How to SEO vBulletin without VBSEO

[DirtRider]

Would it not be better to change the Powered by vBulletin to something else that reflects your forum?

[sivaganesh]

Meta description for threads:
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?p=2233128

[setishock]

Are rss feeds in forums really beneficial for seo or rather bad?

Just did a google search for anime appeal. Top of page 1. Normally I'm on page 9 or thereabouts. I would imagine with the feeds pouring in like they do it shows a lot of activity. I selected 3 sites that are real big and very active to get the feeds from. There's something always going on that gets fed out to me.
There was some concern that not clicking on them would cause the rss system to stall out. I don't have to worry about that. It seems if that's the case there are so many bots stomping on links it's turned in to a perpetual motion machine. All I had to do was set it up then sit back and watch the show...

[Ramsesx]

I have a section that has rss fed in to it and the bots come in small groups eating it up.

Are rss feeds in forums really beneficial for seo or rather bad?

[Alfa1]

Are all these tweaks added to JIRA?

[setishock]

Content is king. I don't have all the seo dohickys but still get good enough PR. I have a section that has rss fed in to it and the bots come in small groups eating it up. I also keep my captioned pics freshened up on a timely bases. They seem to love that stuff.
I don't mod the code or jigger settings to get higher PR. My content speaks for itself.
I'd just pay a lot more mind to what's going on in the forum itself. Are people posting? Are you and your mods posting? You and your mods can serve as a catalyst for new threads and posts. Just for gp open a thread telling the staff and members what you're up to with the forum. You'd be surprised at how lively those topics can get. You and your mods as well as members can go out and spread the word about your forum. Don't spam and ask first at other forums if you can post something about your forum. I do. I brag about my forum anywhere they let me. But I'm real active at those other places too.
All those things you want to do to your forum may or may not help. But when all is said and done > It's not what's going on in the boiler room that matters. It's whether or not the building is warm.

[Qwest]

*crickets*

[too_cool_3]

Can a vB Staff member reply and let me know which of these techniques is now redunant in vB4? It seems a lot of these would still work well with slight updates to code.

[too_cool_3]

Some of the "fixes" have already been added in vb4 though.

Which one of the above tips have been already added to vB4?

[Loco.M]

I doubt any of those modification would help, if anything I bet it would hurt SEO.

If you have doubt with what your trying to teach, maybe you should let other advice..

The main idea in the thread above will in fact help your onpage SEO.. (especially the first suggestion as well as the duplicate content fixes)

Some of the "fixes" have already been added in vb4 though.

[whitey10tc]

I got these instruction from a credible source. I'm just worried the code is outdated. For example:

Does adding:

{vb:raw headinclude}
    <title>{vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}</title>
        <meta name="keywords" content="$vboptions[keywords]" />
        <meta name="description" content="$vboptions[description]" />

to my "forumhome" template allow me to use the description and keywords that I set under vBulletin options. Or is the code wrong?

Of course it's outdated, it was written for a different version than what you are running.

The best SEO is good unique fresh content. Good thread titles, if you have competing sites that rank high on google take a look at the content, thread titles, most recent posts, etc. to get an idea of what to change. URL's are very minimum with SEO now.

[too_cool_3]

I got these instruction from a credible source. I'm just worried the code is outdated. For example:

Does adding:

{vb:raw headinclude}
    <title>{vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}</title>
        <meta name="keywords" content="$vboptions[keywords]" />
        <meta name="description" content="$vboptions[description]" />

to my "forumhome" template allow me to use the description and keywords that I set under vBulletin options. Or is the code wrong?

[Andy]

Andy, thank you. That goes without saying. That is my main goal, however any steps I can take along the way to help, I will try my best to use.

I doubt any of those modification would help, if anything I bet it would hurt SEO.

[too_cool_3]

I was able to follow Step 1 (Remove Powered By Vbulletin tag) without issues.

