Joomla URLs

In this section you can read reviews of every Search Engine Friendly URL component available for Joomla. Which one will help your Joomla SEO?

Juggling Animal

This Extension Had Better Sing, Dance and Juggle

Juggling AnimalSome new products immediately jump out as a great idea. Others don’t.

I have to admit that today I came across something that immediately gave me a sinking feeling. A company called Serr.biz are planning to launch a new Search Engine Friendly URL component called SerrBizSEF.

Now, I’m a sucker for Joomla SEO Tools, and I’ve reviewed just about every one available on this site – most of them with great enthusiasm. However, I don’t believe this one will fly. Here’s why:

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sh404 SEF

New Version of sh404SEF

Joomla SEF URLsOf all the Search Engine Friendly URL components released under the GPL, sh404SEF is the most active project. Yannick Gaultier has taken the old 404SEF codebase and added a host of new and improved features. The latest update is no exception:

New Features in Version 1.2.4.s 

  • The ability to create SEF URLs without .htaccess or mod_rewrite.
  • Compatibility with MosTree, MyBlog and Docman. sh404SEF works with sef_ext.php designed for both SEF Advance and Open SEF, which means it works with more extensions that any of the alternatives.
  • Better handling of duplicate URLs. Previously it just grabbed the first one, which meant you had the load the correct page immediately after installation, otherwise it might grab the wrong URL.
  • Integration with Yannick’s other module: shCustomTags. For those that haven’t used it, consider it to be a simplified, non-hack version of the SEF Patch from Joomlatwork.com.

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Automapping and Duplicate Content

This post is a follow-up to our previous discussion of automapping, and why it can be really useful in helping you avoid duplicate content problems on your Joomla site.

For those of still thinking about how to handle duplicate content, head on over to the official word from Google. One of their key tips is "Understand your CMS". As the saying goes, "a bad workman blames his tools." Joomla sites can rank well but to make that happen you do need to understand something about how they work.

If you haven’t already, make sure you understand what Itemids are and why they can cause difficulties for your site’s SEO. If that makes sense, dig into this great post on the Joomla forums from Ken McDonald, Project Administrator for Open SEF. He explains how different SEF URL components deal with the problem of Itemids, outlining the advantages and disadvantages of each solution:

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SEF URL Updates

Some quick updates from the world of Search Engine Friendly URL extensions for Joomla:

Finally, we’re continuing to test sh404SEF on live sites and are finding it to be a great, stable SEF extension. Highly recommended.

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SEF Advance Update and a 6th SEF URL Extension

A quick update to where things stand in our review of SEO Extensions for Joomla:

  • SEF Advance has recently been updated to 5.0. Emir has made a lot of major and minor improvements so we’ve updated our review of the component accordingly.
  • Although I thought I’d reviewed all the SEF URL extensions, Hummerbie was kind enough to point out that there’s actually another forgotten SEF URL component called Remosef. That makes six in total. Look for a review of that next week.
  • Kanga Internet have created a version of Artio SEF that works fine, but doesn’t include the hidden metadata advertising of the original.
  • I’m busy creating one page that ties together all our Joomla SEO Extension reviews and links to all the components in one easy-to-use and easy-to-navigate list. Its available from the right-hand menu under Joomla SEO Tools. If we’ve missed any, feel free to let drop a quick note in the comments to this thread.
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Artio SEF

Joomla URL Week Part 3 – Artio SEF Review

Artio SEFIn the third part of our series on optimizing Joomla’s URLs, we’re going to take a look at Artio SEF.

 

Artio is the new kid on the block, having been in the hands of its current developers for less than a year. It has quickly earned a strong following with nearly 50 reviews on Joomla.org making it among the most talked-about extensions around.

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Joomla URL Week

Joomla URL Week Part 1 – Default Joomla URLs

Joomla URL WeekWorking in Joomla SEO and browsing the forums, there is one question I hear more frequently than any other:

"What is the best URL setup for Joomla and why?" 

Reading around, I haven’t been able to find a clear answer currently available. So to resolve this question, this will be "Joomla URL Week" here at Alledia.

 

Each day we’re going to break down one of the five most common URL setups with Joomla:

  • Weekend: Default Joomla URLs
  • Monday: Default Joomla SEF URLs
  • Tuesday: Review of Artio SEF
  • Wednesday: Review of Open SEF
  • Thursday: Review of SEF Advance
  • Friday: Conclusions

Today, we take you through the default Joomla URLs and help you to understand why they are the way they are.

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sef-config.gif

Joomla URL Week Part 2 – Default SEF URLs

This week we’re trying to answer one of the most common questions in the Joomla world: “What is the best URL setup for Joomla and why?”

Yesterday I talked about default Joomla URLs and why they are a bad idea for your Joomla site. Today is Part 2 of the quest we’re going to look at the default Joomla Search Engine Friendly URLs.

Lets see whether this set up is any more useful….

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