Ceon URI Mapping (SEO)

[Mike_Dean]

Hi Mike, do you have a link to your test site? Sorry, I havent had a chance to read any previous threads if you already posted it.

Hi Scott.

The test site is on my local PC (using WAMP server)

Not sure how I would give you access to it ???

Thanks,
Mike

[conor]

Hi Mike,

I have been trying to resolve the issue, (as it's good to try and do it oneself for future reference)

I am definite believer in trying to do things yourself as a great aid to learning however it seems that this issue is proving a bit too difficult for you.

You must make all the image URIs/paths use absolute paths.

If images are showing for some parts of the site and not others then you *don't* have them set to being absolute (or "absolute" wouldn't be the correct term! :) ).

Check all your templates and all your CSS files for links to images and make the necessary adjustments.

I'm afraid that if you still can't get them to work then you have simply missed something and you should pay someone else to help you (unless some very kind soul wants to give you their time for free ;) ).

All the best..

Conor
ceon

[conor]

Hi,

I am looking to switch to Ceon after using Ultimate. My coder re-installed the catalog so it changed all product id's essentially pointing to that item but other id showing (product not found).

I'm not quite sure what you mean.. are you saying that you have URIs for your "old" site which point to products on your new site but as the product IDs are new/different the "expected" page isn't being displayed?

Question, if I set ceon to automatic url's can something like this occur with it?

I'm not sure what you are saying has occurred! Ceon URI Mapping creates "historical" URIs when URIs change so all old URIs are redirected to the "current" URI.. however this functionality requires that products still have the same product IDs, categories still have the same category ID etc.

Hope that helps!

All the best..

Conor
ceon

[Mike_Dean]

Hi Mike,



I am definite believer in trying to do things yourself as a great aid to learning however it seems that this issue is proving a bit too difficult for you.

You must make all the image URIs/paths use absolute paths.

If images are showing for some parts of the site and not others then you *don't* have them set to being absolute (or "absolute" wouldn't be the correct term! :) ).

Check all your templates and all your CSS files for links to images and make the necessary adjustments.

I'm afraid that if you still can't get them to work then you have simply missed something and you should pay someone else to help you (unless some very kind soul wants to give you their time for free ;) ).

All the best..

Conor
ceon

Thank you Conor,

Perhaps it's difficult to understand my problem, hence the difficulty in finding a solution.

The module has installed correctly, else I would not be able to see the Config option in admin correct ??

I have then checked and re-checked my css style sheet, and my image links in there are now as follows

("/zencart/includes/templates/Lite Blue/images/......gif")

So I have then gone into ONE product only and checked the box to allow automatically create the URI Mapping.

I have also checked the box under the Category that the products belong too, and allowed mapping.

If I then go to the category on the test site, I can see all the images correctly in the list view, but when I select actual the product that I have mapped, The page loads, but the images are not loaded..

Please note that I am using Tabbd Product Pro module and also using different folders for small, medium and large images..

So...can I ask again..

Apart from the CSS file, what other files call for images that I need to check ???

I cannot locate any other files, be they css or php that call for the images.

So I cannot find where to ensure that the image URIs/paths use absolute paths.

If I could ask 5 more minutes of your time to offer support it would be appreciated..

[conor]

Hi,

Does this mod work when moving a site to a new host, testing is required, and the urls use a temporary address like:

http://62.120.33.8/~joeblow/ instead of http://joeblow.com ??

No, you should create a test site that uses the exact same URI structure as the planned final site.

I.e. you should use something like:

test.joeblow.com

when you are intending the final site to be

joeblow.com

You cannot use

joeblow.com/test/

If you did you'd have to manually update all the URIs when you move from the test site to the live site, or you'd have to carry out a "search and replace" of the Ceon URI Mapping database table's uri field.

any special consideration needed for the .htaccess file?

The .htaccess files for both sites will be different if the DIR_WS_CATALOG configuration option is different. Full instructions are in the docs about how to create the necessary rewrite rule for each site individually.

From experience it would be better if you used a new test site methodology using subdomains instead of folders.. it's easier and more professional if you ask me!

All the best..

Conor
ceon

[rxalex]

Hi,



1)I'm not quite sure what you mean.. are you saying that you have URIs for your "old" site which point to products on your new site but as the product IDs are new/different the "expected" page isn't being displayed?



I'm not sure what you are saying has occurred! Ceon URI Mapping creates "historical" URIs when URIs change so all old URIs are redirected to the "current" URI.. however this functionality requires that products still have the same product IDs, categories still have the same category ID etc.

