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mitch
Posts: 75
From: Edwardsville. IL - USA
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Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/12/2004 5:44:57
Hi,
I built a site for a client that gets some high listings on Google for many specific product searches.
These products are broken into three catagories.
(Classic Mustang, Mustang2, Late Model)
They are now going to a CGI based online cart.
I am wondering if I could put a forwarding script into the 3 pages in question that would quickly take the customer to the same products in the online catalog...thereby not losing cstomers gained from the high listings in Google.
If this is no good what is the best way to accomplish this?
(Here are the two 'Mustang 2' pages in case it would be helpfull.)
Old Page
New Page
Thanks,
Mitch
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Mojo
Posts: 2431
From: Chicago
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/12/2004 12:28:13
Mitch,
Unfortunately for your client, that new page is going to struggle in the SERP's. Stuffing parameters in the URL is a popular thing to do in carts, but search engines don't play nice with them. Unless there are major changes in the search engines, your old page will always do better than the new page.
Redirect
You have to be careful when doing redirects. They are often used by more risk taking SEO types and can be interpretated by the search engine as an attempt to game their index. Whether you use a meta redirect, 301 or a server redirect you will likely cause your original (high ranking) page to be dumped from the index at some point.
If I were you I would *not* redirect, but would use this opportunity to add more content to the site. Keep the original pages and update them as needed. They are ranking well, why break it? Make nice sales copy and the visitor will click to the new page...
Frankly, I would not use that shopping cart if it requires you to lose pages.
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mitch
Posts: 75
From: Edwardsville. IL - USA
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/12/2004 17:00:23
I am a bit confused by the "don't use the cart" idea.
They are losing money big time to the other internet parts sellers.
How are they to stay in business if they don't have the ability to sell online ?
Thanks
< Message edited by mitch -- 10/13/2004 16:36:57 >
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dpf
Posts: 7123
Joined: 11/12/2003
From: India-napolis
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/12/2004 17:13:55
quote:
Stuffing parameters in the URL is a popular thing to do in carts,
why is that done, Joe?
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Mojo
Posts: 2431
From: Chicago
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/12/2004 17:15:08
"Frankly, I would not use that shopping cart"
Use a different cart, one that is more SEO/SEM friendly. You can have your high ranking pages and the cart.
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Reflect
Posts: 4769
From: USA
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/13/2004 8:29:26
quote:
why is that done, Joe?
They are utilizing queries to dynamic pages. It's the query string that Joe is referencing..I believe.
Take care,
Brian
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Thomas Brunt
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From: St. Matthews SC USA
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/13/2004 9:52:12
There are lots of cart systems that allow you to genereate purchase links that you paste into regular static web pages. The regular static web pages can be easily indexed by search engines.
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xeerex
Posts: 77
Joined: 5/9/2002
From: Texas
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/13/2004 13:30:39
From a google standpoint (and most others), the search engines will index ASP content or just about any dynamically generated content. How many times have you seen this when you google something?
Remember that ASP and most dynamic languages are a server-side process so that as the bot crawls the page it sees the same content that is rendered to the browser (for the most part). Passing parameters in the URL does not generally affect most of the major engines either up to a point. They will still crawl the URL.
As evidenced by this google (look at my second listing):
Google Rexpage
If you go ahead and build the product pages so that the bots will begin to index them, and then remove the original static content, then hopefully your dip in rankings will be minimal or shortlived. Redirects will many times not be indexed by Google. Remember the rule of thumb:
CONTENT IS KING -- which explains why redirects are penalized.
To quote from google's Webmaster and SEO pages:
Fiction: Sites are not included in Google's index if they use ASP (or some other non-html file-type.)
Fact:
At Google, we are able to index most types of pages and files with very few exceptions. File types we are able to index include: pdf, asp, jsp, hdml, shtml, xml, cfm, doc, xls, ppt, rtf, wks, lwp, wri, swf.
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Mojo
Posts: 2431
From: Chicago
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/13/2004 15:13:11
Find pages that rank well in *competitive* areas that use many parameters. They are far and few in between and are usually HUGE sites are have been SEO'd to the N'th degree.
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mitch
Posts: 75
From: Edwardsville. IL - USA
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/13/2004 16:50:09
Well I guess I am screwed.
