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#1 04-08-2015 10:57:23

ThomasGiannou
Member
Registered: 02-10-2007
Posts: 184

SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

We have a web site with a lot of links over to the shopping cart.   One of the links that is on every page of our website is shown below:
http://www.tandjenterprises.com/CCPRO/store .

That link brings up a list of all the shopping cart categories and their descriptions and information page links back to the main website.

When I click on the first category name, it takes me to a display in the shopping cart where the category is displayed and all the products in that category are displayed in that category.   Frequently, the url that is then displayed is not in SEO format.   It looks like the url below:
http://www.tandjenterprises.com/CCPRO/i … f8p7m060m1

SEO is turned on for the shopping cart and is set up for every category, product, and more.    That URL should not be displaying.  The URL below is what should be displaying.
http://www.tandjenterprises.com/CCPRO/C … Garden-Kit

When I close the browser and the buffers are cleared and come back in and click on the store link,  I'm shown all the categories and when I click on the first category name, a non-SEO url is displayed in the browser.   If I browse around in the shopping cart and click on that same category name, the SEO url shows in the browser.

Both of those url's are showing up in the Bing Index and bing webmaster tools is squaking about two different url's having pages with the same meta titles.   Those kind of errors are lowering the ranking of my website (possibly - I don't know for absolute certainty.)   

What appears to be happening here is a search engine bot is coming in and following links from the website over to the shopping cart and is picking up these non-SEO url's and indexing them.   Then when the sitemap.xml (when it is not blanked out) is submitted to the search engines, the SEO url's are indexed into the search engine index.

Here's a work-around that might stop those non-SEO url's from being put into the search engine indexes.   Put http://www.tandjenterprises.com/CCPRO/  into the Robots.txt file to keep the Bots from going into the shopping cart.   Then, the only thing that will be indexed into the search engine index will be the properly formatted SEO entries in the shopping cart sitemap.xml file.   This is not really a very good solution because only the search engines the shopping cart sitemap.xml file is submitted to will index the shopping cart pages.   All the other bots will be blocked from indexing the shopping cart.   

The best solution is to fix the shopping cart program responsible for this bug so it works.   After the program gets fixed, then I'm going to have to go out to the search engines and delete the pages indexed with that non-SEO url format.   That's only 114 entries that I have to delete from multiple search engines one at a time.   There's got to be a better way to clean up all those errors in the search engine indexes.

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#2 04-08-2015 17:41:16

ThomasGiannou
Member
Registered: 02-10-2007
Posts: 184

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

Here's some additional information.   When I link into the shopping cart with http://www.tandjenterprises.com/CCPRO/store all the category url's and the product url's in the featured products at the bottom of the page show non-SEO url's.   If I refresh the http://www.tandjenterprises.com/CCPRO/store page, then all the category and product url's revert to the SEO url's.   Perhaps this will help you narrow down to what code needs to be changed.   

When I leave the browser, the browser cash gets cleared.   Then when I go back into the browser and link to the shopping cart using the .../CCPRO/store link, the url's all show non-SEO format.

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#3 04-09-2015 07:08:10

webmaster
Administrator
From: York, PA
Registered: 04-20-2001
Posts: 19798
Website

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

Run your installer up through the cookie and domain steps (very early in the process), you can close the installer after changing just these items without installing anything new or reloading the database:

(1) Non-SSL Cookie Domain: .tandjenterprises.com
(2) Non-SSL Cookie Path: /CCPRO
(3) SSL Cookie Domain: .tandjenterprises.com
(4) SSL Cookie Path: /CCPRO

Then clear your cookies and cache from your browser.  What's happening is your cookies are likely not configured properly and since you are not a bot (like Google) and you do not have a cookie, you are getting non-SEO URLs. 

Also, it seems you have made the store addtocart namespace the default namespace for the site?!? I would change this by accessing Website > Component > Profile and setting Component Default Status to true and Component Default Namespace to Webpage.


Nick Hendler

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#4 04-09-2015 09:51:31

ThomasGiannou
Member
Registered: 02-10-2007
Posts: 184

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

Nick,  I went to the website>component>profile and the default status was (0) and the default namespace was "Web Page".   I don't think we have ever done anything with this before simply because we don't know what it does.   So, I'll turn the default to true (1) and then see what happens.   If that clears everything up, then I'll leave it as is.  If nothing changes, then I'll run through the install.  I know those items are set in the install, but I don't remember the details.   As I recall, the ssl were using https://..  and the non ssl were using http://...

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#5 04-09-2015 10:35:48

ThomasGiannou
Member
Registered: 02-10-2007
Posts: 184

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

I went into the install, and the settings you described for the cookie domains and paths were already in place just as you described them, so no change was needed.

