Hi

Can someone give me some advice please ive noticed the URLs on my new website Im having built aren't very SE friendly or descriptive when you click on a product the URL doesn't show the product title, I contacted my web designer about this and he said

"As for the URL's there is nothing I can do about this unfortunately. The code is linked to the database and form fields are sent back and forth and the site is not coded using GETURL features but rather passes the variables using another method"

Is this correct and would it cause a problem.

Best Regards

Kevin

That's not the most search engine friendly of URLs.

What do they actually look like?

Even URLs with parameters get indexed. The problems come when there are more than three parameters, parameter ordering is not consistent, some parameters are optional, or the parameter value looks like, or is, a session ID. It's nice to get keywords in URL, but avoiding duplicate content issues (page available at different URLs) is more important.

This is one of the problems of having a developer write your site as opposed to using an off the shelf or open source solution. Developers arent web designers and give little regard to things like this.

Anyway, agreed, in reality this wont cause a problem with good indexing of your site.. its a small consideration in the algo's and isnt that important, it helps a tiny bit, thats all.

I'm not a developer, but cant mod rewrite be used with some of the variables passed from things like page/product titles?

I can't find your site to look around it for you - please post it in your profile

The sites not completely finished yet but I have added it to my profile so you can view it

this is an off the shelf site. the designer used a content management system. the good ones have url rewrite components. he is already rewriting the urls to hide the CMS source. I see very little if any custom coding here.

if this is your business site, it needs to be done correctly. one of the criteria is having search engine friendly urls. so he either needs to fix it, or rebuild it. why compromise your success right from the start.

most web designers are not marketing people or search engine optimization specialists.

[ Message was edited by: mj1256 05/16/2008 11:12 am ]

To be honest - this site is sadly doing a lot of big "No No's" SE directed.

I see what you wanting to do and this is a highly competitive field and you need a TOP notch web site & SEO in order to have a chance at this being a success.

If your current web worker won't correct this ASAP. I say cut it out ( rip it down - fire him/her ) take your losses and start over.
This site not only will not be successful as it is - it can also cost you down the road with other sites you do/may own.

Sorry to say this is not a pretty picture.

I agree with Beth

Not what you want to hear, but it's the truth I'm afraid.

PM me your email address and I'll forward you a SEO friendly design spec to give your designer.

Hampstead - Why don't you post the design spec here itself ? It will be useful for the rest of the world too.

is the website that bad? there hasnt been any seo done on the site yet, what would need to be done to sort these problems out

what would need done?

wow that is a big list - really !

There are so many wrongs done to this site, and like you said the SEO isn't even done yet - not a good sign.

The site should be done SEO correct from the beginning and then the specific SEO stuff added.


If some one tries to give/sell you a quick fix for this site, it is in your best interest to ignore them.

You have heard several of us here with experience telling you this site needs 100% re vamp - sorry.

Prowler - I have intended to publish the spec here for some time.

I'm about to redesign my own site and I will be publishing it there. Obviously, I want it on my site first to make sure I don't end up with a duplicate content penalty.

so is it a completely new site I need? is there nothing I can do with this website? what instructions do I give my web designer?

You can do it with the current site if you don't want to go for new site. You need to modify your programming code and correct the URLs. I hope you aren't on windows server.

Wait for my next post...

My web disigner arranged the website server for me, the information he gave me is

"high performance, firewall protected, web servers using both Windows 2003 and Linux operating systems"

That's ambiguous - The server is either Windows OR Linux. It can't be both.

First of all, I agree with others on a fresh new website.

I don't like your current website design. So imo, you need to redesign your site.

Anyway, here are few things you need to fix with your site:


- You have disabled right button. You should NOT do that. If I want to copy something from your site, I can. You can't stop me by disabling the right button. IMO, this is big NO NO. I hate to visit such sites.


- Your homepage should be link to your domain root "/". Don't use "home/index.php"


- Change your text color to black or somthing else to make it more readable. You may also consider to change the text font (product description) to make it more readable.


- Don't use 'category' type of text while creating URLs. Use some keywords. Hint: category name. Examples: 'mp3' or 'mp3-players'


- Make the URLs search engine friendly using .htaccess

Instead of : catalogue/browse.php?id=69
Use : mp3-players/69.html

or better use : product-name.html or mp3-players/product-name.html

I guess, you can't do the last one using .htaccess trick. You need to use database to create such urls.


- Use only one format of URL

Currently, you are using the follwing URLs to show the same content:

1. catalogue/browse.php?id=69

2. catalogue/index.php?id=69

You are redirecting the second url to the first one. It's a big NO NO.

The best option is to choose one and only one SE friendly URL format and stick to it.


- Add "Add to basket" button on top. It should be easy to locate and visible without scrolling the page.


- Also add "Add to basket" button on 'Enlarge' window somewhere near the large picture. Or make the picture itself clickable to 'Add the product to the basket' link.
{Pay me $1000 for this tip AFAIK, NO E-Commerce website is using this technique.}


- Tell people about VAT in advance.. even before they register with you.


- Show payment options clearly and in advance. Visitor should NOT need to create an account to see payment options.


- IMO use radio button to choose the payment option with a clear heading "Please choose your payment method".


- Your product search is NOT working correctly. I searched for 'mp3 players' without quotes and it shows 'no products'.


HTH.

Best of luck


PS:-

Your server is Apache/2.2.3 and PHP version PHP/5.1.6

Use: Rex Swain's HTTP Viewer to see the HTTP header info.

Thanks for the advice, I would prefer not to scrap the site as it has already cost me a lot of money and the final payment is due, I could ask he rewrites all the code for the website but at this late stage its not very likely he is going to agree with that, what would you do?

[ Message was edited by: topstuff 05/20/2008 11:01 pm ]

well... in my experience education always costs money, in this case your education is the cost of this website. I would not try to save what you have. I would start over.

So.. your going to continue to invest in a website that is poorly designed and ill conceived, and then work with a designer who doesn't know the basic concepts and issues being discussed in this thread. You can't educate him, you can only educate yourself.

have you ever heard the story of the 3 little pigs?

have you ever heard the phrase, "building on a house of cards?"

your business endeavor needs a solid foundation to build on. Do you want to base your success on a foundation of bedrock or quicksand?

Depends on your contract.

If it stipulated that he could provide a cr*p site,and still be paid, then pay.

But if the deal was that it should be 'fit for purpose', then it's worth discussing remedial action.

At the very least, he should fix the duplicate URLs problem that dinkar highlighted, and the site search should work, shouldn't it?

But the final decision depends on your country's laws; in the UK for example, he'd be laughed out of court. But not all countries have strong consumer protection laws (and ours aren't perfect!).

I agree with MJ and Quad -

PLUS I would never use this person again - really he has not done you any service, only "harm".

Check your laws.

I know how very frustrating this must be for you and the thought of scrapping all this has to horrible.
Right now your scrambling for a fix to correct this quickly. As many people would be doing.

However many of us here do see what needs done. You can either take the loss now and move on or take a bigger loss down the road.

I am not trying to be rude. I too have had to scrap a site and it HURTS! I know. But in order to move forward you really need to get out of the quicksand.

You could with a good web designer and a expert SEO save this site with a LOT of hard work, and I believe it was Dinkar here who listed how you can do this.

But staying with your current designer long term is not going to fix this.

You may be stuck with him until contract ends, but again look into that too.

There is a software solution that can help with your URL ugliness.

It's called LinkFreeze.

I have used it successfully on windows servers.

Hi guys thanks for the help and advice, ill contact my web designer with the details, Im new to the web business so its been a steep learning curve but Im sure ill get there eventually