Among other things, Search Engine Optimization is a Joomla! feature that permits the translation of URLs into a more readable form for use with search engine spiders. To work with this feature click on Global Configuration in the backend Control panel. These more readable URLs are sometimes called Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs. This article will show you how to use Joomla’s built-in SEO features to generate SEF URLs.
There
are
three
things
you
must
do:
1)
Search
Engine
Friendly
URLs:
When
set
to
Yes,
URLs
are
rewritten
to
be
more
friendly
for
search
engine
spiders.
For
example,
the
URL:
www.example.com/index2.php?option=com_content&view=etc...,
would
turn
into:
www.example.com/alias.
Most
of
the
items
created
in
Joomla!
have
an
Alias
box
where
a
search
engine
friendly
URL
can
be
inserted.
2)
Use
URL
Rewriting:
When
set
to
Yes,
Joomla!
will
use
the
_modrewrite’
settings
of
Apache
when
creating
search
engine
friendly
URLs.
Please
note:
it
is
advised
that
you
do
not
modify
any
.htaccess
file
without
an
understanding
of
how
it
works.
3)
You
must
use
the
.htaccess
file
provided
with
Joomla!
in
order
to
use
this
setting.
To
use
this
file,
rename
the
htaccess.txt
file
(found
in
the
root
directory)
to
.htaccess.
Claims
exist
that
it’s
possible
to
implement
search
engine-friendly
(SEF)
URLs
without
having
to,
correspondingly,
use
the
Apache
_modrewrite
setting.
These
claims
may
be
factual
but
they
are
not
sufficiently
substantiated
to
provide
any
guarantee.
What
is
more
often
the
case
is
that
if
people
only
click
one
option,
or
do
not
have
a
properly
written
.htaccess
file,
SEF
URLs
will
not
be
generated
and
Kunena
will
not
function
correctly.
In
some
cases
it
may
be
necessary
to
implement
a
special
case
of
the
Apache
server
.htaccess
file
in
order
for
you
to
make
SEO
operate.
Joomla
includes
a
template
for
this
file,
which
is
located
in
the
root
directory
of
your
Joomla
website;
the
file
is
named
htaccess.txt;
If
you
are
experiencing
problems
in
getting
SEF
URLs
to
operate,
you
should
rename
the
file
as
.htaccess
(do
not
forget
the
leading
“.”
character).
In
exceptional
cases,
other
changes
to
the
.htaccess
file
may
be
necessary
-
see
.htaccess
tutorial.
If you want to implement SEF URLs on any Joomla website, you must have a menu item associated with the component. The menu item does not have to be displayed on your website but it must exist and it must be enabled (published).
Kunena
is
fully
compatible
with
the
Joomla!
SEO.
It
is
recommended
that
the
following
SEO
values
be
used
(assuming
that
your
website
supports
the
use
of
SEO
and
any
dependencies
on
.htaccess
settings):
Global Configuration -> (tab) Site -> SEO Settings -> Search Engine Friendly URLs: = Yes Global Configuration -> (tab) Site -> SEO Settings -> Use URL Rewriting: = Yes
Do not forget to rename
htaccess.txtto.htaccess! Use a different.htaccessfile for servers that are not running Apache webserver software.
Dashboard -> Configuration -> General -> Seo Settings -> Search Engine Friendly URLs = Yes (default = Yes) This setting works only in conjunction with Joomla SEO.
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