SEF and site maps - what to use
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- Penn Wooding
- Elite Rocketeer
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Hi Emma,
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but you're in Australia? I'm not an expert on Google but I believe that your search results will differ from what they do in the UK. Harrington jacket is actually number two on Google.co.uk. The fact that it doesn't register on your search engine makes no difference to us because we do not ship to Australia, and I'm sure somebody in Australia sells Harrington jackets anyway. People tend to know what they're looking for so there is not much more you can do to optimize for people looking for Harrington jackets. I think it all boils down to the price and if they like the look of the website.
I may very well have a dabble with sh404def on 1.5, I have it installed on my 1.0 site and it seems to do the job.
I actually find the alias in menu quite handy, you can create was ever wording you like in your URL using this. You can do the same on all new components as well.
Since it's talking about sh404sef, do you know whether this dynamically changes the original SEF URL? BTW this is only on 1.0
What I mean by that is this URL:
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=27 is completely different to this one:
/content/view/18/42/. Even though it is actually the same page. However if you add SH404SEF, it changes the wording of the URL to something that you can understand, however I did some testing and even if you remove SH404SEF, links that originally point to sh404sef actually still work. So it seems to me that rather than changing your URLs, sh404sef just makes them aesthetically pleasing to the search engines. - http://www.Oscarfishlover.com - the website for great Oscar Fish advice and help
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- Emma griffith
- Hero Rocketeer
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Quite a thread we are building here..
@Jem, While I whole heartedly agree with you Jem, both SH404SEF and Artio are not perfect but if we look at open source as a whole it's not perfect is often the correct statement. Yes it is that most module developers do not build to core Joomla SEF specifications and lets look at two major releases both K2 and JomSocial have horrible URL's so really a SEF plugin is needed.
Also we have to put oranges with oranges, true RT uses core SEF but let's look at that as well, from an SEO point of view. Most content will rank on RT regardless who cares what your URL structure is when you are PR 8, with over 200,000 links pointing in from over 7,000 domains.
The new site we are working on at the moment although we do have some age on our side being a 9 year old domain, we are still going to need to wring every drop of advantage out of every possible nook and cranny.
And as it uses JomSocial and K2, we are needing to use a SEF plugn, developers don't take SEF into concideration too often and it really is annoying. Even the tagging in K2 has bad structure with the use of + signs throughout the multiple word tags.
It is not just SEO that is considered with SEF it is also humans as well and there is enough data around that proves clean URL structure has a higher SERP click through rate and higer conversion rate.
Although I do completely agree set up a dev server and test test test before going live, and when module updates come out cross your fingers and toes if you can as it often is a nightmare I completely agree.
But I must say I am personally responsible for many many sites over 100, plus our own and we use SH404SEF on nearly all of them except the Virtuemart sites and we have little problem with an assortment of modules and SH404SEF. I find it more of a pain with the constant updating of Joomla releases.
@Penn
Actually Penn I was using Google UK, we constantly work with the Google search in multiple countries as we have clients in the UK as well so we need to know how local search is performing. I can send you stats exactly where you are ranking in google.co.uk for both local UK pages and general UK pages if you wish
As for the URL it would be good to see the site in question as the two URL's could be a specific page and a category listing bringing up the same page but it is hard to tell without seeing the site.
As I said before somewhere here a SEF plug-in does not change the original URL as the name suggests mod-re-write which is a core component to the APACHE web server it re-writes the URL based on your clean type setting
So the URL
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13&Itemid=27
is re written to be something like
/section/category/my-easy-to-read-url.html
it then 301 redirects (permanent redirect) to the new SEF URL
This is where many people are warned away from using SEF as if you for some reason changed the re-write preferences or the plug-in the module became unusable you suddenly have 404 errors all over your site.
If you removed SEF from the site and cleared the SEF cache then the clean URL woudl not be there any more but the non SEF URL's are untouched.
It really depends on your market and your skill level, in 95% of all sites core SEF or even no SEF is fine, and most major search engines can crawl generated URL's much easier these days.
Emma
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- Emma griffith
- Hero Rocketeer
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Amendment to my above statement..
Note to self always re check latest version before going to print!
After reviewing the latest offerings from K2 and Jomsocial they both support the core Joomla SEF, not brilliant but defiantly better than the earlier releases.
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- FotoHijinx
- Sr. Rocketeer
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Hey guys
I've used just the sef that comes with Joomla on a site which I think will be fine - but how do you get the sef friendly urls for content that isn't accessed from a menu but accessed from a link within text.
eg - look at this site: http://www.rmrasiapacific.com/for-employers.html within that text is a link back to "our expertise" but it is the pre sef url link - yes I know I could put in the new sef link with that page but what about at the bottom of the page which shows the following links:
Home | about us | Our Services etc - how do I get them to be sef friendly urls?
cheers
Irene - You've been a naughty boy, now go to my room!
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- Rich Bean
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 1194
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Irene,
Easiest way to do that using core SEF is to create the item in a menu, click so that it creates the SEF URL, then disable the menu item.
Hope that helps.
@Everyone...have you all seen that sh404 is now a paid subscription component?
Cheers,
Rich - My Sites:
Perth Website Design
Scuba Marketing
I'm a Henning Stalker!
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- JEM
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 17917
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Yes....
dev.anything-digital.com/sh404SEF/ - Thanks,
jim
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- Emma griffith
- Hero Rocketeer
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I found out today after upgrading K2 and finding out it has core support for SH404SEF, to my amazement I was directed to dev anything, I don't overly mind paying $35 for a years subscription but I am going to hang back for a little while and see how the continued development goes.
For our latest site as it is just such a huge undertaking I am trying to stick with core Joomla SEF so far so good. With so much weight going to off site optimisation now I don't think I have to get so pedantic with URL and title optimisation.
You can get some very nice page titles going with core SEF now and the URL's are pretty decent, it could be the end is nigh for the need of third party SEF components, this would be a better way overall.
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- Penn Wooding
- Elite Rocketeer
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- I think a lot of people get paranoid and think that if they haven't got these SEO extensions installed, the website isn't going to do any good on the search engines. Joomla 1.5 is so much better than it's predecessor when it comes to SEO, I think you could be correct Emma, a lot of these third-party extensions could find themselves on the scrap heap before too long because they are just not needed. I like the fact that I don't have to add anything extra to my website, I can just use what Joomla comes with & it does a really good job
- http://www.Oscarfishlover.com - the website for great Oscar Fish advice and help
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- LiEs
- Sr. Rocketeer
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Try AceSEF
www.joomace.net/
. there is a free version with copyright at the bottom, and a $19, $39 versions as well. I am very impressed by this extension. I just bought it yesterday. I think it came out last month, but not listed in Joomla's JED. The navigation and ease of use is great. Will worth the money.
One cool thing about it is if you do not have the add-on extension for a particular component, it can use Joomla's default SEF. With SH404SEF it would just show the regular url with no SEF.
Heres some info about it www.joomace.net/joomla-extensions/acesef
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- Rich Bean
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 1194
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- Seems like they wan to nickel and dime you for any component extension add ons at $9.00 a piece!
- My Sites:
Perth Website Design
Scuba Marketing
I'm a Henning Stalker!
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