Ultimate SEO v3 (and v2.200) [Support Thread]

echexxxxxxxx10:

thanks for the answer, can you help me to make sure you do not lose the google index to do on the .htaccess file a redirect to the new form of the zencart URL?

I would be infinitely grateful
From the plugin's readme:

Setting "Enable automatic rewrite" to true will automatically issue a 301 redirect for URLs not matching the output from zen_href_link.

That sounds like the setting will do what you need.

lat9:

I've just submitted v2.217 of USU to the Zen Cart plugins for review.

This version contains changes associated with Zen Cart 1.5.6's restructured EZ-Pages while maintaining downward compatibility with prior Zen Cart versions. Thanks to @daniellek, @jeking and @proseLA for their contributions.

I'll post back here once it's been approved.

@shags38, I'd failed to note the issue with SiteMapXML on the USU's GitHub, so I missed that for this release. Ditto for the error-log report.:(
v2.217 is now available for download.

A client is having some problems with Google indexing their site. We're using Sitemap XML covered previously in this thread those url's are Zen Cart default. My question is the canonical url is the Zen Cart default, shouldn't it be the re-written url?

Plugin: 2.215
Zen Cart: 1.5.5f

Hi, I'm using a 1.3.9h zen shop with this mod for a small business. I've just moved it to a different host and after getting it up and running I've noticed that when doing a web search I come up with this URL http://gatorz.com.au/aluminium-styles-octane-c-1_9.html in google but when the link is clicked the forward slash is missed and the address with an error page is https://gatorz.qnetau.comaluminium-styles-octane-c-1_9.html/

I'm unsure whether this is related to the host change or not but I'm wondering if there might be a simple solution?

jeking:

A client is having some problems with Google indexing their site. We're using Sitemap XML covered previously in this thread those url's are Zen Cart default. My question is the canonical url is the Zen Cart default, shouldn't it be the re-written url?

Plugin: 2.215
Zen Cart: 1.5.5f
GitHub issue opened: https://github.com/lat9/usu/issues/7

gruntre69:

Hi, I'm using a 1.3.9h zen shop with this mod for a small business. I've just moved it to a different host and after getting it up and running I've noticed that when doing a web search I come up with this URL http://gatorz.com.au/aluminium-styles-octane-c-1_9.html in google but when the link is clicked the forward slash is missed and the address with an error page is https://gatorz.qnetau.comaluminium-styles-octane-c-1_9.html/

I'm unsure whether this is related to the host change or not but I'm wondering if there might be a simple solution?
That sounds like it "could be" an issue with your configure.php file's format. When you view the supplied page with USU disabled, what link comes back?

jeking:

A client is having some problems with Google indexing their site. We're using Sitemap XML covered previously in this thread those url's are Zen Cart default. My question is the canonical url is the Zen Cart default, shouldn't it be the re-written url?

Plugin: 2.215
Zen Cart: 1.5.5f

Jim - just some comment / opinion for what it is worth :smile: - as you know lat9 is working on this issue among many other projects on her books - once I pinpointed my problem and whilst waiting for this to be done I installed CEON URI Mapping on 4 sites (as an interim mind you - I intend to return to this plugin when sorted) and after a couple of weeks I have seen some improvement in ranking of the 4 sites - not to the levels prior to upgrading to 1.5.5f which frustrates me no end, but an improvement at least. I appreciate ranking is different to indexing - my sites were indexing OK without the canonical re-write however ranking dropped significantly - where I noticed the difference is in looking at GWMT in the Coverage and the 'indexed but not found in sitemap' vs 'indexed and found in sitemap' - without the canonical rewrite Google obviously isn't (wasn't) seeing the rewritten urls in the sitemap so it could not make the correlation between what it finds and what it sees in the sitemap which is as good as not having a sitemap at all, which whilst some will say is not critically essential to be found it is an accepted known 'recommendation' from Google. As we all realize the sitemap is an instruction to the bots to look for these pages. Hence it does affect ranking if the bot is looking in the wrong place (daily or more frequently via a CRON job).

CEON has its frustrations in that it doesn't automatically take care of re-writing canonically the previous existing urls such that the old urls redirect correctly, so each needs to be done manually via 'updating' - even a simple thing like the trailing / at the end of a url does not redirect automatically - time consuming and a lot of broken links to repair but at the end of the day Google is reading the urls submitted in the sitemap. (CEON has certain benefits over USU but lacks in automation per se) So just saying it may be a short term fix for your client. Then once this plugin is sorted it will automatically rewrite the existing (CEON urls) as need be.