I checked the website>component>profile and the default is set to true (1) and the namespace is web page.

I cleared the buffers and cookies in the browser and initiated the link http://www.tandjenterprises.com/Store and checked the URL's and they are still all non-SEO url's for the 11 categories and products at the bottom of the page.  Nothing has changed.

If I refresh the http://www.tandjenterprises.com/CCPRO/Store url in the browser, then all the url's on that page change over to SEO url's and will stay that way until I exit the browser and come back in.   Then the url's go back to being the non-SEO url's again.

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#6 04-09-2015 12:04:17

ThomasGiannou
Member
Registered: 02-10-2007
Posts: 184

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

Here's an update to my observations.   First I start with the browser offline and the buffers cleared.   Start the browser.  Execute the link: http://www.tandjenterprises.com/CCPRO/Store and the shopping cart display comes up with all the url's including the url's in the shopping cart menu's looking like non-SEO url's.   

Then, close down the browser and execute that link again and the shopping cart display comes up with all the url's including the shopping cart menu's looking like valid SEO links.   Then shut down the browser and execute the link to the shopping cart again and all the URL's revert back to non-SEO url's in the browser. 

The Browser is IE 11.

I tried the same thing with the CHROME browser and it presents only non-SEO url's.   When I refresh the page in the CHROME browser, all the URL's change over to being SEO url's.

I tried the FIREFOX browser and the shopping cart displays only SEO url's.   I can't get a non-SEO url's to come up in the FIREFOX browser.

This is a bit of a new twist in this situation.   

I have been using FIREFOX until their most recent update no longer supported the Norton Tool Bar so passwords could be plugged into sites when needed.   Now, that's not supported.

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#7 04-10-2015 07:38:37

webmaster
Administrator
From: York, PA
Registered: 04-20-2001
Posts: 19798
Website

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

OK.  You don't have a problem.  Understand the following:

(1) You have everything configured properly.

(2) When accessing /CCPRO, you are accessing the software's default namespace (CMS, display namespace, splash page).  Basically a home page request.  Home page requests are specifically coded to NEVER present non-SEO URLs.

(3) When accessing /CCPRO/Store, you are accessing the software's store splash page (ECOM, splash namespace).  This request would present non-SEO URLs when viewed, if you do not have a cookie with a session id in it.

(4) The software will print non-SEO URLs in the following situations: Non Home page request when cookie does not exist; Link between SSL and Non-SSL URLs if those URLs are not the same.


Nick Hendler

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#8 04-10-2015 09:51:21

ThomasGiannou
Member
Registered: 02-10-2007
Posts: 184

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

I was under the impression that when we configure SEO to be in effect, that all the URL's in the shopping cart would be displayed in SEO format.   But from what you are saying, there are some exceptions.

I am linking from pages on my web site into the shopping cart and since the SEO option is turned on in the shopping cart, I would like to have all url's in the shopping cart look like SEO url's.

I am linking directly into products with SEO formatted links and the products are displaying correctly and the SEO url I used is displayed in the browser url field.   But all of the links in the shopping cart menu's are non-SEO formatted.   When I run the mouse cursor over the shopping cart menu's all of the links are displaying as non-SEO links.   If I go back to the website page with the back button and then link back to that product or any other product, then all of the url's are no longer non-SEO formatted.   They all are now SEO formatted url's.   I guess that once I am in the shopping cart, a cookie with a session id is formed.   

It's just that first link to a product, or a category, or to the Store page, or to the Allitems list that the non-SEO url's show up.   When I link back to the website page and then come into any one of those links again, that's when all those formatted url's turn into SEO formatted url's.   I am assuming that this all is happening because the cookie and session id are now in place in the shopping cart and when I return from the website page to the shopping cart, all the URL's displayed in the shopping cart are now SEO url's.

So that now comes down to this question:   How can I set this all up so that on that very first link from my website pages, the shopping cart will always format the SEO url's instead of the non-SEO url's?   Is there a way I can link into the shopping cart and have a cookie with a session id be set up so these SEO formatted links in the cart always appear?   

Can a link be defined on the website so that when it goes over to the shopping cart, a cookie and a session id are put in place so the shopping cart SEO urls are formatted?

Or... can my links from my website be set up so they are going through the default namespace (CMS, display namespace, splash page) type of entry so that all the url's will display as SEO formatted url's on the shopping cart.... and serve up a product, or a category and products, or all the categories, or all the products?

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#9 04-10-2015 12:28:42

ThomasGiannou
Member
Registered: 02-10-2007
Posts: 184

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

Nick,  I think I've found a way to clear this problem up with SEO url's not showing up on shopping cart displays when I link from website pages into the shopping cart.

