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Customizing and renaming

Description

We believe that each site should be as unique as possible. If the same link scheme, cookie names and directory structure repeat over and over again on hundreds of different sites, this can have a negative impact on search engine rankings. We have implemented several different options for customizing and renaming TE3 modules.

Customizing and renaming cookie names

Rename cookies: TE3 uses up to four types of cookies - ''in.php'' module sets up a basic cookie and a bookmark cookie for each visitor of your site. If you are using Pages module, Te3 sets up a Pages cookie, and if your External feature is enabled, TE3 sets up an external feature cookie.

Cookie names are randomly generated at the installation stage. Although not necessary, we advise you to rename them manually - navigate to Settings / General settings and expand the Customizing and renaming TE3 modules accordion. Search engines will recognize actual words as more authentic than computer generated ones. If you manage several websites, be sure to create unique cookie names for each site.

Be sure to use only lowercase alphabet signs, numbers and _ (instead of spaces), when you rename cookies

Customizing and renaming thumb image directory name

There are two methods for renaming thumb image directory name:

Rename method 1: change the original thumb image directory name from “thumbs” to a name of your choice
Rename method 2: place “thumbs” directory into the root html directory of the domain (public html) using “dot dot slash” (../)

Customizing and renaming ''out.php''

There are two methods for renaming out.php:

Rename your ''out.php'' into ''anything.php'' (for new sites)

When you rename out.php in your Customizing and renaming menu, file name automatically gets renamed as well. This method could prove problematic if you have an existing site. When you rename out.php, all links on your site will immediately become broken. If your site is already getting traffic, we recommend the 2nd method instead.

Example - renaming ''out.php'':

Rename the default out.php:

<a href="/your_directory/anything.php?..">Link</a>

Your outgoing links will look like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/your_directory/anything.php?

Note, that this is just an example - you should choose a unique name for both your_directory and for anything.php. Only use lowercase alphabet signs, numbers and _ instead of spaces and be sure to leave file extension .php intact when you rename out.php.

Include ''out.php'' into another file (for new sites and for running sites)

The advantage of this method is that if your site is already getting some traffic, surfers won't experience broken links on your site while you are switching links from old to the new paths. In general this method might be better for both, existing (running) site and new site alike.

Example - including ''out.php'' into another file:

If you include out.php directly into the root html directory of the domain (public html) it will make your website even more unique.

Create an empty file something.php and include your_directory/out.php in that file (<?php include “your_directory/out.php”; ?>). Since you've only INCLUDED “out.php” into “something.php”, it means that out.php still exists intact in the original location. ⇒ Now you have two different ways of accessing your outgoing links. You can link like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/your_directory/anything.php

or like this

http://www.yoursite.com/anything.php

We recommend this method, since BOTH links work at the same time and you won't experience broken links on your site while you are switching them from old to the new paths.

Note, that this is just an example - you should choose a unique name for both your_directory and for anything.php. Only use lowercase alphabet signs, numbers and _ instead of spaces and be sure to leave file extension .php intact when you rename out.php.

Customizing and renaming ''out.php'' parameters

Your website will appear even more original if your link scheme is unique. You can customize “standard” TE3 out.php parameters by appointing them names of your choice. You can choose more than one name for a single parameter (e.g. id: domain,d,name).

If you decide to reconfigure outgoing tracking, you'll have to modify all clickable links on your site. This could be problematic if your site is already getting some traffic. We advise you to retain the original out.php parameter name as one of the appointed parameter names in order to avoid potential problems (e.g. id: id,domain,d,name). This will prevent surfers from experiencing any broken links on your site while you are switching links from old to the new paths.

List of out.php parameters you can customize: u, id, l, s, g, purl, refremote, p, ref

If you manage several websites, be sure to create unique out.php parameter names for each site.

Our latest research has shown that search engines penalize repetetive site structure, we therefore strongly encourage you to customize and rename TE3 modules and make TE3 on each of your sites more unique. It may take some effort but you'll be avoiding potential complications related to search engines.

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