How to Create Search Engine Friendly URLs
One of the necessary steps in SEO is creating of search engine friendly URLs. Joomla allows a simple way to do this.
Before making SEO settings, it is recommended to divide content of your site into sections and categories (see the respective article).
Search engine friendly URL will be generated on the basis of alias names specified for every menu item, section, category and page. So first of all you should make sure that you have carefully set alias names:
- For menu items:
Select a menu from Menus; then select necessary menu item from the list and click Edit. Make sure that Alias is specified for this menu item or set it if necessary.
- For Sections:
Click Content -> Section Manager and select a section from the list. Click Edit. Make sure that Alias is specified for this section or set it if necessary.
- For Categories:
Click Content -> Categories Manager and select a category from the list. Click Edit. Make sure that Alias is specified for this category or set it if necessary.
- For pages:
Click Content -> Articles Manager and select an article from the list. Click Edit. Make sure that Alias is specified for this page or set it if necessary.
In future, adding a new menu item, section, category or page you should necessary pay attention to the alias.
The second thing you should do is to configure SEO settings:
- Go to Site -> Global Configuration;
- Within the SEO Settings area, make the following settings:
3. Click Save button at the top of the page.
Before activating SEO settings, you should:
· Rename htaccess.txt file to .htaccess and
· Use mod_rewrite apache on your server.
Search engine friendly URL for a page will be created on the basis of aliases (aliases of the page, of page category and section and of menu item the page is displayed in).
