9 Joomla vs WordPress SEO

Here’s the large issue that is hanging in the room when Joomla vs. WordPress SEO is discussed. Many domain owners want to know what kind of platform that will best implement their search engine optimization strategy for them and it’s a conversation that would be relevant in 2010. Both platforms are valuable today and the main choice that needs to be made is how easy it is to use on a personal level.

Why? Because search engines are concerned about value above anything else today. Search engines don’t care about how you build your website. They care about what is placed on your website. That’s why whether you’re using Joomla or you’re using WordPress, here are the SEO techniques you’ll want to include as you create your online presence.

1. Create content that is engaging.

Modern SEO isn’t about checking off all of the boxes on a checklist. It’s about creating content that you’d want to read if given half a chance. It must be engaging, interesting, and not filled with meaningless words. This is the type of content that plays on social networking sites all the time. It should be written for the reader. It shouldn’t be written for the search engines.

2. HTML5 elements matter more than you think.

The way that you structure your content also contributes to its value. If you’re using different HTML5 elements to highlight specific information, such as the “box” or “canvas” commands, then you’ll be able to put in specific statistics and facts that people can actually use. The more you’re able to incorporate these elements, then the better your SEO rank is going to be. You can use them on Joomla or WordPress freely.

3. Multimedia content matters as much as your words.

It’s not just engagement that you’re shooting for when it comes to modern content. It’s “total” engagement that keeps people on a page for minutes at a time. This can be achieved through the posting of video content within your text content, using relevant images and graphics, and even the inclusion of audio files when relevant, like a podcast. Greater diversity in this area typically speaks of a greater value being provided. You don’t have to include every option on every page, but you do need to make it a site priority.

4. The days of keyword reliance are over.

Keywords are nice focus points for content creation. Sometimes even specific words or phrases can be included within the content and it might hit on web searches. Packing in tons of keywords into content that is meaningful, is not only difficult to do, but is 99.9% pointless today. Maybe 1 writer in 10,000 can weave together 7 long tail keywords repetitively into content that still reads well. The rest should be focusing on how the value of the content being created relates to the keyword searches that are wanted.

5. Avoid artificial links like they are a deadly disease.

Don’t fall for the temptation of purchasing artificial links to point toward your site. That’s an easy way for a manual spam warning to be placed on your entire site. If you’re still using press release services and other methods of artificially inflating your overall expertise, then stop doing so right now. You’ve even got to stop excessive link exchanges.

Modern SEO is all about authenticity. Avoid everything that is artificial like the plague. Your rankings might go up fast at first if you’re using black hat techniques on Joomla or WordPress, but eventually the search engines will notice you, examine you, and find your content less than fulfilling.

6. Social engagement matters.

The amount of people who are reading and sharing your posts online through sites like Facebook and Twitter matter. It’s even more important to engage with circles on Google Plus because the search engine indexes posts that are shared almost instantly. It can’t be artificial social engagement either. Artificial social media accounts aren’t going to give you a lot of value. The person interested in your subject material who shares it because they found it to be interesting… that’s the person you need to be reaching and with whom you should be engaging.

7. URL simplicity is overrated.

Many people love WordPress because it is able to create simple, precise URL listings that are promoted as being SEO friendly. When two independent sets of valuable content are compared to each other and each is equal in niche expertise, social engagement, and incoming links that are authentic then there’s a small possibility that a better overall URL could push one site above the other in search results. In practical terms, it’s like comparing two completely identical Thanksgiving meals and choosing one over the other because one turkey weighs 2 ounces more. The odds of needing this small SEO boost are about 1 in a million.

8. Custom 404s are provided by both builders.

To be fair, the average person with little coding experience is probably going to prefer the custom 404 page setup that can be access through WordPress. Joomla allows for custom 404 pages as well, but they require more than an average set of coding chops to make it happen. Many people aren’t even going to look at this point as an SEO technique [or care about it], but for those who do, there might be a little extra separation for WordPress here.

9. Watch how many internal links you’re creating.

Internal links are nice, but too much cross-linking is going to get your site marked for spam whether you’ve used Joomla or WordPress. Any page that appears to have been created as a cross-linking paradise, intentionally or not, will be penalized by the search engines. If a link make sense, include it. If it doesn’t make sense [like you’ve talked about coffee and you like to a page about cats playing on rainbows] then don’t cross-link them.

The bottom line is this: the average person will probably prefer WordPress. Those who love coding and customization will probably prefer Joomla. No matter what your preference happens to be, the SEO rules apply equally. Follow these best practices and you’ll be able to get better SEO results.