Hope that helps!

All the best..

Conor
ceon

1) Exactly, it points to a product id that has changed to another id after catalog reload. example www.example.com/tylenol-500-p1256.html is now www.example.com/tylenol-500-p1562.htm which gets customers to product not found.

Wondering if ceon seo with automatically created url's will create for example www.example.com/tylenol-500 and that will stay that way because it takes creates url from product name - and upon same issue will not cause product not found is that correct ceon?

Also wanted to ask how does the seo work on 12,000 products autogenerated or each has to be approved first?


Ceon Thank you for your help and everything you do

[conor]

Hi Mike,

Perhaps it's difficult to understand my problem, hence the difficulty in finding a solution.

No, I understand perfectly.. it's still the same problem and the solution is still the same.

The module has installed correctly, else I would not be able to see the Config option in admin correct ??

The problem is nothing to do with the module, it is that your site isn't yet fully capable of using static URIs as your site is not using full, absolute URIs for all of its images etc.

I have then checked and re-checked my css style sheet

Okay, good, then if you haven't missed anything then it must not be the problem.

If I then go to the category on the test site, I can see all the images correctly in the list view, but when I select actual the product that I have mapped, The page loads, but the images are not loaded..

Then, quite simply, something being used to generate the output on the product page is not using absolute URIs. You should check all the template code being used to build that page.

Please note that I am using Tabbd Product Pro module and also using different folders for small, medium and large images..

Again the image paths are irrelevant.. when you are attempting to fix problems on computers you should always ignore extraneous data and concentrate on the core facts..

The core fact in your case is that the paths to the images - no matter what these paths are, whether they are medium, large or whatever - need to be absolute.

Apart from the CSS file, what other files call for images that I need to check ???

I cannot locate any other files, be they css or php that call for the images.

You've just made a mistake then and missed out on some files - they may not be calling for the images directly themselves.

It sounds to me like the culprit is most likely to be this Tabbed Products Pro, it could possibly be building the paths in a function which is unaware of the need to use absolute rather than relative paths, or it may be using its own template files for the product info page which again are not building absolute paths but relative ones.

You should check each and every file that is used to build the HTML output for the product info page. You will find at least one which is building the paths incorrectly.

If I could ask 5 more minutes of your time to offer support it would be appreciated..

There you go! :)

All the best..

Conor
ceon

[conor]

Hi,

Many of the same name Products,I want to find them, then manually modify name.

If the products have the same name but are in different categories then it doesn't matter as the URIs will be different as the category parts proceeding them are different.

If you have products in the same category with the same name you should go and rename the products.. it's silly to have products with the same name anyway. If they have the same name they are the same product. If not, then you've identified how to change the name appropriately.

There's no way to search for products which have the same name, you could use software like PHPMyAdmin though to list all the URIs in the ceon_uri_mappings table alphabetically and then browse the list to see if you can see URIs which are the same.. then note the associated_db_id which will be the product_id, go into the admin and change the product name(s) for the product ID(s) that share a URI with another product.

Hope that helps!

All the best..

Conor
ceon

[conor]

Hi,

1) Exactly, it points to a product id that has changed to another id after catalog reload. example www.example.com/tylenol-500-p1256.html is now www.example.com/tylenol-500-p1562.htm which gets customers to product not found.

Yes, the ID in the URI is clearly different so I can see how that would happen.

Wondering if ceon seo with automatically created url's will create for example www.example.com/tylenol-500 and that will stay that way because it takes creates url from product name - and upon same issue will not cause product not found is that correct ceon?

That's right, the product ID is associated with the URI but is not part of the URI. However if the product ID changes then it will no longer be associated with the same URI unless the ID in the ceon_uri_mapping table is updated to use the new product ID. There's just no way around that!

Also wanted to ask how does the seo work on 12,000 products autogenerated or each has to be approved first?

Unfortunately the software isn't designed for existing (large) sites but new sites and small sites as the URIs are autogenerated as the products/categories are added.

Ceon Thank you for your help and everything you do

Thanks for the nice comments, they're greatly appreciated!

All the best..

Conor
ceon

[conor]

Hi,

v1.3.9d is out. I suppose we need a new version of this again...

Yes, some of the core files this module modifies have changed once more... again for bugfixes which would have been prevented if Zen Cart's developers employed a better quality control system for the Zen Cart 1.3.9 series!

The changes are tiny but a new version will be required. I'll get a new version released as soon as I can.

All the best..

Conor
ceon