Create an account to edit articles | See Formatting Syntax for Wiki syntax | We look forward to your contribution!
You are here: The ProductCart Encyclopedia » ProductCart User Guide » Canonical URLs (BETA)
Canonical URLs (BETA)
Overview
For an overview of what a canonical URL is and does, please see this Google Webmaster article:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/02/specify-your-canonical.html
Installation
Canonical URLs are built into ProductCart v4.1. If you are running v4.1, there is nothing to install.
If you are running a previous version:
- You must be running v4.0
- Download this edited version of include-metatags.asp
- Make a back-up copy of your current version of the file
- Edit the default Meta Tags in the new version. You can copy and paste from the current version of the file.
- Upload include-metatags.asp to the “pc” folder, overwriting the existing file
We uploaded this version of the file to our Early Impact software store. So you can see Canonical URLs at work there already.
Notes
- This file is in “BETA”. We are still testing it and looking for potential issues. If you choose to upload it to your store, make sure you test around quite a bit and see if you spot any problems. Visit various pages and look at the source code of the page to ensure that the canonical URL is written correctly to the page (category or product page).
- Since the same product may be assigned to multiple categories, we believe it makes sense not to include the category ID in the canonical URL. That way the canonical URL becomes the most generic address for that product. Sort of a “common denominator” for it.
Known Issue & Fix
The v4.0 version of ”pc/configurePrd.asp” and ”pc/reconfigure.asp” do not include ”productcartFolder.asp”, which leads to an incorrect canonical URL. These files are only used by the Build To Order version of ProductCart.
To fix the problem, add the following include statement to the include statements at the top of the pages:
<!--#include file="../includes/productcartFolder.asp"-->
This fixes the issue (e.g. the canonical URL is now correct on this BTO product page).
Trace: • Adjust character-set for multilingual store • Adding a login form to your store design • Backing Up Your Store • How We Update a ProductCart-powered Store • pcCartArray: how shopping cart content is stored • Code Debugging: How to Show Raw Errors in ProductCart • Installation • Installation: choosing and setting up your ProductCart database • Security Recommendations • Canonical URLs (BETA)
