When it comes to search engines they are really smart in many ways but the normal Joomla URL describes nothing about the web page and its contents and so they really do dislike it in many ways. It is what I call, Search Optimization Stunted (SOS). I like this term because it describes exactly what it needs; some help! This is where a SEF URL changing component comes into play. These types of components take the normal Joomla URL and change it into something more meaningful to both us and the search engines.
From my Web Design & Development experience this is the single most important component installation you can make on a Joomla Website.I want to detail my personal best picks. There are a few available to us but I believe the JoomSEF component to be the best of the best when it comes to Search Engine Friendly URL’s. There is only one drawback to choosing this component and that is a hidden advert in the code from the original makers. If you search on Google for "Joomsef patch" then you should be able to find a decent article on how to get around this problem. Looking at the “best of the rest” of the SEF components we find a new component (May 2007) called sh404SEF which is ad free, if you search on the Joomla extensions website you will find this one. I believe it to be strongly based on JoomSEF; in look, feel and functionality I have noticed this. Another SEF friendly component for Joomla is OpenSEF. When OpenSEF was released about a year ago it was great but since that time there has been no updates and the project has lagged way behind Joomla development.Having said though, it still does a reasonable job of converting Joomla URL's to search engine friendly but I found in my testing that it proved to be duplicating too many URL's.
Which ever one you choose, download the component and then using the Joomla Administration interface install the component. Then go to Site->Global Configuration->SEO (tab) and ensure search Engine Friendly URL’s” is set to yes. Ensure 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 go to the JoomSEF component and configuration and turn it on. Once this is done you should be generating friendly URL’s on the front end interface so you should go and check. It's as easy as that!!
The author is an SEO and sells contact lens and train horns online.
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