-------------------------------------

In Step 2 (Title and description changes) it says to remove:

<if condition="$show['threadinfo']"> <meta name="keywords" content="$threadinfo[title], $vboptions[keywords]" /> <meta name="description" content="<if condition="$pagenumber>1"><phrase 1="$pagenumber">$vbphrase[page_x]</phrase>-</if>$threadinfo[title] $foruminfo[title_clean]" /> <else /> <if condition="$show['foruminfo']"> <meta name="keywords" content="$foruminfo[title_clean], $vboptions[keywords]" /> <meta name="description" content="<if condition="$pagenumber>1"><phrase 1="$pagenumber">$vbphrase[page_x]</phrase>-</if>$foruminfo[description_clean]" /> <else /> <meta name="keywords" content="$vboptions[keywords]" /> <meta name="description" content="$vboptions[description]" /> </if> </if>

from "headinclude" template. This removes the description and keywords from the headinclude.

In vB 4.1.7 I removed:

<vb:if condition="$show['threadinfo']">

<vb:elseif condition="$show['foruminfo']" />
        <meta name="keywords" content="{vb:raw foruminfo.title_clean}, {vb:raw vboptions.keywords}" />
        <meta name="description" content="<vb:if condition="$pagenumber > 1">{vb:rawphrase page_x, {vb:raw pagenumber}}-</vb:if>{vb:raw foruminfo.description_clean}" />
<vb:else />
        <meta name="keywords" content="{vb:raw vboptions.keywords}" />
        <meta name="description" content="{vb:raw vboptions.description}" />
</vb:if>

Does this essentially accomplish the same thing? As I noticed the code they are asking you to remove is similar, however it is not the same..

-------------------------------------

Next it states to look for:

$headinclude <title><phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_powered_by_vbulletin]</phrase></title>

in the "forumhome" template. Move the $headinclude to below the title line, and insert this inbetween the two:

<title><phrase 1="$vboptions[bbtitle]">$vbphrase[x_powered_by_vbulletin]</phrase></title> <meta name="keywords" content="$vboptions[keywords]" /> <meta name="description" content="$vboptions[description]" /> $headinclude

Like this you will be using the description and keywords that you set under vBulletin options. However, in vB 4.1.7 I see:

{vb:raw headinclude}
    <title>{vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}</title>

so I did this:

{vb:raw headinclude}
    <title>{vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}</title>
        <meta name="keywords" content="$vboptions[keywords]" />
        <meta name="description" content="$vboptions[description]" />

Since there is no $headinclude in vB4 I left {vb:raw headinclude} at the top. Does this accomplish the same thing? Should I put the <meta name> stuff above {vb:raw headinclude}?

-------------------------------------

In "forumdisplay" template, it says to find:

$headinclude <title>$foruminfo[title_clean]<if condition="$pagenumber>1"> - <phrase 1="$pagenumber">$vbphrase[page_x]</phrase></if> - $vboptions[bbtitle]</title>

and change to:

<title>$foruminfo[title_clean]<if condition="$pagenumber>1"> - <phrase 1="$pagenumber">$vbphrase[page_x]</phrase></if> - $vboptions[bbtitle]</title> <meta name="keywords" content="$foruminfo[title] $vboptions[keywords]" /> <meta name="description" content="$foruminfo[description] $foruminfo[title]" />  $headinclude

There are 2 main changes here. First, your pulling keywords from the vBulletin options as with the forumhome, but your also adding the forum name to the keywords... Second, you have a description that is specific to each individual forum.