cheers, Mike

p.s. Just my opinion, or ramblings more accurately - having suffered a drop in rankings for over 5 months after upgrading to 155f (and I am no doubt not the only one) I am wondering why it hasn't been considered that, as user friendly rewritten url's are no longer the subject of debate between traditionalists and modernists, and Google pretty much expects them, why then isn't a user friendly rewrite included as standard in the Zen Cart base? (toggle on/off if need be for those who do not want to use it with still the option to install 'the other one' not chosen as standard) - this would ensure that as upgrades are released site owners will be able to have their sitemaps submitted correctly. Anyone upgrading currently to 1.5.6 and using this plug in will be having the same issue as all of those who upgraded to 155f - and I might add that a site's ranking could be performing less than optimally and it may take a long time for the site owner to figure out why - it certainly took a while for the penny to drop with me after a lot of head scratching, site speed optimization and questions in various forums etc etc. .... and yes others may say well what about this plugin or that plugin being incorporated in the base, so where does it stop? - in my humble opinion url rewrite is as critical to the 'performance' of an eCommerce website as speed and other backend performance requirements - one without the other is less than optimal, like wearing one shoe and not a pair - doesn't count for much if the site is fast and technically up to date if Google doesn't (can't) rank it optimally. (everything said here about 'ranking' and url rewrite is based on all other factors associated with ranking being optimal as best as can be - not as the saviour to a poorly optimized site).

I will get off the pulpit now :smile:

Mike - thanks for your rambling thoughts. ;-) I do like CEON better, but this client has hundreds or products so creating the url one by one was going to be quite a task and while we settled on this one. We're now discussing dropping it and going back to the default url's. The sitemap/indexing disconnect has created a mess.

I would also like to see this (url re-writes, not any one plugin specifically) rolled into the core of Zen Cart. I get that rewritten url's are not needed, but they are a standard on most platforms and are more user friendly. I appreciate there are lots of features to consider adding so how do you choice which ones to add and how would it technically work are not quick answers.

Nothing is simple and straightforward and often has unintended consequences. If/when my client and I make any progress, I'll post back.

There was a discussion on integrating about 3 years ago. See "Considering: integrating Ultimate URL into core" on Github

jeking:

Mike - thanks for your rambling thoughts. ;-) I do like CEON better, but this client has hundreds or products so creating the url one by one was going to be quite a task and while we settled on this one. We're now discussing dropping it and going back to the default url's. The sitemap/indexing disconnect has created a mess.

I would also like to see this (url re-writes, not any one plugin specifically) rolled into the core of Zen Cart. I get that rewritten url's are not needed, but they are a standard on most platforms and are more user friendly. I appreciate there are lots of features to consider adding so how do you choice which ones to add and how would it technically work are not quick answers.

Nothing is simple and straightforward and often has unintended consequences. If/when my client and I make any progress, I'll post back.

is there any way you can rename 'https://mas-uk.com/page_2.html' to 'https://mas-uk.com/news.html'

JakeLawless:

is there any way you can rename 'https://mas-uk.com/page_2.html' to 'https://mas-uk.com/news.html'
You'd need to rename (or, better yet, clone) your page_2 (and all associated language files and templates) page to be news.

USU, Version 3.0.0-beta2 is now available for beta-testing: https://github.com/lat9/usu/releases/tag/v3.0.0-beta2

This version requires a Zen Cart version 1.5.5 or later for its proper operation, but can continue to operate on Zen Cart versions 1.5.1 through 1.5.4 by following the installation/upgrade instructions in the readme. Other than the supplied .htaccess file, there are no longer any core-file modifications required by USU!

Please report any issues found in this support thread. Unless something really bad happens, I'll plan on publishing the v3.0.0 release sometime next week.

lat9:

USU, Version 3.0.0-beta2 is now available for beta-testing: https://github.com/lat9/usu/releases/tag/v3.0.0-beta2

This version requires a Zen Cart version 1.5.5 or later for its proper operation, but can continue to operate on Zen Cart versions 1.5.1 through 1.5.4 by following the installation/upgrade instructions in the readme. Other than the supplied .htaccess file, there are no longer any core-file modifications required by USU!

Please report any issues found in this support thread. Unless something really bad happens, I'll plan on publishing the v3.0.0 release sometime next week.

Sounds great Cindy - I assume this version will take care of the canonical issue with the current version in 1.5.5f ?

cheers, Mike

shags38:

Sounds great Cindy - I assume this version will take care of the canonical issue with the current version in 1.5.5f ?

cheers, Mike
Mike, while previous versions of USU went out of their way to generate a canonical link, v3.0.0 and later simply allow the base Zen Cart's (plus other modules', if used) zen_href_link calls in* /includes/init_includes/init_canonical.php* to provide the canonical links.

My best guess is that the canonical link handling in USU was introduced to support Zen Cart versions prior to 1.3.9 (where the built-in canonical-link handling was introduced) and was never removed.

Note that the upgrade process from v2 => v3 is going to be a bit of a pain, requiring core-file editing to remove portions automatically added by the prior versions' installation, but once there all should be good.

