How to optimize the calls on the site.
Sometimes our clients ask us questions, why they have so many calls on their sites and how they can be reduced. In this connection, we decide to make an algorithm, what you should do to reduce the number of calls.
If you what the call is, then you should read the article about it in our blog
First of all you need to check the number of calls in the admin panel: Reports › Service statistics > Calls detalization and Reports › Methods detail.
If you think, that you have too much the calls number, try to use the following steps:
1. Close indexing in admin panel here: Promotion › SEO > Configuring indexing by search engines and set such settings:
Prohibition on indexing the main page (partially) - Index
Prohibition on indexing of goods lists in categories - Do not index
Prohibition on indexing of goods lists in brands - Do not index
Prohibition on indexing of product page - Do not index
2. Check robots.txt file.
Correct robots.txt file must look like this:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /*p=item
Disallow: /item
Disallow: /*p=category
Disallow: /category
Disallow: /*p=subcategory
Disallow: /subcategory
Disallow: /*p=search
Disallow: /search
Disallow: /*p=search_ajax
Disallow: /search_ajax
Disallow: /*p=vendor
Disallow: /*p=reviews
Disallow: /reviews
#Disallow: /category*from=*
#Disallow: /subcategory*from=*
#Sitemap: http://site.ru/sitemap.xml
#Host: site.ru
To change this file you need:
a. go to the root folder on your hosting.
b. find robots.txt file.
c. change the text.
3. Check the log on the hosting, and from which IP addresses you get the biggest traffic, and check these IP addresses.
If search engine bots make a lot of calls, then they must be blocked.
To check the log you need to make the following steps:
a. find the file with the log on your hosting (or you can write in the hosting support with request to show you where this file is).
b. check the traffic. If some IP address gives a great number of calls, this IP must be checked and blocked.
To block using IP address you can in this file: .htaccess. You need to find there this rule:
Deny from 38.99.82.34(instead 38.99.82.34 – write the necessary IP address)
The example of checking IP address:
How to know what does this IP address mean? Is it a potential customer or a search engine bot?
For example, you can check IP address here https://2ip.ru/geoip/ If this IP address from US, most likely it’s a search engine bot.
Or if you have one million of calls from one IP address, that tells you, it’s not a person.
If you have OX (OT Commerce Hosting), our specialists check it by themselves. You just need to write a ticket in our support http://support.otcommerce.com.
4. If your site has a customization, in this case you need to check it. Probably, some of the methods was made incorrect, and it makes too many calls.
How you can check it:
a.go to the admin panel (Reports – Billing – Methods detail) and check from what method you get too many calls.
b.find in your customization the call of this method.
c.correct the customization.
Is it possible to determine many calls on the site are made by real people?
Answer: No, there isn't any way on our side to figure out that it is real people who make calls and not search engine bots. If you want to minimize costs, then there are methods for this:
1. Showing a catalog / product detail page, only to registered users. This drastically reduces number of views.
2. Blocking all search engine bots. It will greatly reduce, it's possible to bypass such protection, but there isn't much sense in it.
3. Installing captcha, "on the site as a whole." There are ready scripts, you can find it in the internet.
All 3 ways can significantly reduce views, but everything has a downside. In this case, these are positions, or rather their absence in search engines. If this parameter isn't important for you, you can implement any of these 3 options or even a combination of them.
For example, if you apply the first option, service payment will decrease, but then may happen a situation, when a customer opens a product detail page, and there is nothing there or there is old information about the product. This is the reverse side of the coin. I.e. this method, on the one hand minimizes costs, and on the other hand potentially it greatly reduces income.
There is one more option. You can purchase a mobile app such as WebView. And in this case, WebView site is blocked for viewing by everyone except the mobile application. Promote the mobile app. There will be no bots and some left views.
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If you use only our Key (API), all above-listed points are applicable, except points 1 and 2. In this case you need to forbid indexation in the code of your site.
Products update plugin and combined search
We are actively working towards improving OT platform and increasing the speed of product updates. Therefore, we have developed an additional tool that will help you almost instantly and independently update those products you need right now.
We present to your attention OT Product Data Collector — a plug-in for Google Chrome browser that collects up-to-date information about products when browsing marketplaces and transfers it to OT database.
