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How to make Joomla Search Engine Friendly

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The result of my research was that Wordpress is just, for my purposes, a better CMS. It's more user friendly, more consistently coded (not as much legacy stuff to force an old version on you), and more SEO friendly out of the box.

This is a summary of my learning process as I tried to figure out how to make Joomla Search Engine Friendly.

The least I want is:

- proper titles (title of article or category - followed by general title)

- url's that stay the same even if I change something

I would prefer url's that include keywords, but I think I may have to skip that option for the project I'm working on.

Just the most useful links I've found on Joomla SEO

Which is most Search Engine Friendly? A WordPress, Joomla and Drupal SEF Comparison.
Each of the Open Source Content management systems like WordPress, Joomla and Drupal need work to make them Search Engine Friendly before you can start to Optimize the site for better placement in the search engines, read more about those options here...
Most popular SEO extension for Joomla 1.5: sh404SEF - ALSO Joomla security
Commercial: will hopefully be updated for Joomla 1.6.
- makes Joomla more secure
- custom titles (automatic title use default?)
- creates 404 pages that include links to relevant articles!
- user friendly URL's
SEF Title Prefix and Suffix - Joomla! Extensions Directory
This plugin adds prefix and suffix to title in metatags. Suffix especially would be good.

Instruction:- install plugin;- change plugin parameters (add prefix ans suffix);- publish plugin;
No more ??? in your urls - HP Router
HP Router takes the URLs of the core of Joomla! and removes the IDs from the non-menu parts. You can now create URLs without disturbing numbers in them and it even helps with duplicate content in some special cases. It implements some improvements in the URLs, too.
Alias for Page Title Plugin >SEO without core hack
Title tag will consist of the article's Alias instead of using the regular Title. & set a prefix and/or suffix to your page title
SEO & Metadata - Joomla! Extensions Directory
Just a list of all the extensions that claim SEO help.

Other helpful hints

Google Analytics extension 1.5 - what to do without knowing your traffic?
Will this be updated for Joomla 1.6?

This Plugin will add the Google Analytics Tracker Code to your site automagically.This Plugin was created as a better alternative to the several "module based" solutions that are out there. As far as I know this is the first and only Joomla! 1.5 Native Plugin that does this.
JoomlaStats - Joomla! Extensions Directory
JoomlaStats is a USER AWARE statistics component for Joomla. Features: OS, browser, bots/spiders, referrers, last visitors, last bots/spiders, page hits, visitors by country, average visitors/bots, search engines, and keywords.

Don't forget to... redirect domainname.com to www.domainname.com

Or the other way around

This can be done in Apache, but there is also a plugin

Letters in the Joomla extensions directory... what do they mean?

P (purple)
C (green)
L (orange)
M (red)

Another example of how little the user is thought of in the Joomla community. I have not found an explanation for this one.

More questions?

Unfortunately changes in my personal life, and in the way squidu is managed, have made me decide to stop answering questions on that forum. I'm also too busy to answer questions elsewhere.

I am available for consulting though, but that doesn't come cheap. For $99 you get a month of asking whatever questions you want and advice on your SEO strategy, link building, optimizing your blog etc. SEO consult online publishing.

If you aren't willing to pay up, you'll have to be content to stay updated on my Marketing Spiritual Blog where I am also willing to answer any questions related to the posts. It also contains a free ebook.

I'm active on twitter and facebook.

The basis of SEO: how to get found in google

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About Wordpress - what plugins I use, and how I update them

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Any helpful tips?

  • Feb 14, 2012 @ 4:05 pm | delete
    nice tips thanks for sharing,
  • patrickavella Aug 10, 2011 @ 8:51 pm | delete
    A content management system will only give as much as you put in, and that's especially true for things like Joomla. It just takes some elbow grease to get it going the way you need it. Thanks for sharing!
  • Bonzlee Jun 22, 2011 @ 9:27 pm | delete
    With Joomla it's best to use .htaccess file to help with SEO. There are several extensions that help as well, but you're right that Joomla is awful for SEO. You just have to know what you're doing, but even then it's not a cinch. The only advantage is that Joomla does have thousands of extensions. I prefer it to Wordpress, but I guess it really depends on what you're trying to build.
  • TheGreenerMe Mar 5, 2011 @ 10:20 am | delete
    I've never used Joomla, but I've used Drupal. It was kind of a headache, I'd much rather use Wordpress. Much more user friendly! Squid Angel blessed.
  • spacetime Feb 25, 2011 @ 1:26 am | delete
    "Don't forget to... redirect domainname.com to www.domainname.com"

    Why not the other way? Why using www subdomain?

    I always redirect www.domainname.com to domainname.com.
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