X-Cart forums

[radtoyscentral]

Let me get this right, by installing this module, I won't have to ever create an html catalog again? Does this or the other dynamic applications actually create the pages in a folder, or does it name it on the fly for every single page thats loaded? The reason I ask is that I have 150,000 items in my store and if it were to create all of these pages in the same folder, it would slow the site down very much and cause problems. This was my whole issue with the html catalog module that comes with xcart. I can't have 150,000 different html files in the same folder. I need to make my site search engine friendly and make it crawlable. Will the xc seo do this, or do I need to purchase one of the other software solutions?

[jlangevin]

This mod is on-the-fly, allows you to have cleanly rewritten urls for all of your products, categories, etc. You can even insert a keyword or keyphrase (which is added to every url). Title tags are generated across all links, it rewrites Froogle links, and it also redirects people trying to access the old location, to the new rewritten location.

BTW, once you install this mod, you can easily enable/disable it, so it does no harm to have it

/* This is intel352, fyi, posting under my alternate acct (developer acct for an employer), as 'intel352' is currently unavailable (transferred current license) - I'll have another license soon, and will post under that other acct when it's active */

[jlangevin]

BTW, the current release is only intended for X-Cart 4.1.7, so it's not compatible with your version of X-Cart.

[radtoyscentral]

which version do I need in order to be compatible with my version of x-cart? Also, which do you think is better? I have looked at CDSEO, XC SEO, and the other one that I don't remember the name. I don't care what it costs, but I need to know which versions work with my 4.0.16 and are stable and if they are worth the money. If you don't want to give me a straight answer on which one....maybe if you could give me a few pros and cons and let me decide by myself. Thanks for your help and input.

[jlangevin]

It's been awhile since I looked at the competing SEO products, but last I recall, DSEFU did not prevent duplicate URLs (people visiting the old url vs visiting the new url, it wouldn't redirect visitors that went to the old url)

CDSEO is good if you like to have a structure like:
/categoryname1
/categoryname1/productname1

vs XC SEO
/productname1.html
/categoryname1.html

XC SEO is open source (so you can modify the code or hire anyone you want to modify it) and free, CDSEO/DSEFU cost money and are closed source

As for your version of X-Cart, as-is right now, CDSEO is probably your best bet. If you would like XC SEO installed on your website though, I can take care of that for you, and ensure that it works properly with your version of X-Cart

or if you would rather install XC SEO yourself, and just have me make XC SEO compatible with your install version, just let me know

it's up to you. CDSEO provides install services for their product as well, I believe. for install services, most every1 has a flat rate, for customizations, rates usually go hourly

[vulcan-works]

i put the contents of the secure.htaccess file in my htaccess file, ran the installer, and did the modifications to the right files, but the product pages keep coming up as not found

is there any other changes to the htaccess file that needs to be done? did i miss something?

[jlangevin]

there are 2 htaccess file contents: 1 is the .htaccess that actually handles the rewritten urls, the other is the secure.htaccess that can be used to help secure your X-Cart install (just a "recommended" addition)

make sure you have the content from the .htaccess provided in the package, added to your actual .htaccess file

[vulcan-works]

there was one in the catalog directory, that got put in the same spot, but other than that there was just the secure.htaccess

can you post the right htaccess file for the newest version?

[jlangevin]

You'll need to re-download the zip file. As I posted last night, I downloaded the zip file and verified a .htaccess file existed, so it's there.

If you have associated the .htaccess file with an editor on your computer, and you're using winxp, you might not see a .htaccess file (winxp will display a file with no filename, because once .htaccess gets associated, winxp will hide the "known extension" unless you have disabled that feature)

let me know if that doesn't work.

Heck, nevermind, just click here .htaccess file from the repository

http://x-cart-seo.googlecode.com/svn/branches/xc_seo_module/.htaccess


or copy from below

Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine On

# Some servers require the Rewritebase directive to be
# enabled (remove '#' at the beginning to activate)
# Please note: when enabled, you must include the path
# to your root xcart folder (i.e. RewriteBase /shop)
#RewriteBase /

# Enable the following 3 lines if you want to make sure
# all users use the www. version of your domain.
# Helps prevent cookie issues for some X-Cart installations
#RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
#RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^YOURDOMAIN.com [NC] 
#RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com/$1 [R=301,L]

