23 replies to this topic

[OysterWings]

I am doing a web site for a non-profit organization and it will require some shopping cart software. An Internet search came up with one product that claims to be SEO friendly. Is there really such a thing or is that just a marketing ploy? Also, since this is my first e-commerce site, any recommendations on what would be good to use. Thanks.

[Jill]

Sure, there are lots of shopping carts that are search engine friendly. See the shopping cart section here where I'm moving this thread to.

[OldWelshGuy]

CREloaded version of OSCommerce is SEO friendly, as is Zen cart (ish). Both are free.

[Katy]

You could also check out Comersus (free I think) and CactuShop (not free unfortunately but good)

[iTsold]

Of the free versions I would put CREloaded and Zen Cart into the pot and of the paid versions Actinic is worth a look.

HTH

[identity]

ecommercetemplates may be one to consider.

Also not free, but have PHP and ASP versions, various templates in Dreamweaver and GoLive to choose from, as well as a bared down version which you can customize as needed.

Perhaps the best feature though is that you can easily drop the cart into an existing site (copy, paste and modify a few lines of code) and design with little to no effort versus the typical skinning an existing design over a cart, designing around the cart and then redesigning the existing site, or having a cart dictate your design of the site.

[Randy]

All good suggestions. I've even used most of them at one time or another over the years. You can't go far wrong with any of them. You'll probably want to test drive a few of them to see what fits your specific needs best.

One I'll make that I've used quite successfully before is x-Cart. Not free though.

FTR, one of the reasons I like it is if I expect a site is going to get very busy where the dynamic nature could cause server issues, x-cart has a module where it will create and serve up static pages. So visitors aren't ever actually hitting a database. It only gets used when you rebuild the store. This has a rather drastic positive effect on server loads when you're talking about a site that might get a ton of traffic.

[roxyyo]

Elastic Path is SEO optimized. You could also do a search for "SEO shopping cart" or "Seo friendly shopping cart"

[sddreamweavers]

x-cart has a module where it will create and serve up static pages. So visitors aren't ever actually hitting a database. It only gets used when you rebuild the store. This has a rather drastic positive effect on server loads when you're talking about a site that might get a ton of traffic.

You don't want to use the built in SEO module where it rebuilds the pages. There's a 3-rd party add-on that is 1000% better than the page rebuilding (check the forums for information).

I'm using X-Cart right now for one of my sites and I have the SEO add in on the site. You have to be using linux/apache and (This is REALLY important) make sure that you meet all the prerequsites for using X-Cart. They even have a dynamically created site map which is awesome (have to search the forums for the code) X-Cart with all the mods and tweaks installed. I inherited a site that had some piss poor SEO work done on it (Googlebombing from hell) and now it's my turn to bring it back from the dead. It takes some time to get it up and running, especially in creating the SEO friendly file names (which must be done for every product) but when it's up it smokes!

[cometmall]

I think these days most carts are SEO friendly

[Abhishek Singh]

I always prefer and recomment other for Seo friendly shopping cart for succesful ecommerce marketing

[michael_ter]

I always prefer and recomment other for Seo friendly shopping cart for succesful ecommerce marketing

I think that the term "SEO friendly" does not reflect correct the problem. Usually it is considered that "SEO friendly" this is URL in natural form with html extension. But "SEO friendly" site in general is more than just names of generated web pages in manner "some-word.html" - this is structure of the site with directories, subdirectories, pages, with linking ideology, with much text information. Probably it would be possible to make a site on base of shopping carts (I mean like X-Cart or OSCommerce type) SEO friendly but it will not be user freindly. Shopping cart is a machine for sales, each feature is intended to increase sales. I tested at least 30 PHP shopping carts (using partly my local web server, partly working sites). All of them in rough are the same - they leave very little room for manipulation of the site, they care only about catalog, sales, orders payments, etc, important and necessary things but nearly all sites with them look quite similar.

Edited by michael_ter, 13 July 2007 - 08:39 AM.

[Abhishek Singh]

But "SEO friendly" site in general is more than just names of generated web pages in manner "some-word.html" - this is structure of the site with directories, subdirectories, pages, with linking ideology, with much text information. Probably it would be possible to make a site on base of shopping carts (I mean like X-Cart or OSCommerce type) SEO friendly but it will not be user freindly.

Thanks Michael for removing my misunderstanding.

[Edvin Eshagh]

From the above suggestions, I've liked
X-Cart and Zen Cart (successor to OsCommerce) the most.

You may also want to consider Joomla (content management system) which has many useful extensions; including shopping cart solutions.
Thus, it may make it easier to manage content and products on your site.
Take a look at their extension sections to see list of stuff you may come to use later.

[tomynate]

From the above suggestions, I've liked
X-Cart and Zen Cart (successor to OsCommerce) the most.

I have been with Sunshop for the last 3 years. They recently upgraded to a bigger and better program, but there are no helps or documentation plus I have to know CSS and what is set up in CSS and what in html. Ruined a good cart for me. I have been looking into X-Cart and I have looked at Zen Cart. The difference between the two, other than price, is X-Cart has static html for categories, sub categries, and products where it does not appear that Zen Cart does. At one point I understood that static html pages was of major importance for search engines. You are recommening both carts so I am wondering if there is a difference to SE's now. I am trying to get back in the loop now so I can make an intelligent decision. Also, X-Cart says $199 for their cart but a site that compares them with several others indicates I should expect $800+ for licenses. Can you give me some input on this? This is a little wordy, but this is the kind of thread I need to stay sane.