Joomla! and SEO

[Shone]

'm considering migrating my current site (static web pages) into Joomla!. I rank pretty high in all 3 major search engines and do not want to lose these rankings, what do you suggest? Should I go for Joomla!? Should I redirect the highly ranked pages? I'm a bit worried but my site's growing and I need some kind of CMS. Any other option?
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[sleepyhead]

im using joomla for my site, infosrch.com, if your a past learner, why not give it a try, but seriously, its pretty difficult, you might lost some details.

[StarLab]

If you migrate to Joomla! then keep in mind that you should use a site template that conforms to XHTML and CSS standards. There are many templates out there that still use depreciated markup and will hinder your SEO efforts.

Changing site software will always result in an "adjustment" period as far as search engines go. Be prepared for that. As old site content drops, new site content will be added. I've never used redirects, so cannot comment if this will help you or not. Others may comment on this after me, however.

There are also components for enhancing Joomla! SEO. There are a few out there, so it will be up to you which one you use. Depending on the server you are running on (supports mod_rewrite?) Joomla! will natively use SE friendly URLs. You just have to set the option in admin configuration and define the .htaccess file.

The best thing to do with Joomla! is to treat your front page as a blog. Constantly update with new articles or content, and SE's will love you. Installing a SE sitemap may help too.

As mentioned by sleepyhead above, there is a learning curve to Joomla, but most answers to any questions you have can be found in the Joomla! support forums.

Joomla! is a robust CMS and can pretty much accomplish anything you may want to do. There is an endless supply of plugins to enhance it's functionality.

Hope this helps.

An afterthought: You can always leave your static pages in tact then display them using the "wrapper" option in Joomla! These pages will be displayed within Joomla! and will appear to be a part of the new site while leaving the SE positions in tact. Like I said, this is just a thought.

[TikTok]

I use the OpenSEF component to convert the Joomla URLs into search-friendly URLs. Once it's installed, it's fairly automatic. You can even change the filenames to tailor to your keywords if you feel it's necessary.

Starlab provides good information. There are many good modules and components that will allow you to keep your frontpage content fresh and remain accessible to search engine spiders.

[Comenius]

I use Joomla with Artio JoomSEF on one of my sites, and Joomla with OpenSEF on another. Both work great. With either component, you can create excellent SEF URL's.

You will absolutely want to consider 301 redirects for your old pages to your new pages if the URL's will be changing. Artio JoomSEF has the ability to do this built in.

I once switched a site from non-SEF URL's to SEF URL's without 301 redirects and the site definitely took a hit in the SERP's. It came back after a couple months, though, and has been doing fine ever since.

For my newer site I went SEF straight out of the gate and it's been a huge benefit. Joomla is an awesome platform upon which to develop a variety of great sites.

[Johan007]

The real question you should be asking is does your current internal pages have many back links becuase you will lose them unless you keep your old pages on the server with a notice at the top saying where to find your latest site. When your established you can delete the old site after a year or two.

Originally Posted by TikTok

I use the OpenSEF component to convert the Joomla URLs into search-friendly URLs. Once it's installed, it's fairly automatic. You can even change the filenames to tailor to your keywords if you feel it's necessary.

You do NOT need to this as the URL's are spiderable even with "?" in them.

Originally Posted by TikTok

Starlab provides good information. There are many good modules and components that will allow you to keep your frontpage content fresh and remain accessible to search engine spiders.

You do NOT need to this as fresh content has no baring on rank. The front page will be accessible.

Originally Posted by Comenius

For my newer site I went SEF straight out of the gate and it's been a huge benefit. Joomla is an awesome platform upon which to develop a variety of great sites.

Agreed a quick way to add CMS with PHP templates that are easy to change.

[Forsh]

Originally Posted by TikTok

I use the OpenSEF component to convert the Joomla URLs into search-friendly URLs. Once it's installed, it's fairly automatic. You can even change the filenames to tailor to your keywords if you feel it's necessary.

Starlab provides good information. There are many good modules and components that will allow you to keep your frontpage content fresh and remain accessible to search engine spiders.

I wouldn't recommend OpenSEF, use SEF Advance, trust me. I believe the Open SEF project was abandoned.

[EverythingsGoneGreen]

Joomla! and SEO: Hmmm...

