How to configure VM to hide category in the URL of a product?

[izig]

Hi,

I have some issues with sh404SEF and would like to disable it on my VM.
The issue is that the SEF URLs I have something similar to to that:
http://www.mysite.com/main_category/chiled_category

While all my products URLs looks like this (no category in the link):
http://www.mysite.com/product_name

After configuring sh404SEF to use the Joomla SEF component for VM, I can't access my products from their categories as the link to a product in the category is:
http://www.mysite.com/category_name/product_name

Any idea how to fix it?

This is a link to my live site with sh404SEF enabled:
http://www.yonishobby.co.il

And a link to a copy with sh404SEF disabled for VM:
http://sep.yonishobby.co.il

Thanks,
Izi

[jjk]

I can't read Hebrew, but it looks like on both websites, one of your problems is that you don't have a 'SEO suffix' in your VirtueMart configuration settings. Don't leave that empty! See here: http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=116282.msg391928#msg391928

And why do you want to hide the category name in the url? That would be 'SEC' (Search Engine Concealment)

[jenkinhill]

@izig why are you using sh404SEF? Joomla2.5's native SEF works extremely well with VM2's SEF   Using a third party SEF component can cause problems.

[izig]

Actually, the entire issue started as the registration form doesn't work for me with sh404SEF active.
After deactivating the sh404SEF the products are not accessible as I mentioned above. I'm looking for a way to have the store work as it was installed without sh404SEF from the beginning.
Is there a cache or database table holding all SEF URLs? Can I delete it so all links will be recreated?

One more thing, after disabling the sh404SEF, I can register to the site but cannot activate the new users as the activation link is redirected to the home page.

Thanks

[jjk]

Last time I've used sh404sef is more than 3 years ago so I'm not up to date with the current version. If you just disabled (unpublished) it, you probably would have to enable it again and look for a button which clears all sh404sef urls in the database and/or cache. Thereafter I would uninstall it and use phpmyadmin to check if there are any remaining database tables which belong to sh404sef and if yes, drop (delete) them. I would also check the Joomla extensions and menu database tables for any remains.

[izig]

jjk,

My question is how to make sure that all SEF URL are created by Joomla \ VM instead of sh404SEF. At the moment, with sh404SEF disabled the shop doesn't work properly.

I added a "Test category" and "New Product" in English, it's on the bottom of the menu on the right. This new product is totally inaccessible.

Regarding "SOE suffix", from a short chat with Max M., I understood that the SEO suffix purpose is to distinguish between a product and a category with the same name \ alias. Although I don't have a problem using it, all my products are already indexed by Google using my site name / product name which seems to be ranked very good and on the top of the relevant search queries.

[jjk]

Did you purge the sh404sef urls in the sh404sef url manager? And what happens if you add a 'SEO Suffix' in your VirtueMart configuration?
Concerning your 'New Product' in English, I don't know if the Joomla and VirtueMart routers are able to handle a mix of left-to-right and right-to-left languages.
Does the 'New Product' work if you disable SEF urls completely in Joomla and VirtueMart?

[izig]

I disabled in the plugin manager the sh404SEF, deleted the URLs and cleared the site cache. Didn't work.
Adding SEO suffix works, all items are accessible. The issue is that all my products are indexed without any suffix.

Is it possible to activate the store without any suffix? Or redirect using 301 any URL without the suffix to a new one with the suffix?
(I prefer to be able to use VM without any suffix)

And back to the registration issue, with Joomla \ VM SEF the process is almost working. I can register but cannot activate my new account. Each time I press the activation link sent by VM, I'm redirected to the home page. Deleting all the related cookies allow the link to activate the account. Any idea about this issue?

[jjk]

I would publish the shop with the VM SEO suffix and then have a look into Google Webmaster tools and the Redirect Manager built into Joomla if there is any problem.
Search engines like Google don't care about the suffixes, because they don't need it to determine the type of content.

If I submit a new VM product page to Google, it is usually in the index within a few hours, sometimes even within a few minutes. New websites initially get a relatively high ranking, but usually it falls down again after a while. I'm shure, in your case the fall will be a little bit deeper because you don't include the categories in your urls, which are a good hint for the search engines to determine the type of content.

I currently have no idea concerning the account activation. Perhaps you can find a similiar case in Google.

[jenkinhill]

Joomla account activation does not work if confirmation is requested by VirtueMart.  We don't use emailed confirmation as it just puts a roadblock in the way of shoppers trying to spend their money on your site.......

[izig]

OK, disabled the mail activation. I still think that the issue needs to be addressed, I don't know what's more can be affected by this issue.
Is there a reason why the store is not functional without the SEO suffix?