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

I'm running version 2.207 on Zen Cart v1.51.

Thanks for the info. Turns out I'd forgotten I copied the old page and renamed it. So once I changed it back it's working.

Question though, it seems USU takes over all URL requests? I had previously setup a redirect page to solve the problem and was surprised to find that the static HTML page I setup with a URL matching the original page could not be found.

Stig57:

I'm running version 2.207 on Zen Cart v1.51.

Thanks for the info. Turns out I'd forgotten I copied the old page and renamed it. So once I changed it back it's working.

Question though, it seems USU takes over all URL requests? I had previously setup a redirect page to solve the problem and was surprised to find that the static HTML page I setup with a URL matching the original page could not be found.
Glad you were able to get everything sorted! Newer versions of USU contain a number of bug fixes, enhancements, and new features... and should upgrade nicely under Zen Cart 1.5 (but make a backup first) :)

USU only sends specific requests (specified in the .htaccess file) to Zen Cart. In current versions, the last line in the example .htaccess file also instructs Apache to send all requests which do not correspond to a physical file or folder to Zen Cart (I think in versions closer to 2.207 it only sends requests ending in .html - It has been awhile)...

The behavior configured in the latest versions of USU of sending all requests to Zen Cart for files and folders which do not correspond to a physical file or folder is something commonly utilized by many modern web applications. If you want to read more, you can look up the "front controller pattern"... For Zen Cart + USU the pattern is selectively applied because we want real images, js, css, html, php, and other files to still be served directly (allowing "ping back" URIs and retaining performance for static resources).

I typically do not recommend creating static pages to "redirect"... It makes things harder to manage in my experience (especially long term)... Instead you can just add a RewriteRule or Redirect directly in a .htaccess file so all redirects can be found and managed quickly from one location. Unless you add a large number of redirects, in my opinion the ease of management outweighs the slight performance impact. But then again, I tend to avoid creating manual redirects unless absolutely necessary...

Mod Rewrite:
Rules in the .htaccess file are processed in order and processing does not end until either a [L] flag or the end of the .htaccess file is reached. Thus if you place additional rules before the USU ones the additional ones take precedence... If you add them after the USU ones... the USU ones take precedence. It all depends on how YOU modify the rules. You can read more in the Apache mod_rewrite documentation.

But learning how to utilize mod_rewrite is something a bit beyond the scope of this thread. It can be a powerful tool as long as one understands how it works - although a tool I would use sparingly.

Hello!
Can somebody tell me how to set up language identifiers in U. SEO, I am using 2.212, and can not find it anywhere. I believe, there was an option to add it in previous versions, does this one have it?

What am trying to accomplish:

example.com/product - default language
example.com/es/product - spanish

Thank you!

Dan123:

Can somebody tell me how to set up language identifiers in U. SEO, I am using 2.212, and can not find it anywhere. I believe, there was an option to add it in previous versions, does this one have it?

What am trying to accomplish:

example.com/product - default language
example.com/es/product - spanish
Currently no option exists in USU to create URLs as per your example. I am not aware of USU for Zen Cart every having such an option (although I could be wrong). It would be a month or so before I could look into adding such an option... If you can wait awhile, send me a PM here as a reminder :)

I am also currently in need of translations of the options used by this module (and the README). If you have the English language file translated to Spanish for this module (2_new_files/your_admin_folder/includes/languages/english/extra_definitions/seo.php) please paste the changes here (or send them to me in a PM).

If you need this yesterday, here is a short list of the changes needed to implement your request:

• Modify make_url() to add a language identifier to the start of the URL. See the Zen Cart language class and database table. $this->languages_id will contain the corresponding language id for the current request.
• Modify the .htaccess file. You can probably get away with just passing the 2-3 character language code (matching the code field in the Zen Cart language db table) using the variable "language". For example, "RewriteRule ^(?:([^/]{2,3})/)(.)-p-([0-9]+)(.)$ index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=$3&language=$1&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]".
• Add a new option to enable or disable this feature. Change the included language file(s) and the installation / removal script.

If you do undertake the changes, please do post the complete list (or send me a zip file) so the changes can be tested and added to a future version.

Thanks for your fast reply I will try to follow your tips. And I found the version with these options, though it is modified, it's done by a_berezin, here is the link to it http://oscomm.biz/index.php?showtopic=18713&st=0, it might be useful for you.

Thanks,
Dan!

Hi Dan,

Dan123:

Thanks for your fast reply I will try to follow your tips. And I found the version with these options, though it is modified, it's done by a_berezin, here is the link to it http://oscomm.biz/index.php?showtopic=18713&st=0, it might be useful for you.

Thanks,
Dan!
Don't use version from http://oscomm.biz/index.php?showtopic=18713&st=0!!! It's old, buggy and unsupported!

Thanks)
I am not using it, I just wrote that it has those options implemented and if you ever decide to add them, it already has them, so it would be easier to copy/update from it instead of starting from scratch.

Hi All,

Please accept my apologies if this question has already been asked, I tried looking but could not see where it may have been addressed. If it has been address before, can you please kindly direct me to the right post.

I have just upgraded Zen-cart to V151 and installed Ultimate URL with V151. All works well.

Except previously we were running magic SEO and now our url's are slightly different.