I migrated a static site to Joomla over a year ago and even though I 301'd all the high ranking pages, the paths changed and eventually they lost their rank. This may have been for a number of reasons but it *may* be best to try and keep the directory structure and paths the same as the original site; Some people say simply using a 301 works with no problems but I've seen it not work, so the choice is yours.

Although it is suggested above that you don't need to use an extension like OpenSEF to rename all your paths as indexing dynamic URLs is fine, you may wish to consider using such an extension in an attempt to firstly have usable paths and to try and keep legacy paths/names. Be aware that using such extensions can add extra load to your server depending on your hosting and size of site, traffic etc.

I've used OpenSEF in all the life of the site (1.0.x) and it's OK but a bit buggy and, coupled with some issues Joomla! has with duplicating pages, it can be a real pain. I've read very good reports about the sh404SEF extension plus OpenSEF has been dropped by its original authors and is now run by someone else under the name NuSEF.

However, bear in mind that Joomla! 1.5 is in release candidate format now (RC3) and there's not much choice in any of the SEO plugins as yet and the built-in SEO capabilities of Joomla! 1.5 are not quite what you'd expect if you're serious about SEO.

As for Joomla!'s handling of multi-page articles - it has an issue with giving every page of an article the exact same Keywords and Descriptions of the first page of the article (split into separate pages by the {mospagebreak} mambot) where I would personally address KWs/description/title on each page's own merit. If there's a way around this I am unaware of it.

The roadmap and core SEO functionality are closed for now as far as 1.5 goes but there could be hope for better SEO functionality through extensions and in 1.6 as long as people keep pushing for it.

I'd say hold fire for now until you know how J1.5 will perform and what SEO extensions become available. I don't mean to put you off an excellent CMS which many people have spent a hell of a lot of time and hard work in creating, but as far as SEO goes, for now, you might be disappointed.

[Forsh]

Originally Posted by EverythingsGoneGreen

Joomla! and SEO: Hmmm...

I migrated a static site to Joomla over a year ago and even though I 301'd all the high ranking pages, the paths changed and eventually they lost their rank. This may have been for a number of reasons but it *may* be best to try and keep the directory structure and paths the same as the original site; Some people say simply using a 301 works with no problems but I've seen it not work, so the choice is yours.

Although it is suggested above that you don't need to use an extension like OpenSEF to rename all your paths as indexing dynamic URLs is fine, you may wish to consider using such an extension in an attempt to firstly have usable paths and to try and keep legacy paths/names. Be aware that using such extensions can add extra load to your server depending on your hosting and size of site, traffic etc.

I've used OpenSEF in all the life of the site (1.0.x) and it's OK but a bit buggy and, coupled with some issues Joomla! has with duplicating pages, it can be a real pain. I've read very good reports about the sh404SEF extension plus OpenSEF has been dropped by its original authors and is now run by someone else under the name NuSEF.

However, bear in mind that Joomla! 1.5 is in release candidate format now (RC3) and there's not much choice in any of the SEO plugins as yet and the built-in SEO capabilities of Joomla! 1.5 are not quite what you'd expect if you're serious about SEO.

As for Joomla!'s handling of multi-page articles - it has an issue with giving every page of an article the exact same Keywords and Descriptions of the first page of the article (split into separate pages by the {mospagebreak} mambot) where I would personally address KWs/description/title on each page's own merit. If there's a way around this I am unaware of it.

The roadmap and core SEO functionality are closed for now as far as 1.5 goes but there could be hope for better SEO functionality through extensions and in 1.6 as long as people keep pushing for it.

I'd say hold fire for now until you know how J1.5 will perform and what SEO extensions become available. I don't mean to put you off an excellent CMS which many people have spent a hell of a lot of time and hard work in creating, but as far as SEO goes, for now, you might be disappointed.

I agree with all of your points, but with JREF/AEF Advance, I believe all Joomla SEO points are covered as of 1.013. A pain in the ass sometimes, but covered!

[EverythingsGoneGreen]

Originally Posted by Forsh

I agree with all of your points, but with JREF/AEF Advance, I believe all Joomla SEO points are covered as of 1.013. A pain in the ass sometimes, but covered!

Do you have a link to these extensions please, Forsh? I know SEF Advance but not JREF/AEF Advance.

That said, we still need a world-class SEO solution for Joomla! 1.5