For most osCommerce and CRE Loaded sites, you can set the master meta tags in the file /includes/languages/english/header_tags.php.  This is a good option for those looking to make their osCommerce CRE Loaded site more SEO friendly.

You may access this file through an FTP client.  Also, with the CRE Loaded stores, you have the option of manually editing the Meta Tags (title, description and keywords) on both the category pages and individual product pages via the Admin area of your site in the "Catalog" Menu near the top left of the main Admin Menu page.  Then select the "Categories/Products" module.  This will let you make some more specific meta tags for certain pages on your website.

To make the changes to the main Meta Tag files for an osCommerce CRE Loaded site, here are the steps that you need for applying the correct format to the /includes/languages/english/header_tags.php:

---Safety First

The formatting of this file is fairly specific and needs to be followed when making changes to your Meta Tags.  As with any change to your site's php files, always save a copy, as there is no such thing as a "small change".  I like to create to folders on my desktop when working on a site.  I call one "Original Website Files" and the other "Changed Website Files". FTP a copy of the php file to both folders on your PC and only make changes from the "Changed Website Files" and FTP those back to the site.  Then, if you get an error, you can quickly send the original files back to the site to overwrite the changed files.

---Changing Default Meta Tags

There are 3 kinds of default "Meta Tags" for your site:
1. Meta Title
2. Meta Description
3. Meta Keywords

You can change each of these default tags.  Each spider or search engine crawling your site to index the Meta Tag file will uses these tag types differently.  Typically, the title and description show in the search result results and the keywords are the words you want to focus on for the ranking of your page in the search process.  Many searches use relevance for picking which page or site is placed ahead of others and the Meta Tags and the Keyword Tags are one of the ways that a search engine can judge the relevance of your site's content.

The easiest and quickest place to start with your Meta Tag change is with the default Meta Tag values.  These are the Meta Tags mentioned above and are used on all pages when no other Meta Tags are specifically assigned to a particular page.  These should be found at the top of the header_tags.php file and look something like this:

define('HEAD_DESC_TAG_ALL','What\'s New Here? - Hardware Software DVD Movies');
define('HEAD_KEY_TAG_ALL','Hardware, Software, DVD Movies, Computer');

This format is defines placeholder values such as "HEAD_DESC_TAG_ALL", which is the default Meta Description tag used on pages in the catalog.  The value that will be used is what is found in the second set of single quotation marks.  In the above example, the value to be used in the Meta Description tag is 'What\'s New Here? - Hardware Software DVD Movies'. 

NOTE:  The ( ‘ ) character within the text has a backslash ( \ ) in front of it, which is necessary when you want to have a quotation mark appear in the value to be used.

You can change this value, but be sure to keep the formatting the same and surround the value in quotation symbols in the same way they appear for all the other values.  If you want to remove the "'What\'s New Here" all together or add a different introduction text, that is fine.  Be sure to make a backup copy of the original file in case you make a mistake.  Practice makes perfect. 

Once you change the values and upload the file back to your server (or save the file if you are using a web based editor), then you should visit your website to be sure that the changes were done correctly and did not break the site.  If you see an error message after making this change, you have an error in the formatting that was used.  Just resend the original file back to the
/includes/languages/english/header_tags.php and start over.