SEO Settings

[Dan - Glendale Designs]

Re: SEO Settings

That DOES look interesting.

What about misc screens, eg PLST? Is it
http://www.domain.com/screen-PLST.html

With Sebenza's Ultimate SEO links it is:
http://www.domain.com/PLST.html

Standard SEO Link Rewrite would be something like your example.

[Barrett]

Re: SEO Settings

Another thought on how I would like this to go considering migration issues is to

1. first be able to easily replicate the existing famous CBS SFL links
2. run the new 5.5 for a few months and see how it goes with any seo issues because you know there are way more variables than just the links
3. slowly over time take a little chunk of the site at a time and convert over to possibly a better string for future development and all new cats and prods could use the newer cleaner styles mentioned.

Of course this may be asking too much and require some scheme of subdirectories and separate htaccess - I'm only speculating, but this is what I would like to have if reasonably possible.

[Barrett]

Re: SEO Settings

SEO UI drastic improvement. MM5.5 RC1

Successful replication of legacy CBS SFL directory style links.

UI excellent design with examples based on current settings.

Store Map creation with new link style.

Fails to rewrite strings on the rest of the public side of store although manually requested links work.

Pie in the Sky wish : would be to somehow selectively apply an alternate setting for slow migration to new link style slowly over time much like an seo setting default or alternate.

[Brandon MUS]

Re: SEO Settings

These "SEO settings" only update your htaccess file. There is no reason you have to use them. If they don't work for your store or if you have a better idea for your links, you can simply ignore this feature all together.

I had hoped for a much more flexible system, but I guess this is a good start for new stores. CBS SFL is still better IMO though

[Barrett]

Re: SEO Settings

These "SEO settings" only update your htaccess file. There is no reason you have to use them. If they don't work for your store or if you have a better idea for your links, you can simply ignore this feature all together.

I had hoped for a much more flexible system, but I guess this is a good start for new stores. CBS SFL is still better IMO though

I don't think you are hearing me right.
The new update is great and the replication of legacy CBS SFL is successful on the latest rev.

The added polish is my pie in sky thing for selecting cats and prods and pages a few at a time to a newer string style if desired for a move away from the legacy replication. Ultimately this is only important for stores that are migrating from previous version and have concerns over maintaining their existing top SE rankings.

Of course putting the gui to htaccess file edits a great thing too

[imnotinsane]

Re: SEO Settings

Because i just use the basic SSL server that comes with my web host the miva generated htaccess file died pretty bad as soon as it went to ssl.

https://www.mywebhost.com/domain.com/httpdocs/mm5/merchant.mvc

Obviously i realise the problem is on my side, but i guess a lot of users who aren't very confident with Miva and Coding are going to bug you about SEO functions not working correctly.

[HostMySite]

Re: SEO Settings

That being the case, I think that the .htaccess file should have cases for secure URL should they be different, as they are by default in our system, It would also be nice to have a Secure Root Directory for Graphics, as every other setting has a setting for secure and non-secure.

[Rick Wilson]

Re: SEO Settings

I'll check with Mark on this today.

The SEO feature will continue getting enhancements in the very near future so that when turned on all the links (including embedded throughout the runtime) switch to these links.

I would assume you'll see this addition in that update.

[Mark Johnson]

Re: SEO Settings

I want expand a little on Rick's response. So far for SEO we have implemented Site Map, meta tags for products and categories and short link recognition. We still want to add short link generation.

Short link recognition is where we allow you to define what your short links look like and through the .htaccess file allow the short links to get to the right place. Short link generation is where any links generated dynamically by Miva Merchant are produced in the form specified in the SEO settings.

This will require a sweep through all the code to change everywhere that links get generated. We plan to do that after the initial 5.5 release and have it ready for the first stream afterwards. Depending on how things go after the initial release we may end up releasing short link generation gradually over several streams.

[Mark Johnson]

Re: SEO Settings

These "SEO settings" only update your htaccess file. There is no reason you have to use them. If they don't work for your store or if you have a better idea for your links, you can simply ignore this feature all together.

I had hoped for a much more flexible system, but I guess this is a good start for new stores. CBS SFL is still better IMO though

I'd like to hear more about what you were expecting and also about how you think CBS SFL is better. I have a couple of ideas, but this is definitely one of those cases where the experience of the people actually using our software can be invaluable.

[Brandon MUS]

Re: SEO Settings

What I hoped to see was more of a GUI for allowing the store owner to create their own version of search engine friendly links. In my mind, there would be a field for each type of link; screen, product, category, etc. In each field you have access to variables that would be swapped out for actual data. The user's input might for the "product link" field look like:

Product Links: [ /buy/%product_code%.html ]
Category Links: [ /shop/%category_code%.html ]
Screen Links: [ /view/%screen_code%.html ]

Miva would then generate the htaccess to magically make it happen.
My example is overly simplified and there would have to be the ability to include optional things like the affiliate codes, store codes and category codes as needed, but hopefully you get the idea. This would allow people to use links that make sense to their store and increase compatibility with other systems.

We actually don't use CBS SFL on our website, so I may be incorrect in saying that CBS SFL is better. There is also a lack of examples and documentation with the new MM5.5 seo links, so I guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions, I apologize.

[Barrett]

Re: SEO Settings

I want expand a little on Rick's response. So far for SEO we have implemented Site Map, meta tags for products and categories and short link recognition. We still want to add short link generation.

Short link recognition is where we allow you to define what your short links look like and through the .htaccess file allow the short links to get to the right place. Short link generation is where any links generated dynamically by Miva Merchant are produced in the form specified in the SEO settings.

This will require a sweep through all the code to change everywhere that links get generated. We plan to do that after the initial 5.5 release and have it ready for the first stream afterwards. Depending on how things go after the initial release we may end up releasing short link generation gradually over several streams.

Ok I now see why all the public screen urls from SFNT onward are not as specified in seo settings in admin.
This is bit disappointing. Actually I would have expected short link generation to be in place ! That's a real set back. Unless I'm missing something, it looks like we'll need a custom module coded to get this done in the interim or delay the migration project. <pounding head on desk>

[Rick Wilson]

Re: SEO Settings

To put this in perspective, short link generation is planned for one of the first patches after 5.5 is released.

[imnotinsane]

Re: SEO Settings

Is there some new variable for the url to use with SEO settings? ie a new &mvt:global:sessionurl;

I use a basic template for multiple stores and having to go through all my stores to change the first part of the url would be annoying.

Also, using ../PAGE.html doesn't work because it goes the crap on SSL pages

[Barrett]

Re: SEO Settings

Is there some new variable for the url to use with SEO settings? ie a new &mvt:global:sessionurl;

I use a basic template for multiple stores and having to go through all my stores to change the first part of the url would be annoying.

Also, using ../PAGE.html doesn't work because it goes the crap on SSL pages

How many stores since this is in beta - I don't understand where you're coming from ?

I looked through the thread and didn't see where we were locked into PAGE.html and I have not seen this as a limitation requiring this syntax in my testing.

I have found successful replication for CBS SFL legacy directory style links in the site map and calls through .htaccess. Just waiting for them to build in short link generation through the actual stores generated links.