The old urls were
melbournesigns.com.au/garden-signs-40/grey-water-used-on-garden-and-lawns-286.html

The new urls are
melbournesigns.com.au/garden-signs-c-40/grey-water-used-on-garden-and-lawns-p-286.html

The difference is the c- and p- for the categories and product codes. See in red below.

melbournesigns.com.au/garden-signs-c-40/grey-water-used-on-garden-and-lawns-p-286.html

Doesn't seem at first to be a big deal except that we have thousands of organic links from Google and when you use the old url, you come to a blank page which would cause visitors to click back and find a different site.

Can anyone help with suggestions on how to fix this?
Or is there a way I can send these links to the home page instead of getting a blank page?

Thank you for your help in advance.

Regards
Alem

I'm installing Ultimate SEO URL and got two questions about INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS.
"Copy files from "2_new_files" to your Zen Cart install. If upgrading overwrite any existing files." I really don't understand what that means. If I install first time, Am I suppose to ingore "2_new_files"?
"A sample .htaccess file is included. Edit "3_htaccess/.htaccess" to match your web server's environment. Pay particular attention to the "RewriteBase" line. Make sure your server does not have "MultiViews" enabled (rare)." My web server is Just Host. How should I edit .hoaccess file?
I'm a rookie for help. Thanks

fanisme:

I'm installing Ultimate SEO URL and got two questions about INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS.
"Copy files from "2_new_files" to your Zen Cart install. If upgrading overwrite any existing files." I really don't understand what that means. If I install first time, Am I suppose to ingore "2_new_files"?
"A sample .htaccess file is included. Edit "3_htaccess/.htaccess" to match your web server's environment. Pay particular attention to the "RewriteBase" line. Make sure your server does not have "MultiViews" enabled (rare)." My web server is Just Host. How should I edit .hoaccess file?
I'm a rookie for help. Thanks

Hi Fansime,

Glad to meet a fellow novice.

You need to install all the files, I think the reason they have broken them into different folder is if you already have modified files, that you can cut and paste the code into the old file.

What I did was to copy the files into the right place. Careful to change any folder named "your template" to the actual name of the template you are using, mine was "glasco".

Regarding the htaccess file, this got me as well, open the file and edit the line that says rewrite base. It will say something like "/yourshop/" you need to change this to your stores location. if your store is at xxx.com/ then the "/yourshop/ "to " /"

I tried to figure out the multiview, but could not find it. My urls are now working so I figure it has nothing to do with my site.

melbournesigns:

...
Previously we were running magic SEO and now our url's are slightly different.

...

The difference is the c- and p- for the categories and product codes. ...
Ultimate SEO URLs uses "anchors" (the -c-, -p-, -ez-, etc) to denote the type of page requested (category, product, ez-page, etc). These "anchors" allow a large range of flexibility with the URL formats (and avoids collisions with IDs and names). Using "anchors" also minimizes the amount of resources required to process the request and pass it along to Zen Cart (USU maps the requests directly instead of requiring database lookups).

If one knows the exact formats used by Magic SEO (and know the URLs will not result in any collisions), one can craft some custom RewriteRules in the .htaccess file to handle the old URLs from Magic SEO. One would probably want to place the custom RewriteRules after the majority of the USU rules and immediately preceding the following block of code to avoid causing any conflicts:

# All other pages
# Don't rewrite real files or directories
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index\.php?main_page=$1&%{QUERY_STRING} [L]

I upload all of the files to my server, but .htaccess disappeared. I can see it my PC. My server is justhost. appreciate if anybody help.

fanisme:

htaccess disappeared. I can see it my PC.
Check your FTP client - to show hidden files

kobra:

Check your FTP client - to show hidden files
It still can't appear.

fanisme:

It still can't appear.
Not a ZenCart issue

Googled for "ftp show hidden files"

https://www.google.com/search?q=ftp+show+hidden+files&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

kobra:

Not a ZenCart issue

Googled for "ftp show hidden files"

https://www.google.com/search?q=ftp+show+hidden+files&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
I'm using FileZilla and I have Selected "Force showing Hidden Files". I can see ".htaccess" on the FileZilla interface and I can find .htaccess on server through "search" of server, but I can't see it in the foldler which I upload it to. (on the FileZilla interface, I can see it even I didn't Selected "Force showing Hidden Files")

fanisme:

but I can't see it in the foldler which I upload it to
Still, this is not a ZenCart Issue

Zen Cart 1.3.9h
Edit orders 3.0.3
Recovers cart sales v3.1.0
Super orders v3.0.x
Ty tracker v2.3a
Easy Populate v3.03
Experience: Semi Noob in zencart

I am trying to install Ultimate SEO 2.2.1 to my zencart 1.3.9h (plese see above for details) and am confused on the installation instructions in step 3 concerning the ".htaccess" file.

Where is this file found at in my zencart?
There seems to be a "htaccess" file in almost each and every sub-directory in the main zencart directory.
To be exact, which "htaccess" file are we talking about? All of them or just one of them, and in which subfolder?

I have 2 zencart websites installed under /htdocs/
they are: /htdocs/Zencart-01/
and /htdocs/Zencart-02/

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Also what do to if there is no "htaccess" file in the specific folder we are talking about?

Anybody Please Help?:bangin: