mmmm...Meta Tags - help/guidance needed

[woodlandsprite]

I'm in the process of populating the shop and would like some guidance on Meta Tags.
What all goes in each section?
-meta tag title (I *think* this is what goes in the title bar of the browser, yes? no? do I win a carrot?)
-meta tag keywords (okay, this one is self explanatory :) )
-meta tag description

is it possible to make metatags match for various products so I don't have to keep entering them?

And finally, are there multiple Meta_tags.php file? I took a copy, placed it in my override file and yet if I select "title/tagline" in "Mark what the product's meta tag title should include" in the preview it says "Zencart, the art of e-commerce" yet I have edited and confirmed that i have changed the metatag title & tagline and it is working just fine.

TIA

[Sermonzone]

-meta tag title - you win the prize
-meta tag keywords - two for two
-meta tag description - you must enter a description. What does your customer want to know about the product.

is it possible to make metatags match for various products so I don't have to keep entering them?

I know this can be done by copying attributes from one product to another and to a category. Not my area of expertise thought. Suggest you search on copying product attributes and see what you find.

And finally, are there multiple Meta_tags.php file?

Yes. You want to edit includes\languages\english\YOUR-TEMPLATE\meta_tags.php. Make sure your have the custom template turned on in the Admin and that you have edited the correct file and have it uploaded to the correct folder.

I took a copy, placed it in my override file and yet if I select "title/tagline" in "Mark what the product's meta tag title should include" in the preview it says "Zencart, the art of e-commerce" yet I have edited and confirmed that i have changed the metatag title & tagline and it is working just fine.

See above. Do not be surprised to discover that what you have 'edited and confirmed' is surprisingly not in the right place. Imagine my own red face when I did it.

[woodlandsprite]

-meta tag description - you must enter a description. What does your customer want to know about the product.

Thanks Bruce. Sorry to be so incredibly thick in the head, but I do have a product description written, so what does this meta tag description do?

[Sermonzone]

The product description is what you entered in the products catalog page correct? That is the 'visible' description. Meta-tags are the 'invisible,' behind the scenes things that get chewed up by search engines, allegedly. You must have all 3 meta boxes populated for the product meta-tag to work.

Perhaps you would try a one sentence version of the product description. Also, you see what other people have done by viewing the page source. Find a site with similar products and compare the visible product description with the meta-tag description.

Let me know what you find.

[woodlandsprite]

ah. well that certainly explains it :)
And you're right on - thanks again. I guess I get to put my summarizing skills to work. LOL.

[BlessIsaacola]

Is it no longer true that if there is no meta tag for a product, Zen Cart will use the product description as the default?

[Ajeh]

It will use that ... unless of course you have "the bug" and not "the bug fix" ...

Now to remember where I put that fix ...

[Ajeh]

Try editing the /includes/functions/functions_general.php and replace this whole function:

////
// return truncated paragraph
  function zen_truncate_paragraph($paragraph, $size = 100, $word = ' ') {
    $zv_paragraph = "";
    $word = explode(" ", $paragraph);
    $zv_total = count($word);
    if ($zv_total > $size) {
      for ($x=0; $x < $size; $x++) {
        $zv_paragraph = $zv_paragraph . $word[$x] . " ";
      }
      $zv_paragraph = trim($zv_paragraph);
    } else {
      $zv_paragraph = trim($paragraph);
    }
    return $zv_paragraph;
  }

Let me know if that fixes you up ...

[BlessIsaacola]

Try editing the /includes/functions/functions_general.php and replace this whole function:

////
// return truncated paragraph
  function zen_truncate_paragraph($paragraph, $size = 100, $word = ' ') {
    $zv_paragraph = "";
    $word = explode(" ", $paragraph);
    $zv_total = count($word);
    if ($zv_total > $size) {
      for ($x=0; $x < $size; $x++) {
        $zv_paragraph = $zv_paragraph . $word[$x] . " ";
      }
      $zv_paragraph = trim($zv_paragraph);
    } else {
      $zv_paragraph = trim($paragraph);
    }
    return $zv_paragraph;
  }

Let me know if that fixes you up ...

Unfortunately, that fix did not fix my problem. Please diagnose this as it's practically impossible to add meta tag to thousands of products one at a time nor do I want to revert back to 1.2.7

Thanks!

[BlessIsaacola]

Ajeh, I just want to report back that I tested the issue on a clean install of 1.3.0.1 and Zen Cart is still not picking up description if meta tag doesn't exist for products.

Upon further review I compared the change you proposed with the original file from 1.3.0.1 and there is absolutely no difference between the changes you suggested and the clean file downloaded for 1.3.0.1. Is that the problem that the bug fix you gave is actually not a bug fix?

Thanks!