If I use this url in the website page:  http://www.tandjenterprises.com/CCPRO/e … enkit.html , when that link is used to start up the shopping cart category and product display, all the URL's on that page are SEO url's.   Even that link is changed to be an SEO url in the browser url field. 

The only problem is I don't want some bot to go through the pages on my web site and index those non-SEO links, so I'll have to add those links to my robots.txt file so the bots don't index them.  Otherwise, I'll end up with two different links in my domain pointing at the same webpage and that will show up as errors in the webmaster tools.   It might lower the ranking of my website if I allow two url's to point at the same page in the shopping cart.

This will make the robots.txt file be rather large because I will have something like 127 url's to be ignored by the bots.   I might end up with a lot of timeouts if I do that.    Do you think this idea is worth implementing?

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#10 04-13-2015 07:37:02

webmaster
Administrator
From: York, PA
Registered: 04-20-2001
Posts: 19798
Website

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

You have no worries.  You're just not understanding how it works.  If you access anything but the homepage (cms display = splash, and that is in fact what you have set as the default namespace, as I asked you to do), then you could will non-SEO URLs on that page, unless you are a bot, or have a session cookie set.

Wipe your cookies then access the page and you'll get non-SEO URLs (just on that pageload, so you get a new cookie), subsequent pages will have SEO URLs.  To demonstrate:

Access the page (non-SEO URLs), shut your browser down or close window, access page again (SEO URLs)

Access the page as Googlebot (SEO URLs always).


Nick Hendler

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#11 04-13-2015 09:55:26

ThomasGiannou
Member
Registered: 02-10-2007
Posts: 184

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

You are correct, there's a lot I don't understand about the shopping cart software.   But I do see what happens if a session cookie is or is not in place.

I also was making an assumption that when SEO was turned on in the shopping cart, that we would always see SEO url's in the shopping cart.   

We have some 1,600 links into our domain name and many of those links go to the shopping cart.   Some of those links are SEO formated links and some of those links are non-SEO links.   It's ironic that for a potential customer who has never visited us before, they don't have a session cookie for the shopping cart and if they link into the shopping cart with a non-SEO link, the cart always shows SEO formated url's.   But if they link into us with an SEO formated link, the cart shows only non-SEO formated url's.   Why can't the shopping cart software be updated so that when SEO formated links are used by first time customers from a search engine into our shopping cart, SEO url's will be formatted on the shopping cart displays?

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#12 04-14-2015 07:12:37

webmaster
Administrator
From: York, PA
Registered: 04-20-2001
Posts: 19798
Website

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

It's ironic that for a potential customer who has never visited us before, they don't have a session cookie for the shopping cart and if they link into the shopping cart with a non-SEO link, the cart always shows SEO formated url's.

Right, because the URL is telling the software who they are.

But if they link into us with an SEO formated link, the cart shows only non-SEO formated url's.

Right, because the URL doesn't have the session id in it, and no cookie is set.

Why can't the shopping cart software be updated so that when SEO formated links are used by first time customers from a search engine into our shopping cart, SEO url's will be formatted on the shopping cart displays?

Because that would remove the ability to properly add to cart on that page for customers who do not have cookies enabled (less of an issue today than ten years ago, I know).  Bots would never get the non-SEO URLs (remember this).


Nick Hendler

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#13 04-14-2015 11:03:48

ThomasGiannou
Member
Registered: 02-10-2007
Posts: 184

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

I was in Google Webmaster Tools this morning and looking the Search Appearance>Html Improvements>Pages with duplicate title tags,  and I noticed several entries where several different url's  out of the shopping cart were pointing at the same page in the cart.   There was always one SEO formatted link present and one or more non-SEO links present.   

So, I picked up one of the non-SEO links, brought up Google.com and did a search on that link (shown below) and came up with a hit on one of my web site pages and one of the shopping cart pages.

http://www.tandjenterprises.com/CCPRO/i … ort=NAMEDN

I found that link pointing at one of my websites pages.   The current page doesn't have that link on it.   We recently went through the hundreds of pages on our web site and replaced all the old non-SEO links pointing at the shopping cart, with SEO links.   That URL above along with the SEO url were pointing to the same page.   That entry was picked up by a googlebot directly off the shopping cart page.  So, I put that in the browser url field and it took me over to the shopping cart page and I checked the "Default | Name Up | Name Down | Price Up | Price Down"  links and they were all non-SEO links.   All the rest of the links on the page are SEO links.   

So, what I have found here is a bug.   The bots are picking up SEO and non-SEO url's to the same page.   Google webmaster tools then says you have more than one URL in the index that has the same meta title.   When you go to google.com and then do a search on that non-SEO url and get a hit,  those are the pages the bot went to, to grab that non-seo url.   