##### XC SEO
# Rewrite SEO category URL's
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-up-c-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$		$1home.php?printable=Y&sort=$2&sort_direction=0&cat=$3&page=$4		[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-down-c-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$	$1home.php?printable=Y&sort=$2&sort_direction=1&cat=$3&page=$4		[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-c-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$											$1home.php?printable=Y&cat=$2&page=$3								[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-up-c-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$			$1home.php?sort=$2&sort_direction=0&cat=$3&page=$4					[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-down-c-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$			$1home.php?sort=$2&sort_direction=1&cat=$3&page=$4					[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-c-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$												$1home.php?cat=$2&page=$3											[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-up-c-([0-9]+)\.html$				$1home.php?printable=Y&sort=$2&sort_direction=0&cat=$3				[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-down-c-([0-9]+)\.html$				$1home.php?printable=Y&sort=$2&sort_direction=1&cat=$3				[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-c-([0-9]+)\.html$														$1home.php?printable=Y&cat=$2										[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-up-c-([0-9]+)\.html$						$1home.php?sort=$2&sort_direction=0&cat=$3							[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-down-c-([0-9]+)\.html$					$1home.php?sort=$2&sort_direction=1&cat=$3							[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-c-([0-9]+)\.html$															$1home.php?cat=$2													[QSA,L]

# Rewrite SEO manufacturers URL's
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-up-m-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$		$1manufacturers.php?printable=Y&sort=$2&sort_direction=0&manufacturerid=$3&page=$4	[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-down-m-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$	$1manufacturers.php?printable=Y&sort=$2&sort_direction=1&manufacturerid=$3&page=$4	[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-m-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$											$1manufacturers.php?printable=Y&manufacturerid=$2&page=$3							[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-up-m-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$			$1manufacturers.php?sort=$2&sort_direction=0&manufacturerid=$3&page=$4				[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-down-m-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$			$1manufacturers.php?sort=$2&sort_direction=1&manufacturerid=$3&page=$4				[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-m-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)\.html$												$1manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=$2&page=$3										[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-up-m-([0-9]+)\.html$				$1manufacturers.php?printable=Y&sort=$2&sort_direction=0&manufacturerid=$3			[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-down-m-([0-9]+)\.html$				$1manufacturers.php?printable=Y&sort=$2&sort_direction=1&manufacturerid=$3			[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-m-([0-9]+)\.html$														$1manufacturers.php?printable=Y&manufacturerid=$2									[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-up-m-([0-9]+)\.html$						$1manufacturers.php?sort=$2&sort_direction=0&manufacturerid=$3						[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-(productcode|title|price|orderby)-down-m-([0-9]+)\.html$					$1manufacturers.php?sort=$2&sort_direction=1&manufacturerid=$3						[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-m-([0-9]+)\.html$															$1manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=$2												[QSA,L]

# Rewrite SEO product URL's
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-c-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)-pr-([0-9]+)\.html$								$1product.php?printable=Y&productid=$4&cat=$2&page=$3	[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-c-([0-9]+)-p-([0-9]+)-pr-([0-9]+)\.html$									$1product.php?productid=$4&cat=$2&page=$3				[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-pr-([0-9]+)\.html$													$1product.php?printable=Y&productid=$2					[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-pr-([0-9]+)\.html$															$1product.php?productid=$2								[QSA,L]

# Rewrite SEO static page URL's
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-print-pg-([0-9]+)\.html$													$1pages.php?printable=Y&pageid=$2				[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?[^/]+-pg-([0-9]+)\.html$															$1pages.php?pageid=$2							[QSA,L]

# Rewrite SEO search URL's
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?([^/]+)-search-c-([0-9]+)(-[^-]+)*\.html$											$1search.php?mode=search&substring=$2&cat=$3	[QSA,L]
RewriteRule ^([^/]*/)?([^/]+)-search(-[^-]+)*\.html$													$1search.php?mode=search&substring=$2			[QSA,L]
##### / XC SEO

[rmoore]

Originally Posted by jlangevin

It's been awhile since I looked at the competing SEO products, but last I recall, DSEFU did not prevent duplicate URLs (people visiting the old url vs visiting the new url, it wouldn't redirect visitors that went to the old url)

jlangevin,
Great mod, I have installed it and worked great, but for now I have turned it off....

My concern is the redirects in both the DSEFU and XC SEO. Now anyone which does SEO work knows that spammers have abused the redirects in the past (and still do today), so much that GoogleBot and the others are now not following redirects and/or penalizing sites for running redirects.

All good webpage or META Tag Analyzers will trigger an error or tell you the page is not accessible because you're running a redirected pages.

An example:
http://www.scrubtheweb.com/abs/meta-check.html

Test one of your product redirected pages with that META Tag Analyzer and you will see, redirects are not what they are cut up to be now days.


What are your thoughts on this jlangevin or anyone else???


Any SEO masters in here that would like to give some in put???