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Creating a website using Joomla
by Harsha Gomes
Joomla SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is a great way to make our web “read” by the search engine. Many web owners hire SEO professional to optimize their web. But for the Joomla 1.5 users, they should be happy because of this version, Joomla had improved better features for SEO. There are three techniques for SEO in Joomla, they are Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs, mod_rewrite (only for Apache), and suffix. If you want to apply SEO, you should choose at least SEF option. If you want to use mod_rewrite, SEF option must be selected. It is much better if we use suffix too. With suffix, in the end of the URL will be added .html. Available combinations for SEO in Joomla are:
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SEF
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SEF + suffix
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SEF + mod_rewrite
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SEF + mod_rewrite + suffix (recommended)
The difference among combinations above is the URL produced. If we don’t use SEO, the URL will be:
http://blog.digit.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=27
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For the SEF option, the URL will be:
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<pre>http://blog.digit.com/joomla15/index.php/joomla-overview
The URL can be read easily than the URL without SEF. Notice that there is "index.php" in the URL. If we add suffix option, then in the end of the URL will be appended html extension like shown below:
http://blog.digit.com/joomla15/index.php/joomla-overview.html
Compare if we use Apache mod_rewrite, the result is shown below:
http://blog.digit.com/joomla15/joomla-overview
If we use mod_rewrite, URL will look nice and tidy without "index.php". Html extension can be appended by choosing suffix option. The result is shown below:
http://blog.digit.com/joomla15/joomla-overview.html
SEO Implementation in Joomla! 1.5
SEO Implementation in Joomla 1.5 is very easy.
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Login to Joomla back-end as super administrator.
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Choose menu Site > Global Configuration.
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In Global Configuration there are three tabs that are Site, System dan Server. In tab Site, look at the SEO Settings. Choose the combination as you need.
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Click Save or Apply.
Joomla! 1.5 SEO Settings
Remember!
If you want to implement option number two (Use Apache mod_rewrite), the web server should be Apache and also the mod_rewrite module should keep active. After that rename htaccess.txt in the Joomla root directory to be .htaccess
If you get error message while implementing SEO option number two, try to edit .htaccess file, find this line:
Options +FollowSymLinks
Add "#" character. So the line will be:
#Options +FollowSymLinks
Restart your Apache web server.
Rename htaccess.txt to be .htaccess in Windows
In default Joomla 1.5 installation, there is a file named htaccess.txt. This file will be used useing Joomla SEO that is option Use Apache mod_rewrite. Before it can be used, this file should be renamed to .htaccess. In Linux OS, this case is not a big problem; because it allows creation this kind of file (file name is started with “dot” character). For Windows user this case is a problem, because Windows doesn’t allow creation this kind of file. If we force it, a warning will appear like shown below:
Error while renaming htaccess.txt to .htaccess
In order to rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess, we could do it through command prompt. Syntax:
ren [htaccess.txt directory]\htaccess.txt .htaccessExample:
ren DaGu\htdocs\joomla15\htaccess.txt .htaccess
That’s it!
We highly appreciate your valuable comments after reading this article. Also, if you have any issues in joomla you could email to harsha@vishmitha.com or Supporting Forum to get our assist.
The next article will discuss more about Site Management in Joomla.
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