As we continue exploring the different aspects of optimization, the quantity of information is vast.
In this edition, we will cover Content, SEO, and User Experience... This is of course just a highlight and many more things could be said about each topic... 

Chapter 4 - Content is king

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Now that you have the right hosting, a great modern Joomla 5.2.x installation in place, and that you have gone very close to Joomla 5 core or a great framework/template, there are some things to do to make sure your website will achieve the level of greatness that you seek 😉. You have to fill your content with quality content (text and images) and that means not just the right content for what you are trying to explain, promote, market or teach but make sure that certain things are not left to the side...

Use quality engaging text that speaks to your audience (do not get trapped into using AI to generate your content - sure, a draft might be easy using generative AI but the essence of the text is too often hollow, without soul and (too often) has factual mistakes depending on the topic - better to use your authentic voice (and just use AI to organize your thoughts or correct some translation issues and the like)). Copy/Pasting AI generated text without checking it could truly land you in hot waters… Incorporate relevant keywords naturally throughout your content, including titles, headings, and body text.  Build compelling meta descriptions that summarizes the page's content and include a clear call-to-action.

Focus on getting quality (ideally 1 way) backlinks from websites with a higher authority than yours. There are great tools that can help you figure out the quality of your content and backlinks such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Majestic, Moz Link Explorer and others...

Images

When it comes to images, make sure they are resized correctly for where you are placing them - no use nor is it good for your site to have a 5712 × 4284 pixel image for a column header image... it will be slow loading and wasteful... Using the right format image is important as well, .webp, .png or .jpg are the go to choices today... There is an overuse of .png when there is no need for transparency - (the result might be nicer looking images but definitely larger file size) but make sure you optimize them. 

For image optimization, there are a few options: 

For batch processing, TinyJPG/TinyPNG does a pretty good job of optimizing (considerably reducing file size without losing perceptual visual quality is the goal). Optimole Image Compressor also does a great job, most of the time better than TinyJPG/TinyPNG.

For better to best results (but with no batch processing 😢) Squoosh.app is the best option:

I use the Compress: default (MozJPEG), Quality: 68 

Advanced Settings:

Separate chroma quality: ✅ 
Chroma quality: 68 
Trellis multipass: ✅ 
Optimize zero block runs: ✅

I found that the settings above work for 85%-90% of images. In about 5%-10% of times, you can go lower on Quality and Chroma quality which will further reduce the image size without visual difference. Smoothing is a bit tricky and for many images it can affect quality too negatively but when it doesn't, a setting from 5-22 will get you another 1k-11k saving. Trellis quantization passes: in about 30% of cases reduces file size an additional 1kb-4kb. And DO NOT forget descriptive Alt text for your images.

IMPORTANT: the more visually complex an image is, the higher number you will have to use above for the Quality parameter so as to not see any negative visual degradation, with the range being from 55 (less visually complex) to 84 (more visually complex).

If you are interested in seeing a side-by-side example, you can download a .PDF - I used this as part of my talk at the JoomlaDAY France 2024 event.

Videos

For videos, the same is true - you need to optimize and adapt the video to the need - while video/streaming platforms like YouTube, Vimeo due part of the heavy lifting for you of adapting the video to your audience with variable bandwidth and quality versions, they do not include a video optimization process for the source video, for that whether using one of those or hosting the video as part of your domain, you’ll probably want to turn to tools like beamr 5, Veed, clipcompress  (or Handbrake for the experts).

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Chapter 5 - Don't forget SEO 

If you want to have a website that just exists on the internet, and only that, then SEO is something that you can avoid paying attention to… but for the great majority of us, (unfortunately) that will probably not work as you won’t get a lot of qualified or real human traffic to your website let alone being able to be found among the millions of other websites....

This is where SEO can help considerably (of course, you’ll want to do many of the other things listed in this article series as well 😉). 

The important point to understand is that running a website in 2024 is not about doing a few good things and then forgetting about your website thinking it will just magically attract traffic because you are on social media, have written a few blog articles 7 months ago and you sell a great product or service along the lines of ‘if you build it, he will come’. (he, in this context being a customer or at the very least a prospect/lead). Sadly, without some serious (and at least some regular upkeep) work on SEO, your beautifully designed website will stay in the small circle of just you and your friends and possibly their friends to enjoy or it gaining substantial traction will be very very very slow.

So, let’s talk SEO… when I talk to my clients about SEO, I break it down into 3 main areas:

Technical SEO

The basics:

• Enable Search Engine Friendly URL,
• Turn on SSL: Let’s Encrypt for most sites is just fine for the front (& backend) of your website,
• Enable Gzip compression, optimize your images (as mentioned in the above Chapter),
• Don’t forget to minify and combine CSS and JavaScript files,
• Leverage browser caching to improve your website loading time.

