My name is Chris Diprose and I’m the Manager of Internet Style Australia firm Kanga Internet. I have been an active member of the Joomla Community for several years and have a longtime business primarily based upon Joomla Development in Melbourne, Australia. My main focus is Search Engine Optimization for Joomla Content Management System.
This article focuses on the first few steps within the Net Development and Design of a good search optimized web site in Joomla. Okay let’s get into it. Once I’ve got setup the standard Joomla installation there are a few element sorts that are obligatory to put in and I think these to be:- a sitemap component and a SEF URL changing component. These are by way the most important parts to own on any Joomla Installation.
What’s a SEF URL changing element and the way does it relate to Web Design in Joomla? SEF stands for Search Engine Friendly and a traditional installation of Joomla has a URL like this: index.php?option=com_content&task=read&id=five&Itemid=half dozen
When it comes to go looking engines they are extremely sensible in many ways but the traditional Joomla URL describes nothing about the web page and its contents and thus they really do dislike it in many ways. It’s what I decision, Search Optimization Stunted (SOS). I prefer this term because it describes precisely what it desires; some help! This is where a SEF URL changing element comes into play. These sorts of elements take the normal Joomla URL and amendment it into something a lot of meaningful to both us and also the search engines. e.g.: obtain-blue-widgets-here.html
From my Web Design & Development experience this can be the single most vital element installation you’ll be able to build on a Joomla Website. I wish to detail my personal best picks. There are a few offered to us however I feel the JoomSEF part to be the best of the simplest when it comes to Search Engine Friendly URL’s. There’s solely one downside to picking this element and that’s a hidden advert within the code from the initial makers. If you search on Google for “Joomsef patch” then you should be ready to seek out a tight article on how to get around this problem. Trying at the “best of the rest” of the SEF elements we have a tendency to find a replacement element (Could 2007) called sh404SEF that is ad free, if you search on the Joomla extensions website you may realize this one. I believe it to be strongly based mostly on JoomSEF; in look, feel and functionality I have noticed this. Another SEF friendly element for Joomla is OpenSEF. When OpenSEF was released concerning a year ago it had been nice however since that point there was no updates and the project has lagged manner behind Joomla development. Having said though, it still will a reasonable job of converting Joomla URL’s to look engine friendly but I found in my testing that it proved to be duplicating too several URL’s.
Which ever one you decide on, download the component and then using the Joomla Administration interface install the component. Then attend Web site->Global Configuration->SEO (tab) and ensure “Search Engine Friendly URL’s” is about to yes. Guarantee your htaccess.txt file in the root directory of the Joomla installation is changed to .htaccess and follow the directives in the file in how to turn on “mod_rewrite” – this is straight forward. Then just head to the JoomSEF component and configuration and flip it on. Once this can be done you must be generating friendly URL’s on the front finish interface therefore you should go and check. It’s as easy as that!!
Okay therefore lets move on to what I consider the following most important issue to try and do to your Joomla installation once the SEF component is installed and operating a Sitemap.
In my books there’s very solely one legitimate and good sitemap element and it is called Joomap. The standard version of this element will not output a decent XML file for Google thus I additionally counsel looking on Google for “joomap patch” and you must be in a position to seek out an article to lead you through editing the Joomap element also. The installation of this part is the identical as before, we have a tendency to do it through the Joomla Administration interface. With no different configuration once installation we tend to will simply go straight to the part and choose it. Now we have a tendency to just choose the menu’s we wish to include in our sitemap. Typically these are main menu and high menu. Now we tend to just produce a replacement menu item and select the component to link to it, being Joomap and the rest takes care of itself. Easy!!
One alternative advantage of Joomap is that it allows you to hook in to Google Sitemaps. On the admin interface these could be a Google Sitemap URL given. All we need to try to to to come up with a dynamic Google sitemap is to repeat paste this URL into Google webmaster interface and now whenever Google wants to download your whole website sitemap it gets a dynamic version – which is considerably better than just hoping Google can realize all your pages! With this sitemap it tells Google all of your pages and where they’re so it will scan them additional affectively.
Okay now I’ve got coated off the primary 2 steps in Search Engine Optimization for the Joomla Content Management System. These are the first 2 steps every Internet Designer and Developer should take when they wish to Search Optimize Joomla.
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