How to remove URL parameters from canonical URLs in Shopify

To drop URL parameters for all the pages:

<link rel="canonical" href="{{ canonical_url | split: "?" | first }}">

Based on the https://shopify.github.io/liquid/filters/first/

and https://shopify.github.io/liquid/filters/first/

Because there are too many errors with the “Alternate Page with Proper Canonical Tag”, but also “Crawled Not Indexed”.

Getting the “connection refused” and “SSL Version Or Cipher Mismatch” while crawling with Screaming Frog? #screamingfrog

Google Chrome since version 81 (released in March 2020), removed the support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 and is asking administrators to immediately enable the TLS 1.2 or later. The full screen interstitial warning is shown to users who visit a website that uses the old TLS.

CloudFlare introduced the easy way to implement the TLS 1.3, a new encryption protocol that improves both speed and security for Internet users everywhere.

For some reason the Screaming Frog crew haven’t noticed this change and their crawler is not able to crawl a website with the TLS 1.3 enabled. Google was warning about the incoming change since October 2019.

Getting the “Your connection is not fully secure” message in Chrome? Then your website is using outdated security configuration.

TLS 1.3 is the newest and most secure version of the TLS protocol. It has improved latency over older versions and several new features.  TLS 1.3 is currently supported in both Chrome (starting with release 66) and Firefox (starting with release 60) and in development for Safari and Edge browsers.

Both TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 are insufficient for protecting information due to known vulnerabilities, hence are insufficient to secure payment card related traffic.

Set the minimum TLS Version to 1.2 in the CloudFlare configuration panel.

We are awaiting an update from the SF team eagerly as we still want to crawl our clients’ websites.

How to track WPForms in Google Tag Manager?

WPForms is one of the most popular form plugins to use on a website. The plugin is user friendly and allows you to drag and drop features so that you can create simple but elegant submission forms.

It’s important to track contact form submissions and other activity on your website so that you can make strategic decisions.

When you have the right Google Tag Manager (GTM) triggers in place, you can set up and track conversions and events in Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook Business, Yandex. Metrica and other tools. This allows you to gain a bit more accurate picture of the events and conversions – the actions people are performing and the actions you want them to take – that are occurring on your website.

I couldn’t connect WPForms and GTM’s ‘Form Submission’ event, so I believe the two aren’t compatible, which means we need to create our own event.

This is how you do it:

Step 1: Create a Custom Event Trigger and name it as ‘wpFormSubmit’. The event triggers during the wpForm submission.

Step 2: To capture the data, create a new Data Layer Variable and turn on the Form Built-In variables. Select the ‘formId’ variable, it is required to implement the code.

Step 3: Then create the Google Analytics tag Event Listener to send the wpForm data to Google Analytics and set it to fire on the ‘wpFormSubmit’ trigger. Similarly, the data can be sent to Facebook, Yandex, etc as an event.

Now, the code below will send the information to the Data Layer for the Google Tag Manager to pick up.

<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  window.dataLayer.push({
   'event': 'wpFormSubmit',
    'formId': 'Simple Contact Form'
});
</script>

The WPForms Confirmations setting has several options. I found the one that worked best was the ‘Message’ one.

Select the ‘Text’ view and copy and paste the JavaScript code above so it runs on a successful submission.

Follow the steps above and you’ll be able to track WPForms contact form submissions easily.

You found us because of SEO, how is your SEO? Call us on 07902155143 Or request a call back below.

How to setup OBS, so you can apply audio filters and effects while screen-sharing on Skype

The OBS software is some real god send and it is very popular on the streamers scene. I use it when when working from home to provide great screen-sharing experience with powerful audio customization.

When working with the quality microphone like the USB Yeti, you can use the noise filters, sound gates and compression available within the OBS. It will serve you great to cancel out unwanted sounds and distractions and make your vocals sound fuller.

The process is a bit complex and due to how Windows handles audio devices it is prone to get reset. In this case simply make sure you follow the steps indicated below to make it work again:

  1. Download and install Virtual Cable – https://www.vb-audio.com/Cable/
  2. Go to Windows / Control Panel / Sound
  1. Select the CABLE Output in the Recording tab and set it to your default audio output. Do not select the Listen to this device tick. Make the Cable Input your default audio in the Playback tab.
  2. Download and install Virtual Camhttps://obsproject.com/forum/resources/obs-virtualcam.539/
  3. Launch OBS and make sure the Virtual Cam is running.
  1. Go to Skype (or any other IM – tested and works on Zoom and Google Meet) and select the Audio and Video sources.
  1. Change settings in OBS – add Mic/Aux and Audio Output Capture to your sources. Add filters by clicking on the gear icon in the Audio Mixer.
  1. The final setting in OBS is enabling the Audio Monitor in the Advanced Audio Properties.

This is how you enable OBS’s advanced sound effects to use them while conference calling.

You found us because of SEO, how is your SEO? Call us on 07902155143 Or request a call back below.

How to watch YouTube without ads?

  1. Get an Android device, no joy on iOS
  2. Install Firefox
  3. Install AdBlocker for YouTube Add-on
  4. Add uBlock Origin Add-on
  5. Share to Firefox from within the YouTube app to avoid the ads.

First you need to have an Android device as Apple will not let you watch without paying a coin for doing so. I am guessing Google also would love to close the loop as they did with mobile Chrome – no extensions there.

Secondly, install the Firefox browser from Google Play first and then install AdBlocker for YouTube and to complement the whole setup add the uBlock Origin as well.

The Firefox will play the YouTube app without interruption until it is the main app on screen. It’s also worth setting Firefox as your default browser. It is easier to do the “share to Firefox” while using the YouTube app (when the any ad starts – you just have to tap share to Firefox and there you go, no more brain damage).

Let me take your through how to install these, starting with the Firefox browser:

  1. Open Google Play Store.
  2. Search for Firefox in the search window and then download and install it.
  1. Install uBlock Origin, which is an extension for Firefox. Do this by opening the browser, hitting the menu button and choosing the ‘Add-ons’ tab. Then tap on ‘Browse Firefox’s Recommended Extensions’.

    You’ll see a list of recommended extensions for this browser. If you can`t find uBlock Origin immediately on a list, please use a search window on top.
  1. Tap on ‘uBlock Origin’.
  1. Then tap on ‘Add to Firefox’ and ‘Add’ to finish installing ‘uBlock Origin.
  1. Now you’re ready to install the second extension, which is AdBlocker for YouTube, so click the menu button on the top left (see step 2 above) and find ‘AdBlocker for YouTube’.
  2. Tap on ‘Add to Firefox’, just like you did when installing the uBlock extension. This completes the process.

When you’ve completed the steps above, you’ll be able to browse on the internet without any interruptions by ads.

Happy surfing!

Adding server logs analysis for our clients

We just started working with Elasticsearch and Kibana to analyse web logs of the websites we host. Always wanted to be able to pin down the request bursts we have been observing on our servers. Thanks to Kibana interface we can finally see the details and dig-in on a click basis.