Joomla SEO, time for the new URLs!
We’re writing this soon after the release of version 3.8 of the powerful Joomla [tipso tip=”Content Management System”]CMS[/tipso]. Joomla 3.8 carries a new feature which is especially interesting for [tipso tip=”Search Engine Optimization”]SEO[/tipso] purposes: a new structure for your web pages addresses, the so-called [tipso=”Uniform Resource Locator”]URL[/tipso], which will be more meaningful to both people and search engines.
Joomla already had some [tipso tip=”Search Engine Friendly”] SEF[/tipso] features, but native SEO features are not enough for advanced SEO and needed to be integrated via additional software (components and extensions), like sh404SEF or MijoSEF.
SEOs have long waited for a better URLs control with Joomla: they often preferred to use WordPress, in order to have greater flexibility in this regard.
To better understand the possibilities offered by the last update for Joomla, we take a sample URL generated by the previous versions of Joomla:
https://www.deltamatica.it/category/123-my-article
where 123 is the content (article) ID code.
With the new routing system, we are able to get the following simplified address:
https://www.deltamatica.it/category/my-article
How to activate the new Joomla URLs:
- login into Joomla administration paanel
- go to Content > Articles
- click the “Options” button:
- Click the “Integration” tab
- Set URL Routing to “Experimental“
- Set Remove IDs from URLs to “Yes”
- Click “Save and Exit”
The new URL routing feature can also be enabled for Contacts, News Feeds and Users. Look for its option under the “Integration” tab. For instance, in the Contacts:
