| Fair Play Response From SerrBizSEF Developers |
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| Wednesday, 29 August 2007 | |
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A couple of weeks ago I posted about a new SEF extension called SerrBizSEF from Serr.biz.
I pointed out some holes I saw in their component and business model. They were kind enough to answer, replying several times in the comments section. Today they posted an extra long and detailed response including several juicy tidbits of news about their new component.
Especially after yesterdays post about bad news ranking well and good news disappearing, I felt it was fair to post their response as prominently as the initial criticisms. Here it is in full: SerrBizSEF Developer Response"Regarding auto mapping, we have created SerrBizSEF to do the following. Once an SEF is created for a content item, any future internal (dynamic) urls that are created are AUTOMAPPED to ONE sef. So, lets say I create an item in section called "widgets", a category called "green" and titled the item "small". The resulting SEF would be /widgets/green/small.html.
http://www.serr.biz/emarketing-services/serrbizsef-user-profiles.html
Comments (16)
![]() written by Les, August 30, 2007
Informative... But it sure seemed like a very long ad to me. I guess the proof will be in the proverbial pudding.
written by Emir Sakic, August 30, 2007
The part about SEF Advance comparison is factually incorrect!
SEF Advance can very well create URLs with any extension you choose as well as no extension: /widgets/green/small/ /widgets/green/small.html /widgets/green/small.htm /widgets/green/small.jsp /widgets/green/small.whatever Also, installing ionCube loaders is, in 90% cases, as easy as uploading a file with FTP. If that is pain in the butt for you that's your problem, but for most users it's extremly simple.
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written by shumisha, August 30, 2007
Hi all,
Well, I hope we all get excited by SerrBiz component! I mean those Joomla users running a site with only core components of course... Glad it's FREE til end of year, I'll download and have a good look written by Michael Zittel, August 31, 2007
Emir,
It seems I was wrong about Advance SEF. Please accept my apologies. Since it can create clean, full URLS with a modification to the configuration file great, great! As for ionCube, you are right. Not wanting to install it on my server is my problem, and as Steve pointed out, many "server" problems. Since I am a geek, am not fond of the hassle related to ionCube, I figured non-geeks would appreciate not needing to install anything special on their server. As for a detailed comparison to Advanced SEF, I don't use Advance SEF, and am not really qualified to make an in depth comparison. If someone (Steve?) who has used both would like to do so, that would be great. But, at the end of the day, I built SerrBizSEF for myself and clients. Since I am a Joomla user and have benefited from it being GPL, I decided to release the core SerrBizSEF component the same. If anyone else finds a benefit in it, fantastic. It is released as GPL, which, as we all know means, "without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE". As the open market reports bugs and suggestions, I will improve as time permits. Steve, thanks for the fair play write up. I appreciate it. written by vince2, September 03, 2007
Hi,
Sounds good, but can SerrBizSEF also give us any extension you choose as well as no extension - same as both SEF Advanced, and OpenSEF? /widgets/green/small/ /widgets/green/small.html /widgets/green/small.htm /widgets/green/small.jsp /widgets/green/small.whatever written by Michael Zittel, September 06, 2007
At this time you can have .htm, or nothing.
/custom-url-extensions-jsp-whatever.html /custom-url-extensions-jsp-whatever.htm /custom-url-extensions-jsp-whatever Special extensions like .jsp, .asp or .whatever return an error page. Personally, I'm not sure why you would wnat to change to a special extension as we almost always see .html, .htm or trailing / urls ranking the best whenever we conduct an SEO Audit for a client. But, hey, if that is what you want, we are happy to customize as needed if you need this ASAP. In the mean time, we'll add to our to do list. Thanks for the suggestion. written by Loran, September 07, 2007
jsp php or any other dynamic extensions are not a demand. a few customer would but most don't.
written by vince2, September 07, 2007
The reasons to allow the site admin a choice of any extension are many.
For the best explanation, I suggest the following which many regard as the ideal, and written by none other than Tim Berners Lee himself: http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI Hence, as you can see, it is extremely important for any site admin that is considering content migration from either static HTML site, or even from one dynamic system to another - and would like to maintain all the existing backlinks and other SEO benefits. Hope that clarifies the importance, and look forward to any response. Best wishes, - Vince written by Michael Zittel, September 08, 2007
Yes, that's a case for having any extension. I will upgrade the entire system as time permits. Seems lke a nice feaure would be function to "preserve" old URLS. We're working on this for Open SEF.
In the short run, people can always create an manual .htaccess redirect to point to the new SEFS. Thanks for the suggestion. M. written by vince2, September 27, 2007
Current Joomla built-in SEF for 1.5 RC2 with mod_rewrite does allow any extension
/widgets/green/small/ /widgets/green/small.html /widgets/green/small.htm /widgets/green/small.jsp /widgets/green/small.whatever All possible now! Not sure how many people have realised this, but was a revelation to me. written by Michael Zittel, September 28, 2007
Sorry, but due to abuse, we decided to start charging a nominal fee for the basic package.
written by Michael, October 11, 2007
Hi All. We've made some important improvements to SerrBizSEF and after much internal debate, we decided to allow free downloads again of the basic package. We also want some feedback for the VirtueMart Upgrade rule, so have made a special package that includes that Upgrade rule. You can get the both at Serr.biz.
written by Steve Douglas, November 14, 2007
This is a lovely thread and all, but I have not seen anything from anyone related to actual results. I have made awesome results on my keyword and am on the first page without pretty URLs. In fact, there are a number SEO experts out that claim friendly SEM is all you need and not a pretty english style URL. In my case I surely don't need it.
Now on the other hand if this product does what it claims to do it would be nice to see some actual results. One question.....does this product allow for disabling of meta data? written by Serr.biz, December 07, 2007
The best example of results we have is our own sites. Serr.biz and SerrRealestate.com both use the component.
Search Google for "Ethical SEO company", "Joomla SEF", "Joomla SEO real estate". You will find our site in the top ten, plus we have many other granular terms that rank well. But, like any SEO, it's NOT just about the ON PAGE seo and SEF. Many other factors play into it. For example, AGE. The age of domain is helpful. Also the RLP - Relevant link popularity. If you make the perfect SEO site with SEFS, but do not build off-site RLP, and the spiders never find you, then, it doesn't matter. Also, you have to be building RUC - Readable UNQIUE CONTENT. SerrBizSEF helps make the content READABLE, but if you do not write UNIQUE CONTENT, you will have problems ranking. The two biggest ingredients in SEO are: 1) Readable Unique Content 2) Relevant Link Popularity Here are some other examples of sites using SerrBizSEF and their "uk magazine advertising" look for webwindows.com. They use SerrBizSEF. "music by matt spann" look for music.mattspann.com There are others, I'm sure, as the component has been downloaded over 1000 times. But, I we are not engaged in their SEO beyond providing the component. Note: This site, Alledia, uses a form of SEF and you found it, presumably, through the search engines. Also, we suggest you watch this video on the importance of SEF. http://www.serr.biz/news-blog/company-news/video-search-engine-friendly-urls.html Write comment
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After reading this I will definitely be holding of making a decision until after the release of SerrBizSEF so that I can evaluate this as well.
My biggest concern when evaluating any of the options is the flexibility in handling non-core components and the generation of HEF urls as well as SEF urls.
(Human Ear Friendly)