I can't drop the cart - way too much time and money spent on it.
They won't use PayPal.
And I don't understand what xeerex said (or most of the other stuff).
Here is what I think is the best option I have been given.
keep the pages that are hitting on Google etc.
And from them make a "Go Here To Shop" link from there to the catalog/cart?
Am I even close?
thanks
mitch
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Mojo
Posts: 2431
From: Chicago
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/13/2004 18:02:16
quote:
Passing parameters in the URL does not generally affect most of the major engines either up to a point. They will still crawl the URL.
Your technically correct, but wrong for this situation. Mitch is not talking about passing a single parameter, but rather many parameters. True, the bots can crawl a URL with many parameters, but more often they will either not crawl it or they will give the page a low value. It will be very hard to rank that page against the many other pages on the net without all the parameters. You example did not prove your point.
This could change at any time, but for now that is how it is.
quote:
Here is what I think is the best option I have been given.
keep the pages that are hitting on Google etc.
And from them make a "Go Here To Shop" link from there to the catalog/cart?
Am I even close?
Given what you have said, this would appear to be the best way to go.
If you have your own server (or a kind host) you could do a URL rewrite and spit out pages that the search bots will easily digest. Search google for 'mod rewrite'. These product exist for exactly your situation.
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btwebs
Posts: 39
Joined: 4/26/2003
From: Oz (Melb)
Status: offline
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/14/2004 6:56:59
Irregardless of all this, does anyone have any good forwarding scripts?...
Especially one that will display the current (& correct) URL?
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xeerex
Posts: 77
Joined: 5/9/2002
From: Texas
Status: offline
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/14/2004 22:47:27
Here's a few ways.
For ASP:
Relative URL
<% Response.Redirect("Mypage.ext") %>
Absolute URL
<% Response.Redirect("http://www.mypage.com") %>
Using a Page Refresh (Relative) (4 sec)
<% Response.AddHeader "Refresh", "4;URL=mypage.ext" %>
Using a Page Refresh (Absolute) (4 sec)
<% Response.AddHeader "Refresh", "4;URL=http://www.mypage.com" %>
HTML or ASP meta tag refresh (4 sec)
<META http-equiv="Refresh" content="4; URL=http://www.mypage.com/page.ext">
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btwebs
Posts: 39
Joined: 4/26/2003
From: Oz (Melb)
Status: offline
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/14/2004 22:57:46
Thanks, I'll try them out.
Regards,
BTWebs
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Toni
Posts: 6
Joined: 1/30/2002
From: Napa CA
Status: offline
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/14/2004 23:16:51
Mitch, I'm using the same shopping cart for one client, and have just found this link in Kryptonic's support forum:
http://www.aatechservices.com/clickcartpro-seo.php
It's an independent service which has written a script which makes the cart pages SE friendly. Haven't tried it yet, since the cost is $150 (installed), but it might be something your clients would be willing to do to keep their ranking.
My client is considering it, and if she goes with it, I'll give you some feedback as to how effective it is.
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mitch
Posts: 75
From: Edwardsville. IL - USA
Status: offline
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/15/2004 2:11:02
Hi Toni,
I was already aware of them and we are going to use their service when the cart is fully loaded with product.
However I am looking for ways to keep and capitalize on the rankings of the current pages.
I think I will leave them up and add text to them to channel folks to the store pages.
I will also add direct to the store links to the main page.
How does this strike you 'wise ones' as a solution?
thanks
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xeerex
Posts: 77
Joined: 5/9/2002
From: Texas
Status: offline
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/15/2004 11:56:08
As a suggestion, if you want an ASP based solution check out www.candypress.com (dont let the name fool you). The code is rock solid and has great support in the forums. Plus, at ~$49.99 you can't beat the price for a full featured cart solution.
I've been using it for well over a year and stumbled across it on this very site.
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DarlingBri
Posts: 3123
From: Left of Centre, Cork, Ireland
Status: offline
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RE: Use forwarding script & keep ratings? - 10/15/2004 22:10:26
This seems as thought it is being made overly complex to me.
Install the cart, which will generate pages with URLs that are new for your site. Keep the old static HTML pages, and link each product to it's new shopping cart page. SE happy. Client happy. Job done?
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