Troubleshooting Joomla! SEF URLs

Joomla!® lets you use Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs for your website, which can help improve your search engine ranking.

Simple changes, such as installing new modules or plugins to the Joomla configuration, can trigger common issues with SEF URLs. You can troubleshoot your Joomla SEF URLs by disabling and then re-enabling them. If you need more information, see Enabling Joomla! Search Engine Friendly URLs.

To Troubleshoot Joomla! SEF URLs

  1. Make sure your .htaccess file is configured to allow SEF URLs. If you are not sure how to do this, see Rewriting .htaccess Files for SEF URLs in Joomla!
  2. Log in to your Joomla control panel. (If Joomla is installed on the root level, the admin panel URL is http://coolexample.com/administrator, where coolexample.com is the domain name and directory where you installed Joomla).
  3. From the Site menu, select Global Configuration.
  4. In the SEO Settings section, from the Search Engine Friendly URLs, select No, and then click Save.
  5. In the SEO Settings section, from the Search Engine Friendly URLs, select Yes, and then click Save.