Those fields on the Category displays followed by the products are always showing non-SEO url's and the bots are picking them up.   The SEO url's to that page are coming in from the cart sitemap.xml.

Every shopping cart page where "Default | Name Up | Name Down | Price Up | Price Down" are displayed, the googlebot is picking up the non-seo url's and indexing them.   This results in one SEO url and one or more non-SEO url's pointing at the same page in the cart.   This creates the pages with the same title error.  It looks like those fields were missed when SEO support was built into the cart.   

One way to stop those url's from being indexed is to put each URL in the robots.txt file as a dissalow: .   One would then have to submit a url removal request for each non-SEO url to have them removed from the google index.   I think the Bing webmaster tools has some other kind of procedure to remove the non-SEO url's.   As for all the other indexes out there, I don't know what can be done about them.   It's too bad that there's no robots.txt command to tell all the search engines to remove a particular URL from their index.   

The home page of the cart had the most duplicates:

Product Index - T&J Enterprises
/CC​PRO​/It​emI​nde​x
/CC​PRO​/It​emI​nde​xDe​tai​l/B
/CC​PRO​/It​emI​nde​xDe​tai​l/C
/CC​PRO​/It​emI​nde​xDe​tai​l/F
/CC​PRO​/It​emI​nde​xDe​tai​l/N
/CC​PRO​/It​emI​nde​xDe​tai​l/O
/CC​PRO​/It​emI​nde​xDe​tai​l/S
/CC​PRO​/It​emI​nde​xDe​tai​l/Y
/CC​PRO​/in​dex​.ph​p?a​pp=​eco​m&n​s=p​rod​idx​&re​f=Y​&pr​ods​ort​=PR​ICE​DN
/CC​PRO​/in​dex​.ph​p?a​pp=​eco​m&n​s=p​rod​idx​ite​m&r​ef=​D&p​rod​sor​t=P​RIC​EDN
/CC​PRO​/in​dex​.ph​p?a​pp=​eco​m&n​s=p​rod​idx​ite​m&r​ef=​J&p​rod​sor​t=N​AME​DN
/CC​PRO​/in​dex​.ph​p?a​pp=​eco​m&n​s=p​rod​idx​ite​m&r​ef=​M&p​rod​sor​t=P​RIC​EUP
/CC​PRO​/in​dex​.ph​p?a​pp=​eco​m&n​s=p​rod​idx​ite​m&r​ef=​Y&p​rod​sor​t=N​AME​UP

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#14 04-15-2015 07:26:32

webmaster
Administrator
From: York, PA
Registered: 04-20-2001
Posts: 19798
Website

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

This has been addressed on the forum prior.  We are building something into the next version which produces a canonical tag in jslib.phjp (search the forum for this) that will handle these duplicate entries for multiple pages.  A couple of things you can do to avoid this on the current platform:

(1) Adjust your products per page number to 60 to limit the number of categories with multiple pages of products.  Do this under Store > Component > Settings > Product Listings.

(2) Remove the sort options for product listings (same place).

(3) Add the canonical code I referenced above.


Nick Hendler

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#15 04-15-2015 19:51:43

ThomasGiannou
Member
Registered: 02-10-2007
Posts: 184

Re: SEO is not working correctly... SEO and Non-SEO url's are formated

I took a slightly different approach by putting the two statements below into my robots.txt file.

Disallow: /CCPRO/index.php
Disallow: /CCPRO/ItemIndex

googlebot will get into the shopping cart pages via SEO url's, but any bot that follows the Disallow: rule in the robots.txt file will not pick any of the non-SEO url's up off the category-product displays or off the product-index displays.   When I saw the non-seo url's pointing to the same shopping cart pages as the SEO url's, the above Disallow: entries will stop google from picking up all the non-seo url's and thereby causing two or more url's to point to the same page.   I then removed the non-SEO url's from the google index associated with my domain.   

In this process, I discovered there are two other sources that could cause an absolute mess in the google index.   There are two files on my website.  One is our sitemap.xml and the other is the urllist.txt .    There are free services that will scan a website and produce a sitemap.xml and or a urllist.txt file.   If those services go through the shopping cart, then they will generate code for the SEO entries as well as all the non-SEO entries out in the shopping cart.   Anyone who uses those free services and doesn't keep them out of the shopping cart folders and then puts those two files up on their website server is going to create a big mess in the search engine indexes with multiple url's pointing to the same web page.   

After reading the historical exchange about jslib.php I'm not sure what would work or not and it looked like it wasn't fully resolved.   With the duplicates I have found into the same webpages, the above two entries in the robots.txt file will stop those dups from being indexed for those who are current with the ccp software.   But, you still have to delete those url's from the google index to do the final cleanup move.

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