If you install the plugin in your Google Chrome browser, then all the products you open on the original marketplaces will be sent to our system and updated in our database for some time, usually within a few seconds.
At the moment, the plugin only affects product pages of Taobao / Tmall. We will expand its functionality in the future. You don't have to reinstall it, Google Chrome updates plugins automatically.
Follow the link https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...afjnllnpcljhfa to install the plugin
This tool is auxiliary for our system operation. It will help you to receive information about those products that are not yet in our database or information about them is not relevant.
Important! For correct work of this plugin you must disable auto-translation in the browser settings, if you are using it. In any case, product price will be updated even if auto-translation is enabled, but the rest of the data may not be updated.
We also have more good news. Some time ago, combined text search was enabled in our system for all providers, which also uses product characteristics and not just its name, as it was before. Search results of your online store will now additionally take into account all the keywords entered by the seller into product characteristics. Contact your Skype chat for all questions.
A new system for translating information
We developed a new system for translating information from Chinese into all other languages available in OT platform (the main ones are English and Russian) for the products of the following providers: Taobao, 1688, JD, Amazon China.
We would like to draw your attention to the fact that it will be included into OT platform from February 1st, 2023. All translations of Chinese providers will now be carried out through our new development, and not Google Translate. In cases where our system considers that new translation is insufficient for some text, translation will be performed the same way.
Currently, new translations are available for some categories of goods, mainly clothing. You can check translation on our demo site, for example:
- «Dresses, sundresses»: https://demo.otcommerce.com/subcateg...Method=Storage
- Or «Shoulder Bags»: https://demo.otcommerce.com/subcateg...Method=Storage
You can also search for any other products from the clothing categories and rate their translation.
We will carry on improving translations for all product categories.
Please contact your skype chat if you have any questions.
Secured https-connection for site (installation SSL certificate)
1. Find the site where you buy ssl certificate. Such sites are called centres ssl certificate. (There are free ssl certificates, but they are rarely fit for sites and also they have fewer functions. That’s why you’d better to buy ssl certificate.) For example https://www.cloudflare.com/en-au/plans/
2. During issuing ssl-certificate it’s necessary to generate csr (certificate signing request). And the private key is generated simultaneously with the csr. Don’t forget to save csr request and the private key.
(If at the site where you’re going to buy ssl-certificate, there isn’t an opportunity to generate csr request, you can write in search bar of your browser following: “online csr generator”. And you find different site where you can generate csr request easely.)
3. Usually centre ssl certificate sends all necessary files for installation ssl-certificate to your e-mail. Be sure to check you have the file of certificate with crt extension.
4. For installation SSL certificate you need to write a ticket for service (Freestyle application form) in our support https://support.otcommerce.com.
In the subject of application write “Ask to install ssl-certificate and make redirect of all pages from http to https”.
If your site isn’t on our hosting, don’t forget to provide access to your hosting.
Also provide all ssl-certificate files and the private key. For ex. you can load ssl-certificate files and the private key on google-disk. And send these links in the ticket(application) or you can send them in your skype-chat, and managers of client support attach all files in the ticket by themselves.
Rules of updating customized sites.
Attention! Manual updating of the site, i.e. unpacking of updating zip-archive on the hosting server in the site root folder isn’t updating, as scripts weren’t run for complete updating of the site, which can be done only in admin panel.
First of all it’s necessary to check for [B]templatescustom/ and blockscustom//B] folders, in updating sites in which were made changes regarding to their displaying and/or added external modules. And all changed templates and other changed files are only in these folders.
The next step is saving all files from templatescustom/,blockscustom/, themes/name-theme/viewscustom/ folders to your computer and after that you need to rename and delete these folders from hosting.
Then you can check the possibility of updating in admin panel (Configuration – System – Update).
If after clicking on this you see “update is available”, so you can update your site.
After updating check operation of the site and return templatescustom/, blockscustom/ and themes/имя-темы/viewscustom/ folders on hosting.
It should be noted that it’s very important to run update via admin panel, that scripts of update are run and complete update in all.
When update was done, it is necessary to move customization from old customized templates in templates, which were got after updating and put them in customized folders. We don’t accept claims for errors on the site, if the process of updating was without the last step (moving customization in new templates). Because in this case the process of updating is incomplete.
If your site has deep customization, you should apply to our support https://support.otcommerce.com/en, but the service is paid.