Optimize manufacturer page(s)

[GuidoS]

I don't know how other members think of this but I really would like to have some extra options for the manufacturer pages, starting with Meta tags like keywords, description.

I also would like to see this information on the category page of a manufacturer and that I could choose the manufacturer category page as a menuitem. Know you can only set a link to the detailpage of a manufacturer and from there you can go to the category page.

A nice category page with description and metatags of the manufacturer would really make things better in my opinion:) How do others think about this?

[FidelGonzales]

I understand your concern. It is this reason I remove the default links to Virtuemart's default Manufacturer. Instead, I created a separate Manufacturers category, where I create a separate category for all the manufacturers. This also helps when a manufacturer has thousands of products, allowing you to categorize them into sub-categories for easier and more SEO-favorable navigation.

I'm still working on a viable product details page. One relatively simple option is to use the URL field within the product admin page, manually placing your custom manufacturer category URL therein and automatically inserting the default Virtuemart manufacturer name through code. Currently, I likely going to use this for the purpose to purchase through affiliate advertisers, possibly replacing the text link with a "Buy Now" link. But you can see the link actually directs you to another site at the moment.

If interested, I should be able to find some time to modify the product template I'm using to work as I mentioned.

VIRTUEMART ROOT - http://dirtarmory.com/parts
VIRTUEMART PRODUCT - http://dirtarmory.com/parts/18/smittybilt-xrc-rock-crawler-winch-bumper-grill-guard-d-ring-mounts-wrangler-tj-rubicon-unlimited-1997-2006-product
CUSTOM MANUFACTURER - http://dirtarmory.com/parts/13/manufacturers

[FidelGonzales]

I had to look at my notes. Look at the linked product page above. I added a related categories link to the manufacturer category. Although it currently says "Related Categories" now, you can easily change that through the template or perhaps in the language file. In order to accomplish this, simply go to your product admin page under the custom fields tab at related categories field. Select your custom manufacturer category.

I have yet to modify this to my liking, but it's a better option, in my opinion, than what is offered by default from Virtuemart, since it redirects the customer and search engines to a SEO-friendly page, where you can also have sub-categories and other SEO-friendly attributes.

My notes are included here: http://mediaarmory.com/forum/229-virtuemart/91519-virtuemart-2-redirect-product-page-manufacturer-link-url-to-custom-multi-level-manufacturers-category

[GuidoS]

Thank you very much for your reply. I have also been looking at this option but I think that optimizing the manufacturer page would be better, also because components like product filters are using the manufacturers for filtering.
Meta titles, descriptions and maybe a direct link to the category page of a manufacturer would be very nice:) I am now using a plugin to set the meta titles.