SEO friendly URLs - support in external.php and sitemap

[seymourjames +]

I notice that the sitemap generator and external.php files are generating URLs for the listings like

http://www.mydomain/viewlisting.php?view=27
http://www.mydomain/viewlisting.php?view=28

etc.

I am using this piece of code in the sitemap generator which probably needs modifying.

$sSQL='SELECT * FROM '.PREFIX.'listings ORDER BY id DESC';
$result=$db->query($sSQL);
while ($rs=$result->fetch())
{
echo '<url>
<loc>'.URL.'/viewlisting.php?view='.$rs['id'].'</loc>
<lastmod>2008-04-18</lastmod>
<priority>0.2</priority>
</url>';
echo "\n";
}

However, each of these URLs is being rewritten by the SEO friendly URL module for a user to something more like

http://www.mydomain/listing/27/bla-bla-bla.html
http://www.mydomain/listing/28/bla-bla.html

So using the site as a user is fine. All renders correctly. One gets the SEO friendly URLs but the search engines are also getting the php ones from the external.php file and the sitemap generator.

I wonder whether that creates an ambiguity for the search engines? Two URLs with the same information. Any ideas how to go about getting this to work in both the sitemap generator and external.php to produce SEO friendly URLs. I am sure it is relatively simple change. I have tried twiddling with the seo/mod_user.php file but cannot get it to do what I want. It seems to be something to do with relative and absolute links to the viewlistings pages.

[Eric Barnes]

Here is an updated external.php file that will be available in v4.0.2:

PHP Code:

<?php
/**********************************
* 68 Classifieds
* http://www.68classifieds.com/
*
* All source code & content (c) Copyright 2007, 68 Classifieds
* unless specifically noted otherwise.
***********************************/
require_once('includes/init.php');

    $type = ( isset($_GET['type']) ) ? $_GET['type'] : 'new';
    $limit = ( isset($_GET['limit']) ) ? (int)$_GET['limit'] : '15';
    $where=" WHERE p.expiration > NOW() AND p.display = 'Y'";
    
    switch($type)
    {
        case "new":
            $orderby = " ORDER BY p.dateadded DESC";
        break;
        case "featured":
            $orderby = " ORDER BY p.dateadded DESC";
            $where .= " AND p.featured='Y'";
        break;
        case "top":
            $orderby = " ORDER BY p.hitcount DESC";
        break;
        default:
            $orderby = " ORDER BY p.dateadded DESC";
    }
    //now setup the search query
    $sSQL = "SELECT p.id, p.owner, p.title, p.featured, p.section, p.shortDescription, p.description, p.price, p.dateadded, p.expiration, p.display, p.pHighlighted, p.pBold, u.username, u.state, u.city, u.country FROM ".PREFIX."listings AS p LEFT JOIN ".PREFIX."users AS u ON p.owner = u.id";
    
    //sub categories
    if(isset($_REQUEST['category']))
    {
        if(isset($_REQUEST['showchild']) && $_REQUEST['showchild'] == 'Y')
        {
            require_once(FILESYSTEM_PATH .'includes/classes/kernel/Categories.php');
            $Categories = new Categories;
            $arr_childs = array((int)$_REQUEST['category']);
            $Categories->get_ids($arr_childs);
            $options['arr_childs']=$arr_childs;
            $where .= ( empty($options['arr_childs']) ) ? '': " AND p.section IN (". implode(', ', $options['arr_childs']) .")";
        }
        else
        {
            $where .= ( isset($_REQUEST['category']) ) ? ' AND p.section = '.(int)$_REQUEST['category'] : '';
        }
    }
    
    //any additional where statements
    $where .= ( isset($_GET['state']) ) ? ' AND u.state = "'.mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['state']).'"' : '';
    $where .= ( isset($_GET['city']) ) ? ' AND u.city = "'.mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['city']).'"' : '';
    $where .= ( isset($_GET['country']) ) ? ' AND u.country = "'.mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['country']).'"' : '';
    $where .= ( isset($_GET['owner']) ) ? ' AND p.owner = '.(int)$_GET['owner'] : '';
    
    if (isset($_REQUEST['searchtext'])&& $_REQUEST['searchtext']<>"")
    {
        $searchtext=trim(mysql_real_escape_string($_REQUEST['searchtext']));
        $where .= " AND (p.title LIKE '%".$searchtext."%' OR p.description LIKE '%".$searchtext."%')";
    }
    //search price//
    $minprice=(int)trim(@$_REQUEST['minprice']);
    $maxprice=(int)trim(@$_REQUEST['maxprice']);
    if($minprice == "")
        $minprice=0;
    if($maxprice == "")
        $maxprice=9999999;
    $where .= " AND p.price BETWEEN ". $minprice ." AND ". $maxprice;

    $sSQL = $sSQL . $where . $orderby ." LIMIT ". $limit."";

    $ads = array();
    $result = $db->query($sSQL);
    while ($rs=$result->fetch()) 
    { 
        $ads[] = $rs;
    }
    
