Even though the Joomla installation comes with an option to install sample content, I've never used it in a real site.
I think I installed the sample data the first time I installed a test version of Joomla, but I've never done it again.
In this post, I'll look at the Joomla sample content, and see if it's bad for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to use this content on your site.
One user wrote this question in the Joomla Forums a while ago:
If I install the sample data and Google crawl my site - later when I remove sample content and I go to Google webmasters tools, there are errors, for not found urls. It's those of the sample Joomla content. Is this information to stay in Google forever? And is this bad for Google Page Rank?
I answered the question in the forum, but I want to elaborate on the subject here.
Broken Links
It's never good to have broken links. You can try adding a sitemap XML file to your site to make sure Google picks up the correct pages.
You should also consider setting up 301 redirects to direct the user, and the search engines, to the correct page on your site. In the case of sample content, I would think that the best place to redirect them is to the front page of your site.
Whether it's good or bad for Google Page Rank to have broken links? I don't really care. What I care more about is the rankings I get in the search engines. These rankings are very valuable for getting traffic to your site. The results should be relevant, informational, selling. If you have indexed pages in Google as a result of sample content, the results will be non-relevant, misguiding, non-selling. And not to forget: They will lead the user to a 404 page (not found) or your front page.
One thing which may damage your overall rankings, however, is:
Duplicate Content
The sample content will come across as duplicate content, as it appears on a huge number of sites. This can, and probably will, be bad for your rankings if the pages are not removed from the index. The indexed pages with sample content can be stuck in the search engines for a long time if you don't actively do something to remove them.
Implementing a sitemap XML file and active use of the Google Webmaster Tools to remove the pages will help. Frequent updates of your site may reduce the time between each time your site gets crawled by the search engines.
Getting Your Joomla Site Indexed Correctly in Google
There are correct ways to get your site indexed, and there are ways that are inefficient and hurtful to your site. I've previously written a blog post about how to get your Joomla site indexed in Google. You might find some additional hints there.
As an end note: The best way to avoid the problem is to remove the sample content before going live.
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