Note also that I "discovered" that USU-v2's distribution zip includes an override to the init_canonical.php handling (/includes/init_includes/overrides/init_canonical.php). This override, I believe, could be safely removed from a zc155/zc154 store's file-system to allow USU to simply provide the href-links as requested by other processing ... noting that there are other plugins that also use this form of override.

I loaded a fresh zen cart with numinix google analytics and encrypted master password. It is working fine.
i loaded a fresh zen cart with numinix google analytics, encrypted master password and the usu 3.0 beta 2. I was unable to login as a customer, logout, unsubscribe, etc. Here are the settings I was using:

configuration_key configuration_value
USU_CACHE_CATEGORIES TRUE
USU_CACHE_EZ_PAGES TRUE
USU_CACHE_GLOBAL TRUE
USU_CACHE_MANUFACTURERS TRUE
USU_CACHE_PRODUCTS TRUE
USU_CACHE_RESET FALSE
USU_CATEGORY_DIR off
USU_CPATH off
USU_DEBUG FALSE
USU_ENABLED TRUE
USU_END .html
USU_ENGINE rewrite
USU_FILTER_PAGES index, product_info, product_music_info, document_general_info, document_product_info, product_free_shipping_info, products_new, products_all, shopping_cart, featured_products, specials, contact_us, conditions, privacy, reviews, shippinginfo, faqs_all, site_map, gv_faq, discount_coupon, page, page_2, page_3, page_4
USU_FILTER_PCRE
USU_FILTER_SHORT_WORDS 0
USU_FORMAT original
USU_REDIRECT TRUE
USU_REMOVE_CHARS punctuation
USU_VERSION 3.0.0-beta2

kenaniah:

I loaded a fresh zen cart with numinix google analytics and encrypted master password. It is working fine.
i loaded a fresh zen cart with numinix google analytics, encrypted master password and the usu 3.0 beta 2. I was unable to login as a customer, logout, unsubscribe, etc. Here are the settings I was using:

configuration_key configuration_value
USU_CACHE_CATEGORIES TRUE
USU_CACHE_EZ_PAGES TRUE
USU_CACHE_GLOBAL TRUE
USU_CACHE_MANUFACTURERS TRUE
USU_CACHE_PRODUCTS TRUE
USU_CACHE_RESET FALSE
USU_CATEGORY_DIR off
USU_CPATH off
USU_DEBUG FALSE
USU_ENABLED TRUE
USU_END .html
USU_ENGINE rewrite
USU_FILTER_PAGES index, product_info, product_music_info, document_general_info, document_product_info, product_free_shipping_info, products_new, products_all, shopping_cart, featured_products, specials, contact_us, conditions, privacy, reviews, shippinginfo, faqs_all, site_map, gv_faq, discount_coupon, page, page_2, page_3, page_4
USU_FILTER_PCRE
USU_FILTER_SHORT_WORDS 0
USU_FORMAT original
USU_REDIRECT TRUE
USU_REMOVE_CHARS punctuation
USU_VERSION 3.0.0-beta2

Is a 'fresh zen cart' version 1.5.6a?
When you do try to 'login as a customer' what happens? An error logs? How can you log out if you can't log in??

In order to help, it is helpful to know the steps you took to create the problems you describe and exactly what the problem is.

@kenaniah, is your site running https-only? If so, would you post the top portion of your /includes/configure.php and /admin/includes/configure.php, in each case up to and including the DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG definition?

Is your site's .htaccess modified over-and-above that distributed as part of the USU zip-file?

First I had posted this issue as a problem with the encrypted master password. At that point I was able to login from Admin link to login as customer but not from the regular website. From there I was not able to logout on the regular website. What happens is it takes me to a screen that has the correct url but there is nothing there.... like a webpage not found. Right now the website is http and https.

https://www.XXXXX.com/index.php?main_page=login

This page isn’t working https://www.XXXXXXX.com is currently unable to handle this request.
HTTP ERROR 500

Same error on both http and https

[18-Feb-2019 17:18:53 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Call to a member function href_link() on null in /home/xxx/public_html/xxxx/includes/classes/observers/UsuObserver.php on line 52

[18-Feb-2019 17:18:53 UTC] Request URI: /index.php?main_page=login, IP address: xxx
--> PHP Fatal error: Call to a member function href_link() on null in /home/xxx/public_html/xxx/includes/classes/observers/UsuObserver.php on line 52.

configure.php

define('HTTP_SERVER', 'http://www.xxx.com');
define('HTTPS_SERVER', 'https://www.xxx.com');
define('ENABLE_SSL', 'true');
define('DIR_WS_CATALOG', '/');
define('DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG', '/');
define('DIR_FS_CATALOG', '/home/xxx/public_html/xxx/');

Thanks guys for the help!

I am using the USU .htaccess

You've apparently missed a file in the installation: /includes/classes/usu.php.

Sorry, I had removed the files and uninstalled.... I will put it back in and see if I get errors to the log