Linking to a Product

[jkp2505]

Hi,

On our web site, for each printer we list all the compatible supplies. They are added as duplicates and the full description is shown. I am beginning to think that it might be better to show a short description and have a link to a page with more detailed information. It could be the best combination of search engine optimisation and usability.

I don't want to use a simple extended information method because it generates a different page for each duplicate which is bad for several reasons. What I'd like to do is link to the page that the original product (i.e. the one instance that is not a duplicate). If I call the relevant CGI page to find it by product ID it will have a negative effect on search rankings because the URL will not contain the name of the product. So ideally I'd like to be able to link to the relevant HTML page instead. But I can't see any way to do that.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone has any ideas.

[gabrielcrowe]

you could always hard code them into the description:

!!<<a href='hardlink.htm'>link title</a>>!!

[jont]

you could always hard code them into the description:

.. and semi-automate this using a user variable to populate the code set inside a block if to test if the variable is not empty (ie display the link).. allows for better future-proofing also than adding to each areas product description

[jkp2505]

Unfortunately it would take a very long time to do this as there are hundreds of cartridges and toners. If there was a way to do it automatically it would save a lot of work. It would also make it much more maintainable.

I did find a way to base the filename of the extended info page on the product title. If I could url encode the title and use it as the filename then it could work. The problem is that I'm not sure if Actinic will cope, because it will probably try to generate several pages with the same name. I tried a full site preview and surprisingly it worked. But I didn't try to upload because I suspect it could corrupt the database.

[jont]

Didn't Duncan (drounding) have a solution to link back if it was a duplicate at the start of the v8 forum? That may have gone via the cgi-bin though - but worth checking out all the same.