    // set XML type and nocache headers
    header('Content-Type: text/xml');
    header('Expires: ' . gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s') . ' GMT');
    header('Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0');
    header('Pragma: public');
    
    // print out the page header
    echo '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>' . "\r\n";
    echo '<rss version="2.0">' . "\r\n";
    echo "<channel>\r\n";
    echo "\t<title>" . htmlspecialchars($title) . "</title>\r\n";
    echo "\t<link>".URL."</link>\r\n";
    echo "\t<description>" . htmlspecialchars($Core->settings['description']). "</description>\r\n";
    echo "\t<language>en</language>\r\n";
    echo "\t<generator>68 Classifieds</generator>\r\n";
    echo "\t<lastBuildDate>" . gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s') . " GMT</lastBuildDate>\r\n";
    echo "\t<pubDate>" . gmdate('D, d M Y H:i:s') . " GMT</pubDate>\r\n";
    
    // list returned threads
    if (!empty($ads))
    {
        foreach ($ads as $listing)
        {
            //item info
            if($listing['price'] == 0)
            {
                $price = '';
            }
            else
            {
                $price = FormatCurrency($listing['price']);
            }
            
            if($price == '')
            {
                $seperator = "";
            }
            else
            {
                $seperator = ' - ';
            }
            
            echo "\t\t".'<item>'."\r\n";
            echo "\t\t\t".'<title>'. htmlspecialchars($listing['title']) . $seperator . $price .'</title>'."\r\n";
            if(defined('SEO'))
            {
                $listing_title=$listing['title'];
                $listing_title=str_replace(' ', '_', $listing_title);
                $listing_title=preg_replace('/\W/e', '', $listing_title);
                if(SEO_STRING == 'dash') {
                    $listing_title=str_replace('_', '-', $listing_title);
                }
                $link=URL ."/listing/".$listing['id']."/".$listing_title.".html";    
            }
            else
            {
                $link=URL ."/viewlisting.php?view=".$listing['id'];
            }    
            echo "\t\t\t".'<guid>'.$link .'</guid>'."\r\n";
            echo "\t\t\t"."<link>". $link ."</link>"."\r\n";
                    
            //get images
            $isSQL = sprintf("SELECT pid,image FROM ".PREFIX."prodimages WHERE pid = %s ORDER BY rank ASC LIMIT 1", $listing['id']);
            $iresult = $db->query($isSQL);
            $irs=$iresult->fetch();
            if($iresult->size() == 1)
            {
               $imDescription = "<a href=". $link ."><img src='". URL . "/thumbs/small_" . $irs['image'] . "' align='left' style='margin: 0 5px 5px 0;' border='0'  /></a>".$listing['description'].'<br clear="all" />';
            }
            else
            {
                $imDescription = "<a href=". $link ."><img src='". URL ."/images/nophoto.gif' ' align='left'  style='margin: 0 5px 5px 0;' border='0'  /></a>".$listing['description'].'<br clear="all" />';
            } 
            echo "\t\t\t". "<description>". htmlspecialchars($imDescription) . "</description>"."\r\n";
            
            //close the item
            echo "\t\t".'</item>'."\r\n";
        }
    }
    
    //close the feed
    echo "</channel>\r\n";
    echo "</rss>";
?>

[seymourjames +]

Thanks. You are a super chappy. I will beta it for you. I think several people will want to do this if they are spreading their feed.

[seymourjames +]

Well we all look forward to 4.02.

The code works well for me. All the links are SEO friendly. Mr G eat your heart out, Suzkaw is on his way.

I have to say this to the readers. I have only had 68C a few weeks but what great support they offer. I could not have asked for more. Sometimes you just fall upon the right team.

[crystal +]

I have the SEO mod added on my site, and I just added the sitemap mod. The SEO mod is working great, and my external.php file has the correct SEO links. My sitemap is displaying all of the php links like mysite.com/category.php?cat=forsale. I am using the updated external.php but that doesn't seem to affect the sitemap. How do I get the sitemap to work correctly with the SEO mod?

Also I noticed I don't have any of my pages (relating to pages.php) listed on the sitemap, it is only categories and listings. I'm not sure I understand the structure of the sitemap, and advice is appreciated.

Thank you!

[seymourjames +]

I cannot help you on your question (except I noticed the sitemap module does this so I do not use it). I want my site as far as google is concerned to contain only urls with html extensions. I think site maps are getting overated to be frank. Over the last two yeas I have seen little results from doing sitemaps for google. Time can be better spent on optimising the principle pages of your site.

Do you have problems with pagination and the SEO module. I still cannot get it to render seo friendly urls for category pages where there are multiple pages of listings and one can change the price order for example.

[crystal +]

Originally Posted by seymourjames

Do you have problems with pagination and the SEO module. I still cannot get it to render seo friendly urls for category pages where there are multiple pages of listings and one can change the price order for example.

I have not looked at the pagination yet, as I've already disabled my SEO mod until I get support. My site errors out (goes to 404 page) when any heading is clicked to sort by in showlistings. I just launched and got my first members, with my first round of support emails to go with it. They have pointed out quite a few errors that need to be delt with.

[seymourjames +]

What is the url of your site.