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

Hi
I've noiticed a small issue with version 3.0 that I don't remember having with older versions.
As far as the coding goes, everything is sweet. Our site is generating new static url's and redirecting from google generic listings.
The issue we have is a possible conflict with our Google Product Search Feeder. The products links in the feed are still shown as old Zen-Cart dynamic url's. Not a problem as the 301 redirect is set to on but there is a lag while the page is loading from a 301. We have disabled the mod at present.

Our history...
we used the older version of USU back in the days of version zen-cart 1.39. This was uninstalled and replaced with Ceon uri mapping. We took the decision to remove uri mappping due to the many core files that need editing during a zen-cart update and the fact that we had the paid version. We have now installed usu v3. To note, I removed all traces of the previous settings from our database before installing and we are cuttently using Zen-cart 1.55f.

Since you said that you'd previously used the Ceon URI Mappings, make sure that you've removed its*** /includes/init_includes/overrides*** files. The current version of **USU **keys off the use of zen_href_link function for its link-generation functions.

What version of the Google Product Feed are you using?

Hi Lat9,
Thanks for the clues...

We use the paid google feeder version 3.15.0. I know this is old but it's the only one I have that works. In the last few hours, I have been trying to install the latest version 5.0 but one of the files from the folder auto_loaders was making the admin crash. As we need to create a feed later today, I needed something that worked so I've reluctantly reverted back to 3.15.0.

The reason for choosing the paid version was because we have over 6000 products and free plugin version struggled to create the feed.

I've checked the /includes/init_includes/overrides folder and found only an index.html file. It looks like I was quite thorough when I removed the ceon version.

I thought about giving the free google feeder another try in the next few days.

lat9:

As @jeking indicated, USU's initial installation sets the plugin's Enabled value to false; you need to update the USU configuration to enable the generation of the "friendly" URLs.

You also need to ensure that the .htaccess distributed with the plugin has been copied/merged for your store, otherwise, those "friendly" URLs will result in a 404 (page not found).

First, to enable the plug in (which I'm pretty sure I had done) that's in the store admin area correct?

And I hadn't changed my .htacess file as when I read through the directions for some reason I didn't think it was need. I will try that again and let you know if it works! Thanks for the help so far and I'll post after I make the changes!

I've just submitted v3.0.1 of USU to the Zen Cart plugin moderators for review and will post back here once it's available for download (https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=132).

 This release contains changes associated with the following GitHub issues:

#18: PHP error on upgrade.
#19: Upgrade from previous version fails.
#20: Simplify handling of configuration settings.
#21: Update install procedure to allow removal of only configuration settings.

lat9:

I've just submitted v3.0.1 of USU to the Zen Cart plugin moderators for review and will post back here once it's available for download (https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=132).

 This release contains changes associated with the following GitHub issues:

#18: PHP error on upgrade.
#19: Upgrade from previous version fails.
#20: Simplify handling of configuration settings.
#21: Update install procedure to allow removal of only configuration settings.
v3.0.1 is now available for download.

I'll download to test it on my site

Hello Cindy - I installed CEON URI Mapping as a matter of 'have to' when USU had the canonical problem. CEON is too complicated for me so I want to revert back to the latest version of USU.
Question: will USU seamlessly re-write the CEON generated urls? .... as well as those that are still using the standard ZC generic index.php?xyzacb format? ... i.e. will all currently indexed urls remain indexed without having to be found again by Google?

Are there any specific things I need to do and in any particular order to ensure the changeover works .... seamlessly :)

cheers,
Mike
p.s. I am still trying to recover my previous ranking prior to the USU issue

shags38:

Hello Cindy - I installed CEON URI Mapping as a matter of 'have to' when USU had the canonical problem. CEON is too complicated for me so I want to revert back to the latest version of USU.
Question: will USU seamlessly re-write the CEON generated urls? .... as well as those that are still using the standard ZC generic index.php?xyzacb format? ... i.e. will all currently indexed urls remain indexed without having to be found again by Google?

Are there any specific things I need to do and in any particular order to ensure the changeover works .... seamlessly :)

cheers,
Mike
p.s. I am still trying to recover my previous ranking prior to the USU issue
Mike, USU won't be able to rewrite those customized CEON-generated links since they can be fairly free-form. The only thing that comes to mind is to add rewrites to the .htaccess for each of the CEON-customized links prior to the bit that's required by USU. The developers in the CEON forum might be able to shed additional light on a different solution.

lat9:

Mike, USU won't be able to rewrite those customized CEON-generated links since they can be fairly free-form. The only thing that comes to mind is to add rewrites to the .htaccess for each of the CEON-customized links prior to the bit that's required by USU. The developers in the CEON forum might be able to shed additional light on a different solution.

