yet.

[schoolboy]

Thank you Steve! That was a very helpful post.

Have you found your traffic change in any way after you've installed these plugins?

I've ended up installing Simple SEO few days ago. But still ironing out some small issues (for example: product name that has "abc 1: " breaks down), so i havent turned it on in production yet.

Bad choice...

In reality, there is no "SEO" value in these things. In fact, Google PREFERS that the URL's are left as-is. Zencart generates perfect URL's for search engines that are easy to index and to follow.

However... if you are intent on re-writing URL's, then the only RELIABLE module is CEON URI Re-writer. The others are "risky", and can interfere with the behaviour of both core zencart and many other plugin modules.

[torvista]

I think these "xxx SEO" modules should just be renamed to "Friendly Urls" and thought of as totally non-essential window-dressing.

I use CEON URI...but I'm totally biased and believe that anything Conor took the time to do, would be done as good as possible.

I use it as we are continually pasting-in page links to reply to email enquiries and it just looks better....and I don't care if it does nothing else.

I believe the time spent worrying about google rankings is better spent improving content...its the search engine company's job to find the best content: you do your job and let them do theirs.

[lhungil]

The two I recommend the most under Zen Cart 1.5 are "Ultimate SEO URLs" and "CEON URI Mapper (SEO)". Which one is better? Both have tradeoffs and the answer depends upon the store itself. Currently if there is a NEED to keep URLs from a previous non Zen Cart based store or to have full control of your URLs - CEON is better. If you do a large number of imports, product update automation, the ability to switch between Dynamic / Rewritten URLs, or need to lower the number of SQL Queries to the database - Ultimate is better. Just a quick comparison - there are other factors as well.

I cannot speak towards the other offerings.

I think these "xxx SEO" modules should just be renamed to "Friendly Urls"...

I'd have to agree - I never liked the word SEO in the names and would prefer simply URL or URI.

I took over maintaining one of these modules around the time Zen Cart 1.5 was released. The main reason was having a nice user friendly (human readable) URL was desirable to some of my clients. The name was left to enable existing users of the module to more quickly (and easily) find updated versions.

The discussion of "Why human readable URLs?" I'll leave to other threads.