Where are you ranking on your preferred search phrase in Google?

If you find yourself on page 3 or beyond you can consider your website dead!

These days no-one looks beyond page 3, but don't fret, all is not lost. Here are some simple tips to help your Google Search ranking.

Recently Artful have made changes to our processes to ensure your websites are kept up to date and secure. We endeavour to maintain the security of your site by updating all integral CMS (Joomla/Wordpress etc) core extensions at no extra charge to you, as part of your hosting agreement.  Core extensions are those that we have used on your site, usually for backup and security functionality, that are created and maintained by trusted third party developers.

Joomla 2.5 is end of life and has been for some time now!

At the end of 2014, Joomla Version 2.5.28 (the final 2.5 version) became "end of support" meaning that:

• No new versions or security updates
• New or updated extensions and plugins for your website won't work under Joomla 2.5
• No vendor tech support for any issues with Joomla 2.5 sites or plugins

That together with the forced PHP Upgrade of our server recently it is imperative that all Joomla 2.5 websites are updated or replaced. 

At present we cannot update the PHP version of your Joomla 2.5 site which places your site in peril!  We are keeping your site on the air by manually adding an obselete PHP version to it but one day soon the server will simply drop it! This is out of our hands and it is possible that we will not receive any warning.

Your site will be down and there will be no quick fix!  

Short answer

Cpanel (leading webhosting software) and PHP (the "operating system" for your website) will drop support for older PHP versions from Dec 2018. Current versions of Joomla, Wordpress and Opencart will be fine. Older versions may have isssues or just stop working all together. This is because older versions of Joomla, Wordpress and OpenCart were only written and tested to work on past PHP versions.

Now is a great time to talk to Artful about upgrading your site software to the latest version. We can also help you run a custom older PHP version to keep your site on the air. This is a short term "bandaid fix". Adding and switching to an older custom PHP version is not expensive but has issues for your website's security, speed and reliability.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record we can't emphasise the importance of keeping your website secure. You might think its overkill and a risk you are willing to take but we can guarantee you after being hacked once you will change your mind very quickly.

Hackers can steal user information, passwords, install malicious software, and can even distribute malware to your users. And all that without taking into consideraton the costs involved in getting your website and information back online if taken down.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record we can't emphasise the importance of keeping your website secure. You might think its overkill and a risk you are willing to take but we can guarantee you after being hacked once you will change your mind very quickly.

Hackers can steal user information, passwords, install malicious software, and can even distribute malware to your users. And all that without taking into consideraton the costs involved in getting your website and information back online if taken down.

It's free to get and generally takes less than 30 minutes to enable on Joomla & Wordpress wesbites. All you need is a Google account. Go to https://www.google.com/recaptcha & select the blue blox Get reCaptcha.

Prevent spam on your website with minimum impact on genuine website users.