content Archives - Website Beginners Guide

Joomla and Missing Metatags

Filed Under: Joomla Optimization, Joomla Seo, Search Engines

If you are like me, you like to have your Metatags like description and keywords filled with relevant content..

You could have Metatag generators for you website, or overviews of the content with a component like OpenSEF.
But what if you don't use OpenSEF but sh404SEF?
In that case you could register and download the Joomla Metatag component form iJoomla.

But if you just want to see what pages still are in need of content for these Metatags.
In that case there is now a very simple but effective and easy to use modules, with two versions, one for the Joomla 1.0.x versions and for Joomla 1.5…

It is written by Dan Rahmel who also wrote two Books about Joomla!
and

And it is easy to install.

The module is installed as a normal module, but it is only for the administrator.
That is why it is listed under the Administrator part of the Modules and has to be published and positioned on the cPanel, which means that it will be visible on you administrator homepage (the first one after you login)

After publication you find the items without the Description and Keywords listed on a separate Tab on the Administrators page.

You can download the version you want from JoomlaJumpStart.com where you can even find more information on Joomla and the insights of Dan Rahmel.

There are people who will tell you that Metatags like the Description and Keywords are useless these days.. for Search Engine Optimization that is.

But try to work on writing good solid page descriptions and use just up to a maximum of 10 keywords in the keyword field.
Use the keywords you have used in the page, and in the Title and wait for the next index round of Google.

The Descriptions field mostly show up under you page title and should be written as a small advertisement to bring you the visitors you want.

Working the “C” in Joomla

Filed Under: Joomla Seo, Search Engines

There is no “C” in Joomla?, of course there is, You know there is a C !
Joomla is a “C”ontent Management System.
And that is where the majority of your SEO is done!

Content is what they want.

No, You should not look for what you can do to play the the Search Engines, devote your time to focus on your visitors.
Most of the mayor search engines like Google, Yahoo en Live now want you to build quality content for you visitors.

And Building a quality site is just what makes Joomla a great tool to work with.

Looking at Joomla, you have a Content Management System that lets you Build large sites, with the possibility to give you site the right structure.

A structure that you can make out of Sections, which you then divide into categories.
And in those categories you put your content, your pages.

Once you defined you structure, start building, a few pages per week, will get you a site in one year that holds more than a hundred pages!

And building a page is easy in Joomla, push “new” in you content overview and start writingâ€¦

Use all the features that you can, from Title to Metatags Information, its all there.

Writing to Boost your ranking

You saw the way you can build and structure your site.
Try and do your writing the same way:

Your Writing is Your Best SEO

Make sure you write your headlines with passion, and make your paragraphs easy to identify.

Use short sentences where possible and look at the overall page impression.
Can you “scan” the page? Can you find your keywords in the bolded paragraph headings.

Use H2 and if necessary H3 HTML headers, But use the H1 not more then One or two times on a page.

But the most important thing you can do, is to write information that your visitors are looking for.
Whether your write about product, services or Information or a special subject, always but out the best you can.

Look at yourself, what do you want to read about if you are looking on information on you sites topic.
And then write about it!!

Search Engine Optimization is Simple

Filed Under: Joomla, Joomla Seo, Optimization

Search Engine Optimization

What is this SEO all about?

Well, you and some other hundreds of thousands of people are wondering about the same thing.

But actually doing search engine optimization its not that difficult, it is about getting your website into the so called “organic search” results of the Search Engines, that's it!

You can have long discussions on how to do it, but the final results will be the same, getting ranked among the Top 10 Results of the keyword search you think your public will look for and then find the information you are providing!

Ok, let's read that again….
Results? That means the Search Engine Results Page.
Top 10? Most people who use Search Engines won't go further than the first page….

Silly people…they should know that you are on page 1267 of Google, so want don't they just look there?

The Most Important Part of Search Engine Optimization

Keyword you think?
This is actually the most important and hardest part of Search Engine Optimization…
Get into the mindset of the audience you want to get to your site, think like them, dress like them, eat like them, work like them, live like them, and finally Search Like Them!

If you can only manage the last part, you are on the right track!

Find those keywords that your potential visitors are looking for via Keyword tools like Google's Keyword Planner Tool. Once you found them get started by targeting them in your search engine optimization and content plan.

And If you are wondering if a Content Management System like Joomla or WordPress can do this?
I can tell you now, right here, YES they can!

Starting a Content Plan and Site Structure

Your site structure is one of the most important assets when it comes to ranking in the search engines. You site structure should reflect the topic of your website.

For example a website with WordPress as it's main topic should have at least these site topics:

WordPress Themes or WordPress Templates
WordPress Plugins
WordPress Tutorials
WordPress Blog and/or WordPress Website

For a site about Joomla! those topics could be:

Joomla Templates
Joomla Tutorials
How To Install Joomla
Joomla Components / Extensions

WordPress Website Structure

Setting those basic content structure in WordPress is done via Post Categories.

Got to Posts -> Categories and create the categories that you would like to write about on your site.

Once you have done that create a WordPress Menu (Apprearance -> Menu -> Create New menu) give your menu a name and save it. After saving you can add categories to it in a way you like and would help your visitors.

Once saved you can place is as one of the sites primary or secondary navigation menu or as a custom menu widget in your sidebar.

Joomla Website Structure

In Joomla you can do the same as mentioned before, create the categories structure for your website.

Because of the way Joomla is build it just takes more steps to have your topics menu.

Go to Content -> Category Manager -> Add New Category.

Once you set-up the categories you add them to a menu.

First create a New menu via the menu manager.

Add the categories in a way you want them to be shown on the site (Blog layout, List or Page with all categories of you choice listed).

Then publish the menu module on the location you want it to appear on the site. See blow for a finished menu example.

Creating Content for SEO

Now that you have your basic structure set-up start writing your content and keep your main topics in mind.

You can now easily place your articles in their respective categories. While creating your content also think about writing compelling articles titles and meta descriptions.

Your titles are you most powerful tools for attract visitors to you site as they will be shown in the search results pages. A good title will want the searcher to click on it to read the article you created.

A good meta description might help to get theme to read more… Just make sure you deliver or over-deliver on the topic that your articles is about.

Now you are set to grow your rankings based on your site structure and you can get some ideas for your website articles based on that structure.

Do you have any ideas on your own about the above mentioned SEO set-up? Let me know in the comments section below!