How to properly fill out SEO

[Tatttoo]

Hello,

Before Prestashop i was using WP eCommerce. The SEO worked great when ever i would search for products that i offer it would usually be on the first page. Now that i switched to Prestashop none show. The only thing i get is some of the old WP eCommerce links. I have uninstalled the plugin but they still show. Am i filling it out correctly ? ( Also when i enable friendly url i get 404 error when ever i go to a page thats not the home page ? This is what shows next to the yes & no button. URL rewriting (mod_rewrite) is not active on your server, or it is not possible to check your server configuration. If you want to use Friendly URLs, you must activate this mod.) Thank you. I greatly appreciate your help!

Link to site: HERE

[vekia]

1) you've got 404? but it is a browser "404" error or prestashop "page not found" ?

[Tatttoo]

this is what it says when i turn it on.

(This page is not available We're sorry, but the Web address you've entered is no longer available.To find a product, please type its name in the field below.) The address is http://westtexasatv....ore-shop/order. I get this error when i click on the cart,checkout and tags?Do i have the other settings correct?

Edited July 21, 2013 by Tatttoo (see edit history)

[vekia]

thanks for clarification

so this is prestashop "page not found" / 404

 

 

the simplest way to resolve (it works for many merchants):

1. run the friendly url mode
   
2. please regenerate the .htaccess file - but before you will do this, make sure that you've got backup
   

[Tatttoo]

Thank you for your help. Regenerating the .htaccess file is what i have been doing to correct this error. I have been deleting the file and it fixes it but i still dont have friendly URLs. I am really trying to make my products show on google etc searches.

[vekia]

hello

 

but you turned the friendly urls in the preferences > seo & urls ?

where you've got hosting?

[Tatttoo]

yes when i turn it on i get the 404 error. when i turn it off i still get the error unless i delete the htaccess. file. then it goes back to normal. if i turn it on then turn it off right away i dont get the errors but the URLs are not friendly they remain the same. i use godaddy for my hosting.

[vekia]

i don't know exactly what you did, but you said that you regenerated the .htaccess after disabling the friendly urls

1) turn it on

2) check your website

2) now regenerate the htaccess

[Tatttoo]

regenerating the htaccess file is turning it on then off, or deleting the file right ? I have read the link you provied and i have tried all 3 ways. I cant have friendly URLs on and it work i get the 404 error. If i turn it on then off again it creates the htaccess file and i dont get any errors but my URLs are not friendly. I just tried it i turned it on checked my site the shopping cart i got the 404 error. I then turned it off saved then turned it on again saved. i still get the 404 error?

[Tatttoo]

Ok i think i have figured out a solution to my problem with the friendly URLs. I have turned Friendly URLs on and im changing the URLs in the SEO & URLs section. example. mysite/shop/store to mysite/shop/my-store. This has worked and i dont get the 404 error on the store page any more.

[Dh42]

The reason nothing is ranking now I am guessing is that you did not pass your "link juice". When you migrate to a new site you need to set up a htaccess file and redirect the old pages to the new pages. if you do not do that, search engines look at the new pages as totally new. They do not take into account that they are the old pages with new names.

[Tatttoo]

I didnt migrate any thing from my old store. I started new. At the time my old store only had 40-50 products, and i am very new to the eCommerce thing so i just started new that way i get a better feel and understanding on how prestashop works.

[Guts]

I have the same problem prestashop 1.5.6.1 on local ubuntu 13.10

[Ciseur]

I didnt migrate any thing from my old store. I started new. At the time my old store only had 40-50 products, and i am very new to the eCommerce thing so i just started new that way i get a better feel and understanding on how prestashop works.

Hello Tatttoo,

 

When you change from a solution to another you have to make some actions in order to help Search Engine to understand it and to avoid to loose users.

 

Understanding with an example

In order to make it simple, I'll use a user experience example to explain it.

 

Imagine you bookmarked a product on a website in order to come back to it later.

If this website change his solution and product URL, your bookmark will reach you to a 404 error page.

 

Search Engines works the same. They bookmarks all pages on the web (in a database called "index") and juste gives you the most relevant bookmarks regarding to a query.

 

What is happening with your website?

You just changed everything (most important change : URLs). And you have done nothing to tell Search Engines that your products are now available somewhere else.

So, Google still displays old WP eCommerce product until they removed definitely them and finaly shows the new one.

By not declaring the moving of your products, you are loosing all SEO you had.

 

What you have to do?

You need to make 301 redirects from your old URLs to the new ones.

This will automatically redirect user (and Google, Bing, etc) from your old URLs to the new ones and transfer most part of SEO you had to your new shop.