iJoomla SEO Review

Review of iJoomla SEO

We've heard some very good remarks about iJoomla's latest version of iJoomla SEO at the virtual Joomla! watercooler (I'm coining that term now), so we were pumped to receive an evaluation copy for our site.

Installation

Installation was a snap. No hangups or errors. iJoomla encrypts their license file, so you need to make sure you have ioncube encoder installed on your server. This isn't a big problem since virtually every hosting provider has it, but I do hate encoding in Joomla! extensions personally.

Cpanel

I'm pleased to report the iJoomla SEO Cpanel looks splendid in our free Joomla! admin template AdminPraise Lite (if you're using AP Lite, enter com_ijoomla_seo in the list of wide components so the sidebar will be hidden). The Cpanel has the traditional iJoomla iconset and style, with the red variant. iJoomla uses a tree navigation, which isn't a true Joomla! standard, but is very popular amongst Joomla! components with lots of sub-sections.

ijoomla-cpanel

ijoomla-aplite-params

Config

Under settings > config you'll find settings for replacements, keyword wrapping, descriptions, images, and keyword ranking. 
Replacements allows you to replace classes such as .componentheading and .contentheading with h1-h6 tags. This is extremely good for SEO. Some existing SEO components already do this, so you can choose to not replace anything.
Keyword wrapping allows you to wrap keywords with strong, b, or u tags. You can also wrap partial words and set the count.
Descriptions allows you to choose where your automated meta-description will be pulled from (such as intro text), then select the description length and if you want to omit keywords.
Images is a cool setting in which you can automatically insert a keyword from your list on images with no alt text.
Keyword ranking settings let you tweak how and when your site checks your Google rank (more on Google rank below). I think I'd set this to check manually so I can decide when my site hits Google, I'm just paranoid about stuff like that :)
Gripe - If I paid $100 for the extension, I'd be irritated by the big animated gif iJoomla advertisement in the right column of the settings page. I'd recommend removing that, and maybe having ads in a free lite version.

ijoomla-config

MetaTags

The MetaTags page looks very similar to that of the previous iJoomla MetaTag component, which was the predecessor of iJoomla SEO. MetaTags is a lazy web dev's metadata dream because you can automatically create meta title, keywords, and descriptions from your content, or even from other meta tags. It's always better to tweak these by hand, which you can also do here, but conveniently all in one page. This section is a tremendous time saver.
ijoomla-metatags

Redirects

Redirects lets you enter a link title or image, and a corresponding url, then gives you a code snippet like . You can then use this snippet in Joomla! content articles, or anywhere plugins are executed. This is a timesaver if there's a particular link you're always creating and you'd rather just paste this snippet, which can then be edited in one location if you ever want to change the text, link, or image. I like timesavers; the only thing that scares me is what happens if you choose to stop using iJoomla SEO one day? You'd have to update all these snippets. This is one of the only features that will cause (immediate) pain if you stop using the extension one day.
ijoomla-redirect-filled

Internal Links

Internal Links is a super cool and powerful feature. You can create a keyword such as "projectfork". Any time this keyword occurs in content, it will now automatically link to any internal menu item, article, or an external link. This is great for internal seo, but also very promising for a link exchange deal where certain keywords link to partner sites and vice versa.
ijoomla-internal-link-filled

Keywords

My absolute favorite feature is Keywords. For all your keywords, you get the Google ranking (which can be checked manually), position change, link to Google page, and the number of times the keyword occurs. These stats work for Joomla! article, menus, Moset Tree, Sobi, iJoomla Magazine, Digistore, Newsportal, and K2, which is really cool. You can also make your favorite keywords sticky, to keep a closer eye on those.

From iJoomla: "a similar service would cost $50-250/month and the number of keywords would be limited". By these numbers, iJoomla SEO would pay for itself in 1-2 months.

This is the deciding factor for us to install iJoomla SEO on JoomlaPraise.com.

We didn't have any data to show, so here's a screenshot from iJoomla:
Keywords

Pages

The Pages manager is an alternate way to view all your articles, but with a strong emphasis on SEO. You get a rolled up view of all your articles (with filters) where you can quickly see Outgoing links, Keywords/Phrases, and the number of keyword occurrences in these articles. You can quickly edit any article with a squeezebox view that also include that article's metadata. The squeezebox editor is a great idea and well executed.

Pricing
$99.99 for Single Site License

 

Rating

  • Huge timesaver for managing metadata, link creation, article editing
  • Keywords Manager is just awesome and pays for itself quickly if you were using a similar service
  • Powerful automated SEO tactics (heading replacements, image alt tags, etc)
  • Cool tools like Redirects and Internal Links
  • Price point may be high for some
  • Encoded files
  • That darn animated gif advertisement :)

Bottom Line

$100 is a lot for some people to spend on a Joomla! component to some, but that all depends on your perspective. Many companies using Joomla! are spending hundreds or thousands per month on Google Adwords alone, and countless hours (or dollars) tweaking content themselves. iJoomla SEO can certainly cut down the time invested in SEO (specifically metadata), automate several tedious SEO tasks, and present SEO solutions that many aren't aware of. Plus if you're paying for keyword tracking, this fee is nominal in comparison.

iJoomla SEO's strength lies in metadata. Some Joomla! devs have questioned the significance of this, as Google doesn't use meta keywords . This is true, but Google does use all the other meta info, which iJoomla SEO makes very easy to manage.

I've spent a couple of weeks with iJoomla SEO and would really need a couple of months to see the true SEO benefits, but my first impressions are great. I can say without reservation - there's no other Joomla! extension like iJoomla SEO out there. I'm installing it on our live site and putting it through some real-world tests. I'll post an update on the outcome.

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