Joomla! 1.0.xx – SEO and OpenSEF

Let me start by saying, well done! Why well done? Because I finally made SEO and OpenSEF to work.

Yes, I finally did it!

Some might say “What’s the big deal?” I agree, no big deal at all. But for me, it is a big deal! You have no idea the frustration I endured during my ambition to make SEO and OpenSEF do its magic in my Joomla! website.

The Time
I remember spending all my waking hours at the Joomla! and Mambo forums searching and studying every thread, every post, followed every suggestions on how to use SEO and OpenSEF and at the end I failed, again and again.

Giving Up?
There was time that I almost give up. Well, kind of give up, because after those long frustrating hours, I stopped trying. I even stopped thinking about SEO. The fact was, I don’t really need SEO because without SEO my site can still function 100%.

But Why?
The challenge to make SEO work lingered in my mind. My failure just bothered me a lot and won’t go away. To add to injury, the idea of “if some could do it, and had made SEO worked, why could not I?” Why? What’s wrong with me? Are those Joomla! users especial?

New Attitude
Once in a while if I felt like playing around with SEO I did so with a different attitude. Yes, I tried and gave a rest if at the end once again failed.

What is SEO?
SEO means Search Engine Optimization. To read more about SEO, you can go to Wikipedia. In simplistic explanation, SEO makes the URL more readable by humans as well as search engines. For example, without SEO when a content is accessed, it would be something like http://www.sampleweb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=1. Compared it when a site is using SEO which is now: http://www.sampleweb.com/content/view/1/1/ In addition, if OpenSEF component is installed, the URL will now become, http://www.sampleweb.com/about-me.html.

How to SEO in Joomla!
The SEO in a Joomla! powered website can be accessed by going to Global Configuration > SEO tab > Click Yes under the “Search Engine Friendly URLs:”

htaccess.txt rename to .htaccess
Once the SEO is on, you now have to change htaccess.txt to .htaccess located at the Joomla! root directory. Easy right? Yes it is.

What’s inside the htaccess.txt file?
Below is the unchanged lines of codes when you open htaccess.txt file. I used Notepad to open this file.

### @version $Id: htaccess.txt 4085 2006-06-21 16:03:54Z stingrey $
# @package Joomla
# @copyright Copyright (C) 2005 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
# @license http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU/GPL
# Joomla! is Free Software

################################

#READ THIS COMPLETELY IF YOU CHOOSE TO USE THIS FILE
#
# The line just below this section: ‘Options FollowSymLinks’ may cause problems
# with some server configurations. It is required for use of mod_rewrite, but may already
# be set by your server administrator in a way that dissallows changing it in
# your .htaccess file. If using it causes your server to error out, comment it out (add # to
# beginning of line), reload your site in your browser and test your sef url’s. If they work,
# it has been set by your server administrator and you do not need it set here.
#
# Only use one of the two SEF sections that follow. Lines that can be uncommented
# (and thus used) have only one #. Lines with two #’s should not be uncommented
# In the section that you don’t use, all lines should start with #
#
# For Standard SEF, use the standard SEF section. You can comment out
# all of the RewriteCond lines and reduce your server’s load if you
# don’t have directories in your root named ‘component’ or ‘content’
#
# If you are using a 3rd Party SEF or the Core SEF solution
# uncomment all of the lines in the ‘3rd Party or Core SEF’ section
#
####################################

##### SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH COMPONENT URL’s that don’t work #####
# SPECIAL NOTE FOR SMF USERS WHEN SMF IS INTEGRATED AND BRIDGED
# OR ANY SITUATION WHERE A COMPONENT’s URL’s AREN’t WORKING
#
# In both the ‘Standard SEF’, and ‘3rd Party or Core SEF’ sections the line:
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(/component/option,com) [NC,OR] ##optional – see notes##
# May need to be uncommented. If you are running your Joomla/Mambo from
# a subdirectory the name of the subdirectory will need to be inserted into this
# line. For example, if your Joomla/Mambo is in a subdirectory called ‘/test/’,
# change this:
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(/component/option,com) [NC,OR] ##optional – see notes##
# to this:
# RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(/test/component/option,com) [NC,OR] ##optional – see notes##
#
###################################

## Can be commented out if causes errors, see notes above.
Options FollowSymLinks

#
# mod_rewrite in use

RewriteEngine On

# Uncomment following line if your webserver’s URL
# is not directly related to physical file paths.
# Update Your Joomla/MamboDirectory (just / for root)

# RewriteBase /

########## Begin – Joomla! core SEF Section
############# Use this section if using ONLY Joomla! core SEF
## ALL (RewriteCond) lines in this section are only required if you actually
## have directories named ‘content’ or ‘component’ on your server
## If you do not have directories with these names, comment them out.
#
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(/component/option,com) [NC,OR] ##optional – see notes##
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.htm|\.php|\.html|/[^.]*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(content/|component/) index.php
#
########## End – Joomla! core SEF Section
########## Begin – 3rd Party SEF Section
############# Use this section if you are using a 3rd party (Non Joomla! core) SEF extension – e.g. OpenSEF, 404_SEF, 404SEFx, SEF Advance, etc
#
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^(/component/option,com) [NC,OR] ##optional – see notes##
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.htm|\.php|\.html|/[^.]*)$ [NC]
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
#RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
#RewriteRule (.*) index.php
#
########## End – 3rd Party SEF Section

There are statements at those lines that have to be activated by uncommenting them.

Where? What?

Well, that’s another day of blogging. The point is I made it work. No further explanation.