The goal of the steps above is to Optimize Page Load speeds of course.

• Create an easy page/menu structure for your users to follow - this will make it easy for users and search engines to index your website. There is a lot of talk about the need for sitemaps, which can be created with extensions like JSitemap, Aimy Sitemap, JL Sitemap, OSMap or even a non-extension solution like https://www.xml-sitemaps.com but based on a recent talk from Yannick Gauthier at JoomlaDay France 2024, he advises that sitemaps are only necessary for larger websites.
• Use robots.txt to guide search engines.

On-Page SEO

• Optimize meta descriptions: work on crafting unique, keyword-rich titles and meta descriptions for each page that naturally encourage clicks (no click-baiting of course).
• Optimize title tags: Make your title tags concise, descriptive, and include your primary keyword.
• Header Tags: Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to structure your content and include keywords naturally. Make sure not to skip header tags - i.e. A page should not have H2 then a H3 and be missing a H1.
• Keyword Research: Research and target relevant keywords that your audience is searching for. There are many solutions to help in that quest, some free like Google Keyword Planner, Answer The Public, Google Trends, KeywordTool.io, QuestionDB (long tail keyword research) and paid solutions like Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz Keyword Explorer, and others…
• High-Quality Content: As mentioned above, content matters - create valuable, unique and engaging content that talks to your audience's needs.
• URL Structure: Use SEO-friendly URLs that are short, that include keywords and are descriptive.
• Image Optimization: As previously mentioned, optimize your images AND use descriptive file names, alt text, and captions (where needed).
• Internal Linking: To make your users’ experience smooth, use internal links to let them find other relevant, quality content on your site.
• Mobile-Friendly: In 2024, your site better be responsive and provide a great experience on mobile and possibly show different content on mobile depending on the experience.
• Schema Markup: To help search engines understand your content best, it is useful to implement schema markup. 

Off-Page SEO

• Guest Blogging: Offer to write guest posts for quality blogs. This will help give you exposure and backlinks.
• Social Media Marketing: To improve brand visibility and drive traffic, have engaging conversations with your audience on social media platforms
• Backlinks: Get one way links from high-quality websites from websites of greater importance than yours (more authoritative than yours).
• Influencer Marketing: Depending on your goal, to gain credibility and reach a broader audience, working with influencers might be useful.
• Brand Mentions: Having others mentioning your brand in their content, articles, and reviews is of course always a plus…
• Local SEO: To attract local business, Google My Business and local directories are a good idea.
• Content Marketing: Linking and sharing quality content that others will want to link to and share is a great, free way to get more people to value your service, product etc.
• Online Reviews: Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor among others are a great way to get more eyeballs on your website, ask your satisfied customers.
• Forums: Find relevant forums and online communities to share your expertise and build relationships.
• Press Releases: At important events in your company’s evolution, or for product launches or at significant milestones, don ‘t forget to issue press releases, which will help you gain media coverage.

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Chapter 6 - It's all about user experience 

The best websites are much more than a collection of text, images, the right CMS (Joomla of course 😉 ), and having done all of the right technical steps.

It is about making it easy for them to find whatever they are looking for easily - whether it is information about a product or some valuable tips for their next project or a myriad of other things that websites can do for us - and at the end of the day leaving an impression on a visitor’s mind!

Importance needs to be placed on creating a memorable experience. 

Things like:

• having an accessible website,
• an easy navigation,
• a search feature (like Joomla’s Smart Search feature),
• a good visual branding,
• clear call-to-actions (CTAs) among other things… 

making sure you have no pages that bring the user to a dreaded unhelpful 404 or other error such as this:

Having a 404 page like the one above, really doesn’t help the user… they don’t know what to do next… 😢 something along the lines of this, is much more helpful…

It links to the help center, has plenty of links in the footer to allow the user to find their way. The 404 page could even include a search box to allow the user to find their way to the right place.

There are plenty of tools out there to help you figure out if your site has 404 pages, including a built-in Redirect Manager in Joomla: Sitechecker’s Broken Links checker, Deadlink Checker or Screaming Frog SEO Spider among many others…

All in all, it’s about putting yourself in the shoes of the user as they are navigating your site:

• Is this easy to understand?
• Is the messaging clear?
• Is the site appealing visually?
• Can I find the most important information on this website?

For eCommerce websites, does the site include a Guest Checkout feature, is the purchasing workflow clear, organized, are there extra steps that put barriers for the user to purchase etc…

As you can see optimization as a general topic isn’t always about a technical feature or tool that you have to use… it is in fact more about a state of mind, a series of processes that leads to the smoothest best way to represent your solutions, product or service on the vastness of the world wide web…

See you next month for the last 3 chapters in this series on optimizing your website…