However, in vB 4.1.7 I see:

{vb:raw headinclude}
    <title>{vb:raw foruminfo.title_clean}<vb:if condition="$pagenumber > 1"> - {vb:rawphrase page_x, {vb:raw pagenumber}}</vb:if></title>

so I changed it to this:

{vb:raw headinclude}
    <title>{vb:raw foruminfo.title_clean}<vb:if condition="$pagenumber > 1"> - {vb:rawphrase page_x, {vb:raw pagenumber}}</vb:if></title>
        <meta name="keywords" content="$foruminfo[title] $vboptions[keywords]" />
        <meta name="description" content="$foruminfo[description] $foruminfo[title]" />

Again, I kept {vb:raw headinclude} at the top of the <meta name> stuff, instead of putting it at the bottom like they say to do with $headinclude. Is this accomplishing the same thing they intended in the older code?

-------------------------------------

Next, in "showthread" template, you find:

$headinclude <title>$thread[title]<if condition="$pagenumber>1"> - <phrase 1="$pagenumber">$vbphrase[page_x]</phrase></if> - $vboptions[bbtitle]</title>

and change it to this (changing the red text to something specific to your forum):

<title>$thread[title]<if condition="$pagenumber>1"> - <phrase 1="$pagenumber">$vbphrase[page_x]</phrase></if> - $foruminfo[title]</title> <meta name="description" content="$thread[title] is discussed *title of your forum* - $foruminfo[title]" /> <meta name="keywords" content="$thread[title] $vboptions[keywords]" /> $headinclude

The breakdown here is this - You are changing the title slightly by removing the site name, and replacing it with the name of the forum that the thread is in. You are adding the description which will now have: The Title of the thread + The red text + The Title of the forum the thread is in. Lots of keywords in your description now.

You are also adding the keywords that you placed in vBulletin Options, as well as the thread title which is also in the keywords now.

However, in vB 4.1.7 I see:

{vb:raw headinclude}
    <vb:if condition="$threadinfo['keywords']"><meta name="keywords" content="{vb:raw threadinfo.keywords}" /></vb:if>
    <meta name="description" content="{vb:raw thread.meta_description}" />

    <title>{vb:raw thread.prefix_plain_html} {vb:raw thread.title}<vb:if condition="$pagenumber > '1'"> - {vb:rawphrase page_x, {vb:raw pagenumber}}</vb:if></title>

This seems to already include <meta name> information. So I LEFT IT ALONE. How does what's already there in vB4 differ from what the older code instructed you to put in?

-------------------------------------

Next it instructs you to edit the template "showthread_showpost" which I could not find in vB 4.1.7 so I skipped it.

-------------------------------------

Lastly, you find "memberinfo" template and change:

$headinclude <title>$vboptions[bbtitle] - $vbphrase[view_profile]: $userinfo[username]</title

to:

<title>$userinfo[username]'s profile on $vboptions[bbtitle]</title> <meta name="keywords" content="$vboptions[keywords]" /> <meta name="description" content="$vboptions[description]" /> $headinclude

in vB 4.1.7 I found:

{vb:raw headinclude}
    <title>{vb:rawphrase view_profile}: {vb:raw prepared.username} - {vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}</title>

and changed it to:

{vb:raw headinclude}
    <title>{vb:rawphrase view_profile}: {vb:raw prepared.username} - {vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}</title>
        <meta name="keywords" content="$vboptions[keywords]" />
        <meta name="description" content="$vboptions[description]" />

Again, leaving {vb:raw headinclude} at the top of everything instead of moving it to the bottom like it states with $headinclude, since there is no $headinclude in vB4. Is what I did to the code in my template proper and valid for vB4?

-------------------------------------

That's as far as I've gone. I have not yet tried:

Step 3 (Remove forum titles from threads)

Step 4 (4)Adding H1 Tags to your Forum and Threads)

Step 5 (.htaccess to stop duplicate content)

Would these be a good idea?

Thanks for all your help. Any updates to these template codes or feedback is greatly appreciated!

-Marc

Andy, thank you. That goes without saying. That is my main goal, however any steps I can take along the way to help, I will try my best to use.

[Andy]

if someone could point out which of these steps are stil useful in vB4

IMHO none of these things is useful for SEO. The best thing you can do for your site is to post quality content so that others will link to your site.