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DIY SEO: Two Top Joomla SEO Extensions *UPDATE*

DIY SEO: Two Top Joomla SEO Extensions *UPDATE*

Posted on 24.04.2010

(A while back we made a post praising a Joomla SEO plugin called JoomSEO. Since then though, we’ve adopted a new tool which has become our go-to Joomla SEO extension.)

Everyone wants their Joomla small business website to rank as high as possible in search engines, and it seems like there’s an endless amount of search engine optimization (SEO) tricks out there for how you can give your website that “edge”. But who really wants to spend hours trolling through their Joomla articles and menu parameters, filling in meta-data. I certainly don’t. After experimenting with a number of different Joomla extensions that claim to be “the” solution, I finally found a Joomla SEO component I can’t recommend highly enough for small business websites: JoomAce’s AceSEF.

This clever little component really is a Swiss army knife when it comes to Joomla SEO. It auto-fills all of your page titles, URLs, meta-tags, and meta-descriptions so that you don’t have to do it all manually. But that’s just the beginning. Here’s a quick list of some of the other things that I love about this component:

  1. URL Redirection – Similar to another utility I’ve relied on heavily, ReDJ, AceSEF allows for the redirection of old, dead URLs to new active ones. This is indispensable for anyone who has attempted a Joomla 1.0 to 1.5 migration.
  2. Auto-Updates – Don’t worry about constantly checking the JoomAce website for the latest version of this extension. It will actually tell you within its control panel if it needs to be updated, and it can be done at just the click of a button!
  3. It’s Free! – Like many Joomla plugins and components, there is a free version and premium version. As long as you don’t mind the usual small plug for the developers included at the bottom of your page, then the free version is all you need.
  4. 3rd Party Extension Support – Because most small business websites include components other than just basic navigation and information (e.g. Virtuemart, Xmap, chronocontact, etc.), AceSEF includes SEF URL support for all of your diverse website needs.
  5. SEF URL Management – The core of this component is still SEF URL creation. A few simple parameters will allow you to have it automatically create fantastic URLs for every single page on your site, exactly the way you want them. But what’s more, you can even individually customize them if necessary.
  6. Meta Manager – One of my favorite aspects of the component is the Meta Manager page. It lays out the meta-data in grid format for every single URL on the site, and from there you can modify the automatically filled data to whatever you feel is going to give you the best SEO results.

Those are just some of my favorite features, but it certainly doesn’t end there. Obviously I don’t work for JoomAce, and I don’t want this to sound like an advertisement, but if you want a simple, all-in-one SEO solution for your Joomla small business website, then you owe it to yourself to at least check this one out. Joomla web designers are typically pretty loyal to their search engine optimization practices…but if you’re a developer that has been relying on JoomSEO, JoomSEF, or SH404SEF, you may be pleasantly surprised by what AceSEF has to offer.

Comments (10)

  • Adam Wooding

    Hi Brendon, thank you for this article! I have been using AceSEF for quite some time now, and I have found it to be a very powerful component. It is well thought out, and easy to use. The AceSEF team have great support too.
    One of the other very powerful features which I love is the ability to choose which Joomla URL you want to make the ‘used URL’ for an SEF URL. eg. Joomla may be outputting serveral different URLs which all point to the same article. AceSEF allows you to pick one which will be used. This is really helpful in dealing with menu alias problems and various other problems which may arise.
    Overall, I think it is an underrated component. I use it on all of my sites, and recommend it to all of my clients. It is great to see other people recommending it, and giving it the exposure it deserves!
    Kind regards,
    Adam Wooding

  • Nevplamer

    not so sure about the integrated site map thingy in the recent pro edition, its supposed to automate the process, just produces an enourmous list you need to go through and work out what its on about. plus it does not automate. having used it for a while now i can see clearly that there’s little it does which you could not do more easily with a well written .htaccess, joomla core, and a consistend approach to your article writing, i mean, the meta desc and data is just to the right, would it be that hard to fill it in when you decide to publish your content?
    and the ultimate irony of the product, the documentation is so poor that you actually need to be able to do properly what it claims to be able to automate for you in the first place, in order to understand it.. Nuts. (like the early plugin for google analytics that required you to install the plug in and then go into the code and stick in the tracker anyay.. which proper cracked me up)
    the only reason ive not uninstalled the ace sef is a morbid fear of having to sort out the mess its left on the internet
    oh.. in its favour it does rather simplify the cutom 404 page thing.

    • brendonjmcleod

      I agree that the documentation leaves something to be desired. It’s been a fair bit of trial and error for me when learning how to use this component, but I’m still convinced it’s well worth the effort given its robustness. The Joomace documentation page is getting better all the time, and at least gives a decent overview of how the component works: http://www.joomace.net/support/docs/acesef
      More than a couple of times I’ve fully purged all of the SEF, custom and 404 URLs on a few of our sites and rebuilt them all. I’ve found the process quick and efficient using Ace. Of course you can put in all of your meta data manually via each article’s backend edit page, but why spend hours doing so on a site with hundreds of articles when you can literally do it in minutes with an Ace. The ability to control and edit SEF URLs is a huge advantage over the core Joomla SEF functionality too.
      I understand where you’re coming from, but a little effort pays off in spades when it comes to this component. If you put the time in to understand and famaliarize yourself with Ace, it can be one of your most valuable tools as a site admin.

    • brendonjmcleod

      I’ve used sh404SEF on a few of our sites as well, and they’re both great components. What I think gives AceSEF the edge is the automatic meta data creation, and the much more user friendly interface.
      If you’re used to using sh404SEF, you might want to stick with that one, but it’s worth trying both to see which one you prefer.

    • Kevin McLeod

      eWedding is a platform for building your own wedding website. If you’re wanting to offer a service like eWedding, you’re probably better off using a CMS like Drupal. If you just want to build a website that looks like eWedding, then there are plenty of Joomla templates out there that can help. Check out YooTheme for some great Joomla and WordPress templates.

  • K9jPgO8NT3

    I understand where you’re coming from, but a little effort pays off in spades when it comes to this component. If you put the time in to understand and famaliarize yourself with Ace, it can be one of your most valuable tools as a site admin.

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