Hi - has anyone any thoughts on using sh404SEF to improve search engine results? Or indeed, any other plugins, modules or components for better SEO...

Thanks

Ian

Hi Ian,

Using sh404sef isn't for the faint hearted and requires extensive reading of the documentation provided

Rather than focus on components I'd do keyword research and make sure your content is as useful and as well written as possible

Cheers
Paul

Some people love sh404sef but personally I've found it over complex for the normal user and causes problems with url management

Cheers

Hi Paul - sorry for the delay in getting back to you, and thanks for the comments. I'm struggling enough with everything just now, so the last thing I need is another challenge!
I'll leave things as they are for the moment.

Best wishes
Ian

Yep its not something I use any more

No problem

Cheers
Paul

Paul,

Is there something else that you would recommend to use instead? I have a site that is currently non-SEF'd and I will have to bite the bullet and do it some day soon.

Joomla's native URL rewriting is a bit ugly.

Andrew

I have and do use Sh404SEF - it has its good points and its minus points

It is something I've found that you need to get right first time and really read the documentation first

If however a client needs to work with it on a regular basis it will be a problem

Clients like the 404 pages which try to guess urls but really don't like the complexity

I've not really used any other extension for this and instead carefully manage the SEF Joomla urls

I will ask the team for their input

Cheers
Paul

Ive only ever used sh404 and find it more than adequate for what I've needed. As Paul suggests you do need to understand what it does eg RTM but beyond that it's a pretty versatile tool.

Joomla sef urls have come along way hough and for small sites I would recommend just using the native sef using alias's and page titles via menu items etc.

My 2 cents anyway.

I can't remember which one I had used (and it was a paid version) but I gave up after it was giving me URLs with sitename.com/blog/blog/article.html where the one category name was repeated in the URL.

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

If the site is small ish I'd follow Anthony's advice

Cheers
Paul

It will have upwards of 7000 articles and somewhat continuing to grow.

I might bite this one later when the need is more present (and I'm migrating to a Joomla 3.x).

That is a lot of content - before you use sh404sef if you decide to that is - check with their developers about any performance issues with that many articles

Cheers
Paul

Yup. Another part of what would be an absolutely huge project.

Ugly URLs to continue in the meantime. :-P

Andrew

Good luck with it

Cheers
Paul