How to enable SEF (Search Engine Friendly) URLs in Joomla?

@mike 

Enabling Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs in Joomla is a great way to improve your site's SEO and make your URLs more readable and user-friendly. Here's how you can enable SEF URLs in Joomla:

Step 1: Enable SEF URLs in Joomla

1. Login to Joomla Administrator: Access your Joomla admin panel by visiting yourdomain.com/administrator.
2. Global Configuration: Go to System > Global Configuration.
3. Site Settings: In the Global Configuration, click on the "Site" tab if it's not already selected.
4. SEO Settings: Find the "SEO Settings" section. Set Search Engine Friendly URLs to "Yes". Optionally, you can also enable the options: Use URL Rewriting: Set this to "Yes" if your server supports URL rewriting. Make sure to rename the htaccess.txt file in the root directory to .htaccess. Adds Suffix to URL: Choose "Yes" if you want to add a .html suffix to your URLs. Unicode Aliases: Enable this if you need support for non-Latin characters in URLs.
5. Save Changes: Click on the "Save" button to apply your changes.

Step 2: Configure .htaccess for URL Rewriting

If you have enabled the "Use URL Rewriting" option, you need to ensure your server is configured correctly:

1. Rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess: Using an FTP client or your hosting control panel's file manager, navigate to the root directory of your Joomla installation. Find the htaccess.txt file and rename it to .htaccess.
2. Ensure Apache mod_rewrite is Enabled: For Apache servers, make sure that the mod_rewrite module is enabled. This is essential for URL rewriting to work.

Step 3: Testing SEF URLs

1. Check Your Website: Visit your Joomla site and navigate through a few pages to ensure that the URLs are now user-friendly without any index.php or other parameters. If you encounter any errors, double-check your .htaccess file and server settings.

By following these steps, you should be able to successfully enable SEF URLs in Joomla, helping improve both user experience and search engine optimization.