noindex nofollow problem on lite_blue template

[darrynrb]

Hi

I am currently using the lite_blue template and have recently noticed after upgrading to 1.51 that my ranking in google has dropped. I just noticed tonight that my product pages all have the following line in them :<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />

which I guess is causing some problems. If I switch to lite_orange template the noindex nofollow is no longer there.

Please can someone point me in the right direction as to why the one template has it and not the other? Where can I change this?

Thanks

[kobra]

Download this file
includes/templates/lite_blue/common/html_header.php file
Look for to see if it is there

 <?php //if (defined('ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP') && in_array($current_page_base,explode(",",constant('ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP'))) || $current_page_base=='down_for_maintenance') { ?>
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />
<?php //} ?>

If so replace with this

 <?php if (defined('ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP') && in_array($current_page_base,explode(",",constant('ROBOTS_PAGES_TO_SKIP'))) || $current_page_base=='down_for_maintenance') { ?>
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />
<?php } ?>

A quick search and I could not locate the source of your template "lite_blue"

[darrynrb]

Thanks Kobra

I do not have a html_header.php in that folder, everything in that folder starts with tpl_

12leaves.com is the souce of the template.

[kobra]

Do you have that file in your lite_orange template?

[darrynrb]

No, not there either, these are the files in /common.

tpl_box_default_left.php
tpl_box_default_right.php
tpl_box_default_single.php
tpl_footer.php
tpl_header.php
tpl_main_page.php

I see the file is in the template_default/common but I guess that would have no effect on the blue/orange templates?

[DrByte]

1. Does your /includes/templates/template_default/common/html_header.php file match the original one that comes with original Zen Cart code?
(You can download the original code by clicking on the download link on the home page of www.zen-cart.com )

2. Also, does the problem continue if you temporarily switch to the "Classic" template via Admin->Tools->Template Select ?

[darrynrb]

It seems that by coincidence everytime I was on lite_blue I was viewing the source of product x and when I changed to lite_orange I viewed the source of prduct y (which (not thinking the problem may be different on the different products)

I then tested a new product which did not put in the "nofollow..." On looking through other products it seems fairly random, most have the "nofollow" but a few of them do not.

I apologise Kobra for not giving you the correct info.

It seems if I recreate each product it will sort out the problem but that means many hours work and would be great to avoid that if possible. Any suggestions?

[DrByte]

1. See my questions above.

2. Please post URL links to your site's pages which are exhibiting the problem. (If you really want to obscure your URL, then put spaces b e t w e e n letters so search engines ignore them.)

[darrynrb]

Thanks DrByte

This one has nofollow noindex : http://www.staystuck.co.za/kids-labe...ack-p-109.html
This on doesn't : http://www.staystuck.co.za/kids-labe...els-p-120.html

If I change to classic, yes the problem still occours on the different product pages, some pages it is there and others it is not.

According to winmerge the html_header.php files are identical.

[DrByte]

The one that has noindex,nofollow is doing that because your URL is invalid. You're actually specifying an invalid category.

Your product 109 doesn't exist in category 10. It is being told not to index because your URL is invalid.
But product 120 does exist in category 10 ... so it gets no robots direction instructions, because it is correct.

So, your problem has nothing to do with robots/noindex/nofollow.

Your problem is that whatever you're using to create your URLs is either creating them wrong, or you've hard-coded specific URLs with invalid categories on them.