Thanks Cindy for the very quick response - not quite the news I was hoping for - I have posted in CEON forum as you suggested and await some good news but do not hold a lot of hope.

cheers,
Mike

I am using zencart1.55F version
I installed it
Ultimate SEO URLs - Version: 2.216
I turned on the pseudo-static feature, and the front end of the website shows dynamic links.

The environment I used when installing zencart locally is php+Nginx，
But the environment I use on my server is PHP+Apache.
After I moved the program to the server, the pseudo-static function still did not take effect.
I opened the error debugging, the website front desk did not prompt how to error.
very urgent

The current version of USU is v3.0.1 (with a v3.0.2 pending). Versions 3.0.0 and later have no core-file changes (the plugin just "drops into" your store's file-system).

I've just submitted v3.0.2 of USU to the plugin moderators for review and will post back here once it's available for download.

 This release contains changes associated with the following GitHub issues:

#22: Correct PHP warnings and notices.
#23: Correct over-sanitization of the 'PCRE Filter Rules'.
#24: 'Reset USU Cache' not honored (or reset in the configuration).

jiji2018:

I am using zencart1.55F version
I installed it
Ultimate SEO URLs - Version: 2.216
I turned on the pseudo-static feature, and the front end of the website shows dynamic links.

The environment I used when installing zencart locally is php+Nginx，
But the environment I use on my server is PHP+Apache.
After I moved the program to the server, the pseudo-static function still did not take effect.
I opened the error debugging, the website front desk did not prompt how to error.
very urgent

ideally your development environment should closely mirror your production environment.

serving up pages with nginx on one, and apache on the other is nowhere close to that ideal environment and one where i see numerous potential problems down the line. such as the one you are experiencing here.

lat9:

I've just submitted v3.0.2 of USU to the plugin moderators for review and will post back here once it's available for download.

 This release contains changes associated with the following GitHub issues:

#22: Correct PHP warnings and notices.
#23: Correct over-sanitization of the 'PCRE Filter Rules'.
#24: 'Reset USU Cache' not honored (or reset in the configuration).
Now available for download: https://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=132

I have a question which hopefully can be answered.

We love the Ultimate URL module and have been using it for years. However, the default Product Page format seems to be something like this:

https://www.domainname.com/name-of-page-p-1234.html

However, we would like to only display the product ID in this simplified format:

https://www.domainname.com/1234

Can someone explain what line(s) I would have to add or modify in the .htaccess file to do this? Or would that break the core functionality of the Ultimate URL module?

@Jeff_Mash, how do you envision the URL when a view of a products' listing is requested? Having only the products_id, as identified above, to specify the display of a product's details leaves nothing to distinguish a products_id from a categories_id.

There would be a fair amount of change in USU, most if not all within /includes/classes/usu.php, to accomplish what you desire. Look at how the reg_anchors variable (defined in the constructor) is used. That's what ties the supplied URL to a determinable page within the Zen Cart structure.

lat9:

@Jeff_Mash, how do you envision the URL when a view of a products' listing is requested? Having only the products_id, as identified above, to specify the display of a product's details leaves nothing to distinguish a products_id from a categories_id.

There would be a fair amount of change in USU, most if not all within /includes/classes/usu.php, to accomplish what you desire. Look at how the reg_anchors variable (defined in the constructor) is used. That's what ties the supplied URL to a determinable page within the Zen Cart structure.

That's a good point. I didn't consider what could distinguish the category from the product. I was only thinking that perhaps it was the .htaccess file which would know what the original URL was (with category or product id) and then spit out the formatted URL for better SEO rankings.

We notice a lot of our competitors have very short URLS, which only reference a product id number (no file name, no extension) after the domain name. So I was thinking it might be a simple change in the htaccess to display the URL in that kind of format. We certainly don't want to break anything though by messing with things if it involves changing the USU class.

Hi

We use Ultimate URLS on our website https://sitstandforbusiness.com How can I force https:// URLs? can I do it via Ultimate URLs.

I have ssl as true in both configure files but it keesp reverting back to http://

Please help.

dharrison:

Hi

We use Ultimate URLS on our website https://sitstandforbusiness.com How can I force https:// URLs? can I do it via Ultimate URLs.

I have ssl as true in both configure files but it keesp reverting back to http://

Please help.

I checked your site and all the links I see are https