First off, I must give credit where it is due. I got most of my information on OpenCart Clean URL’s from PHP Genious. In this post I will explain how friendly or clean URL’s work in OpenCart.

Clean URL’s are built into OpenCart 1.5. To use SEO URL’s you need to enable them under your stores server settings, rename the .htaccess.txt file and add your SEO keyword for each product and category you create. The keywords will not be created for you. You must also have Apache mod_rewrite turned on. Most web hosts will have this on by default.

Enable SEO URL’s in the OpenCart Admin

The first step is to enable SEO URL’s in your stores admin. Go to the “System” drop-down and click on “Settings”. Locate the store you want to alter and click the “Edit” link off to the right. Finally click the “Server” tab and set the SEO URL’s radio to “Yes” and save your settings.

Rename the .htaccess.txt file
Next you must create an .htaccess file. If you do not create this file your pages will not display. OpenCart provides a file called .htaccess.txt. Rename this file to .htaccess and you will be good to go. If you don’t have this file in your root directory you will need to make your own .htaccess file. The fiel should include the following:

# 1.To use URL Alias you need to be running apache with mod_rewrite enabled.
 
# 2. In your opencart directory rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess.
 
# For any support issues please visit: http://www.opencart.com
 
Options +FollowSymlinks
 
# Prevent Directoy listing
Options -Indexes
 
# Prevent Direct Access to files
 
Order deny,allow
Deny from all
 
# SEO URL Settings
RewriteEngine On
# If your opencart installation does not run on the main web folder make sure you folder it does run in ie. / becomes /shop/
 
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule sitemap.xml /index.php?route=feed/google_sitemap
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^([^?]*) index.php?_route_=$1 [L,QSA]
 
### Additional Settings that may need to be enabled for some servers
### Uncomment the commands by removing the # sign in front of it.
### If you get an "Internal Server Error 500" after enabling any of the following settings, restore the # as this means your host doesn't allow that.
 
# 1. If your cart only allows you to add one item at a time, it is possible register_globals is on. This may work to disable it:
# php_flag register_globals off
 
# 2. If your cart has magic quotes enabled, This may work to disable it:
# php_flag magic_quotes_gpc Off
 
# 3. Set max upload file size. Most hosts will limit this and not allow it to be overridden but you can try
# php_value upload_max_filesize 999M
 
# 4. set max post size. uncomment this line if you have a lot of product options or are getting errors where forms are not saving all fields
# php_value post_max_size 999M
 
# 5. set max time script can take. uncomment this line if you have a lot of product options or are getting errors where forms are not saving all fields
# php_value max_execution_time 200
 
# 6. set max time for input to be recieved. Uncomment this line if you have a lot of product options or are getting errors where forms are not saving all fields
# php_value max_input_time 200

Enter SEO Keywords for URL’s
Finally, you need to enter SEO keywords for every page, information, product and category you want to have URL rewrite. You can find the field for the SEO Keywords under the Data tab when editing and creating items.

Once you have entered the SEO Keywords your URL’w will be working. Now go and enjoy more traffic and happy customers.