MIVA MERCHANT HELP AND TIPS FOR SEARCH ENGINE AND DIRECTORY OPTIMIZATION

1. Purchase and switch to the OpenUI look and feel display module. If you already have this module, make sure to keep it updated.  Based on our recommendations, the OpenUI now removes the store code from urls in the category tree and product list automatically if you only have one store. As we said in November's issue, this was the problem for getting Miva Merchant category and product pages into Google. Also based on our recommendations, the OpenUI now flips the order of the title tags on Miva Merchant category and product screens (i.e. <title>Product Name or Category Name: Store Name</title> rather than <title>Store Name: Category or Product Name</title>)!  Not only does this have the potential to improve rankings in some search engines (by having your product or category name at the beginning of the search listing title), but it will also look much better to the searcher.  Take mvcool.com for instance.  Here are some examples of how search listings for individual modules look in Google.
   

   

   The title, MvCool - The Miva Merchant Module Superstore, is certainly appropriate for MvCool's storefront/homepage.  However, these listings are for individual modules, and you can't even see the full product title.  Depending on the product title length, it could be even worse for your store.  Now that MvCool has taken our advice, their title tags are more effective and will look better when Google updates their index (i.e. Coupon Based Free Shipping - MvCool - The Miva Merchant Superstore and Modify Related Items Header - MvCool - The Miva Merchant Module Superstore).
2. If you have not done so already, follow the free tips from the last issue on how to make your urls from static pages Google-friendly. This will help with Miva Merchant category and product links on other sites, any static pages from your website, the welcome screen, headers and footers, and additional screens where urls are manually entered.
3. If you have a third-party module that affects the category tree or storefront welcome message, the benefits of the updated OpenUI may be neutralized.  You should contact the developer and ask them if they would include an option to remove the store code from the url in their next update.  If you are comfortable with editing modules, customizing it yourself could be another option.  Always make a backup.  If you remove something that the url needs, you could break the links within your store.  You would have to redo it every time the module was updated.  If you are not comfortable with this, we can do it for a small fee or as part of our search engine maintenance package.
4. Removing the store code from Miva Merchant category and product page urls is great if you only have one store.  Those with multiple stores within a mall are not so lucky.  Here is a great tip for shortening urls with more than one store from William Weiland of Emporium Plus. You don't need to purchase a module to do this. At http://www.emporiumplus.com/store4.txt is a text file. Simply save it to your PC. Edit the first line and change the store code from wcw to whatever your store code is. Edit the next to the last line and change the 4.00 to your merchant version. [Editor's Note: We would recommend changing merchant2 to Merchant2 in the second to last line.  The store name reference should be the same case as your actual store directory name.] Rename the file to store4.mv or whatever you want and put it in your root directory. Do this as many times as you have stores.  Just give each one a unique name.  An example url is: http://www.emporiumplus.com/store4.mv?p=1AA00100 using p = Product, c = Category, s = Search. Or you can name the screen directly, eg Screen=BASK. Here are some other url examples:
   • http://www.emporiumplus.com/store4.mv?p=1AA00100
   • http://www.emporiumplus.com/store4.mv?c=1AA
   • http://www.emporiumplus.com/store4.mv?s=Foster
   • http://www.emporiumplus.com/store4.mv?Screen=TELL

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