SEO optimization Joomla
As of September 2019, 70% of all sites are managed by 3 CMS systems:
- 45.02% WordPress.
- 13.27% Joomla.
- 12.09% 1C-Bitrix.
We have already written about 1C-Bitrix and WordPress, so it would be strange to ignore the second most popular CMS. In this article we will tell you everything about search engine optimization of a site on joomla.
What is joomla
Joomla is a free system for building websites. This is an open source project that, like most similar projects, does not stand still. It is developing very successfully and is popular with millions of users around the world.
Like any CMS, it has its own characteristics and problems. The most frequently complained about joomla is just for poor search engine optimization. Sites are simply not indexed on the Internet or are poorly promoted. To effectively promote your SEO resource, you need to take into account the features of this CMS. Let’s dwell on the description of the main features.
Creation and transmission of a sitemap to search engines
A common reason that your site does not appear in search engines (especially Google) is the lack of an xml sitemap. To create it, you can use a special plugin (we will tell you more about them below). The plugin will scan all pages of the resource and, at the output, will provide you with a complete map of your resource in xml format. You can use the following plugins:
- JSitemap Pro is a paid component for Joomla that includes a large set of SEO tools, one of which is a powerful sitemap generator.
- XML-Sitemaps.com. This is a standard sitemap generator. The service works best with small sites where it is not required to hide any pages from indexing. You just enter the URL for your site and click “Start”. This will start generating a sitemap that you can analyze and upload to your site.
This list of tools will be enough for you to generate a complete and high-quality sitemap. Now all you have to do is upload the map to Google’s Search Console and Google will send search robots to your site.
Setting up Robots.txt
By default, sites on Joomla are not indexed for the folder with images (/ images). There are two sides to this question.
- The first is negative. The fact is that, having indexed your images, the search engine will be able to issue them for any queries in the image search section. This can be an additional source of website traffic and sales for you.
- The second is positive. More than 90% of all sites use not their own images, but taken from stocks or simply from search. All images created in the last 30-50 years have an author who can sue you for using his materials without an appropriate license.
If you use your own images, then image search can become an additional source of traffic for you – feel free to remove the prohibition of indexing from the folder. Remove the line Disallow: / images / in robots.txt.
Redirect from www to without and back
On WordPress, the redirect works automatically, but with Joomla it’s not so simple. You need to configure it yourself. In Joomla, translation is done in the .htaccess file. In order to redirect from a domain name from www to a domain name without www, you need to add the following lines to the .htaccess file:
1 RewriteEngine On
2 RewriteCond% {HTTP_HOST} www.moysayt.com
3 RewriteRule (. *) Http://moysayt.com/$1 [R=301,L]
If you need to redirect in the opposite order, then you need to add the following code to .htaccess:
1 RewriteEngine On
2 RewriteCond% {HTTP_HOST}! ^ Www .
3 RewriteRule ^ (. *) $ Http: //www.% {HTTP_HOST} / $ 1 [R=301,L]…
Setting up CNC in Joomla
Ugly and unreadable urls are another serious problem that affects the promotion of sites on Joomla. By default, standard urls look like this: http://www.example.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1:welcome-to-joomla&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50.
Search engines don’t like it (Google especially doesn’t like it). Search engines prefer to see human-readable URLs (CNC) on sites. Newer versions of Joomla convert urls automatically, and if you have any difficulties with this, then use the sh404SEF plugin. You can find the plugin here – https://extensions.joomla.org/.
Title and Description Tags
Another significant disadvantage of Joomla is the need to use several tools for seo optimization at once. And on one sh404SEF and JSitemap Pro you will not go far. The following plugins can be used to optimize Title and Description:
- SEOSimple.
- JoomSEF – easier to learn
Why optimize these tags at all?
Title tag
Title – The title of your article. It should describe the complete content of the document. A good comparison is made between a title and a newspaper headline. Your task is to interest the reader to go exactly to your resource from the search results.
A prerequisite for the formation of a title is the presence of a keyword in its composition (1-2 with the highest frequency). It is not necessary to “hammer” the title with keywords. This entails sanctions from search engines (because it is taken for keyword overspam). It is not recommended to separate the title with commas or divide it into 2 or more sentences. Dots are not put at the end.
The most important thing is to make the content of the title 100% reflect the content of the article. If in the title you promise one thing, but talk about something completely different, then the search engines will not only rank you lower, and sometimes change the name.
What headlines work?
- Headlines with numbers have always worked well and will work. “100 Skills of an SMM Specialist” is a great name.
- Intriguing headlines. Come up with a title that makes the user want to read the sequel.
- Benefit header. Here you have to try to fit your benefit into fifty signs. If you have significant advantages over your competitors, then you can use this technique.
- Question title. Think about what question your target audience might have in their head right now? Offices issuing loans and credits in their advertising materials write the question: “Run out of money?” The auto lawyer uses the question: “Got in an accident?”
Description
This tag does not affect search promotion, but takes part in the formation of a short description of the page in the search results.
Description – a short paragraph that appears below the title in the search results. Its task is to further clarify the content of the article. This way, the user will understand that he has found what he is looking for without ever visiting the site. In this case, you will receive more targeted visits to the site (an important behavioral factor).
If you do not ask it yourself, the search engine will do it for you and its description may not correspond to reality – it will be much more boring and uninteresting than you could write.
Site caching
Download speed is an important parameter. If it is small – page load takes 3 or more seconds, then you lose traffic. Caching helps your browser to “remember” the content of the page and load it faster next time.
Caching reduces second and subsequent download times and has a beneficial effect on SEO. To enable caching open “Global Settings” – (System> General Settings). Then you need to click on the System tab to open the caching settings. Click on the drop-down list next to the “Cash” label. Select “Standard Caching”.
Some more ways to speed up your downloads
Caching alone is hard to solve the problem of slow loading, so below you will find a few more ways to reduce loading times:
- Optimize images for web publishing. Before and after optimization, the weight of images can vary by an order of magnitude. If you need to place a video on the site, then it is better not to upload it to the hosting, but download it from YouTube, for example.
- Disable unnecessary animation on the site.
- Sometimes the problem is with your hosting provider. In this case, just change it.
Content editor
For comfortable work with content, the built-in jumla editors lack functionality. Problems begin from the time when you will need to upload images to the site and you will have to do this through a separate menu “Media Manager”.
An alternative to this disgrace is the JCE (Joomla Content Editor) editor. It is the best text editor for Joomla today. The program is located at http://www.joomlacontenteditor.net/. You can also find and download Russian localization here.
Outcome
Joomla is a fairly popular engine. Yes, it is not always flexible, somewhere not functional and you have to use various “crutches”. At times SEO optimization on joomla turns into endless plugin installation.
But, the platform is great for creating small online stores, information sites, personal pages, brand web resources. That is, it is almost universal.
