A Guide to Joomla SEO for Your Website
Are you concerned with the rumors that Joomla websites are dead in the water when it comes to strong search engine rankings? The short answer is that there is no need to be concerned. You can still rank your Joomla website on Google and other search engines. However, there is generally some truth in most rumors.
Joomla is known for being difficult when it comes to SEO. The developers of Joomla have made strides to remedy the problems. Joomla can still pose some challenges when it comes to SEO, but with the right tools and some dedicated work, you can still achieve strong search rankings.
Basics for Joomla SEO
With your Joomla website, you are going to start with the basics of SEO to improve your search engine rankings and target relevant keywords. If you are embarking on an SEO mission for your website, here are a few basic SEO steps that you should start with:
- optimize title tags & meta descriptions
- alternative text for images
- keyword rich urls
- internal linking
- long form, keyword-rich content
- page speed optimizations
- compressed images
- Specific Joomla SEO Steps
While Joomla has made great strides to make its platform more friendly for those wanting to add SEO to their digital marketing strategies, there are still a few hoops you will need to jump through to get there. Below are some of the settings and issues you will need to be aware of when working with a Joomla Website.
Find a good Joomla SEO extension (SEO-Generator, JSitemap, Route66)
- Make sure the robots.txt file is not disallowing images
- Enable search engine friendly urls
- Enable URL rewriting
- Rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess
- Make sure the sitemap is accurate and readable
- Enable Gzip (compresses code for better page load speed)
- Check for 404 errors
Use Your SEO Tools, Especially The Free Ones
There is a wide variety of free SEO tools that you can use to help you discover technical issues, analyze areas for improvement, track search rankings, and highlight new opportunities. While many of them do cost money, there are a few free ones that should be the basis for all of your website’s marketing efforts.
Google provides several free tools that are critical to SEO efforts. Google Analytics provides you with insight into the visitors to your website. Data on the visitors, how they got to your website, where they are located, how much time they spent on the site, how many pages they visit and on and on.
Google Search Console is another free tool that is critical to Joomla SEO. Data is abundant in here, and it will give you insight into how Google views your site. You can view organic search queries, which is important to know and understand, as it tells you what search terms your website is showing up for. There is also a technical SEO aspect to Google Search Console, where data about your sitemap, crawl rates, linking, and any issues that Google finds is available.
Google Search Console
Route 66 is another free plugin that will help you optimize your website content for success. It is very similar to Yoast SEO, a plugin for WordPress websites. With Route 66, you enter your target keyword and get tips on how where you can make improvements to better optimize your page. It will also give you a score out of 100 that indicates how optimized each page of your website is for the target keyword.
There are other tools as well that you should research and put into use, such as Google Trends, Lighthouse, and Page Speed Insights.
Have a Strong Hosting Environment
Ensuring that your website has a strong hosting environment is extremely important to good Joomla SEO and just SEO in general. You want a server that is built to best suit Joomla websites. If there is one place you cannot be cheap, it is this. You need the server to be an aid to a fast-loading website, not a detriment. Also, downtime can be a killer to your website’s success.
When seeking a website host, ask about Joomla specific hosting and get some stats on average up time for their websites. Unless you already have your host and they have done a great job for you, it will require some research and calling around. If you don’t know where to start, give us a call! We are a web hosting company with extensive Joomla hosting experience. Sometimes it just takes making that first phone call to get going on a task.
Make Sure your Joomla Website is Updated
If your website is an older version of Joomla, it can be a potential hazard to your SEO efforts. Older versions of Joomla may have certain plugins that are no longer supported, which means these plugins can easily fail and become compromised. If the plugins do fail, then it may not directly impact your search rankings, but it will impact your ability to convert those website visitors into leads or sales.
Website Hacker – Joomla Upgrade & Joomla to WordPress Concern
Hackers target websites that use outdated versions because they are much easier to hack compared to a website that is updated to the newest version. If your website does get hacked, there are a lot of problems that can arise. Once Google knows that you have been hacked, a big warning appears on any search result that your website shows up. If there is one way to kill your traffic, it is with a big red warning that says “THIS SITE HAS BEEN HACKED.”
The Joomla Masters Can Help Guide You
We are not only technical masters when it comes to Joomla websites, but we are also great at Joomla SEO. We can develop an SEO plan to improve the rankings of your Joomla website and drive more relevant traffic to your website.
If you are in need of a Joomla upgrade, then we can help you there as well. It is our specialty, and our guides are truly the Joomla Masters when it comes to upgrading your website.
If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with us by phone at (910) 452-6345 or fill out the contact form, and we will respond quickly.
