Steve’s Blog

Joomla 1.5 is definitely going to bring some SEO benefits in the core, including better URLs and no-follow on some key links such as PDFs.

However, the mantra of the Joomla core for 1.5 is simplicity. Those of you who have been testing the Release Candidates have seen that fewer options are available and in a much clearer, easier-to-understand layout.

This means that for more complex SEO efforts we’ll still be relying on extra components. The first one out of the block is likely to be from Richard of Joomlatwork.com, who developed the SEF Patch and who used to be on the OpenSEF team.

In the fine tradition of OpenSEF, Richard has revealed that the component won’t simply produce Search Engine Friendly URLs, but will be a multi-purpose SEO machine:

Continue reading “New SEO Component Coming for Joomla 1.5”

We’ve long talked about how important it is to use a Search Engine Friendly URL component with Joomla. The best ones don’t just create human-readable addresses but also help your site in many other areas of SEO.

Trouble is, the wealth of different components means that its easy to get confused. Which one should I use? Should I pay? Should I use a free component?

Hopefully, these two charts will provide a complete comparison guide for the main five SEF URL components.

• Chart 1: What features does the component have?
• Chart 2: What other extensions does the component work with?

Please note:

• all five are being actively developed and there may be some mistakes / omissions. Please post any that you find in the comments below
• Open SEF and Remosef are not included because they are not actively supported
• More features does not always equal better. For some people, simpler may well be better
• Performance can be an issue. Some components run more quickly than others, especially on large sites. However, because of the difficulty of providing a fair comparison, it is not included as a factor here.

Continue reading “Complete SEF URL Extension Comparison”

I had the pleasure of testing out the latest version of sh404SEF over the weekend. Yannick just keeps making his component better and better.

This latest version is 1.2.4x although the difference between Yannick really needs to get a new release numbering system. The improvements between 1.2.4a and 1.2.4x is greater than most developers manage between 0.1 and 10.0. It really is becoming the 800 pound gorilla of SEF tools.

The new version isn’t available yet, but here’s a sneak peak at the upcoming improvements:

Continue reading “sh404SEF Becomes Better and Better, SerrBizSEF Become Free”