Redirect Archive Search Engine Results To Full Forum

[Viper007Bond]

Another plugin that came about due to my own personal needs and which I thought I'd share. :)


Description:

What this does is hooks into the top of your forum's archive script (ex: this forum's archive (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/archive/index.php)) and checks the referrer that the user's browser sends. If it's from Google, Yahoo, or MSN searches, then it redirects to the full version of the index/forum/thread/whatever.

This is needed (IMO) since the search engines crawl that archive and very often show links to it in search results. However, it's rather ugly and has no reply box, etc. etc., so incoming users shouldn't be seeing it.

This plugin does not block access to the archive though. If you click the archive link in your footer or manually type in the URL to it, you won't notice any difference.


Installation:

Download and install the attached product. It's just a single plugin, but products are more powerful, so I thought I'd wrap it into a whole product.


How do I know if it's working right?

Go to Google and type this into the search box:

site:http://yoursite.com/forum/archive/

That will bring up a list of links to pages in your archive. When you click on one, your forum should redirect you from the archives to the main forum. :)


It's still not working right!

Reply to this thread and let me know. I may need to slightly adjust the checks to see if you're coming from a search engine or not. ;)


==============================
DON'T FORGET TO CLICK INSTALL!

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/ (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/vborg_miscactions.php?do=installhack&threadid=131946)
==============================

[WritersBeat]

This kind of defeats the purpose of the archive. The archive allows search engines to spider and index your site a lot easier. There fore bringing you more traffic.

[Viper007Bond]

This kind of defeats the purpose of the archive. The archive allows search engines to spider and index your site a lot easier. There fore bringing you more traffic.

That's exactly why I have the archive enabled and why this plugin doesn't affect spiders or anyone accessing it directly. It only affects people who enter into the archive coming from a search engine (i.e. they search for something and are presented with a link to your archive).

[EasyTarget]

great idea.. probably helps a lot with guest to member conversion in such instances.

[Viper007Bond]

Yeah, many times I have Googled for something only to be presented with the archive view of a thread from some forum which can be quite confusing for the novice user.

[MillerLight]

Thanks Viper!

Installed

[projectego]

Nice idea, cheers! ;)

* projectego clicks install

[RaZor Edge]

Great! This is a really great idea! Install!

[993ti]

Nice one :)
Works great :)
Another method to try it is to use site:www.yourdomain/archive in google which shows the archive pages indexed.
Click a few :)

[Viper007Bond]

Another method to try it is to use site:www.yourdomain/archive in google which shows the archive pages indexed.

Yeah, I remembered that after I made my test script. I'll go change my post. :)

[Robru]

Thanks for this handy hack :)

[Hornstar]

nice work, many times i have been confused when i was a novice at vbulletin coming from search engines to see the archive.

nice work.

[AdmiralSpock]

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I have been looking for!

*installed

[nokiacep]

good job! thanks

[Nick0r]

Cloaking is NOT a good idea and can get you banned from google.

[Viper007Bond]

Cloaking is NOT a good idea and can get you banned from google.

What's that have to do with my plugin? My plugin has nothing to do with Google's or anyone else's crawl bots.

[Nick0r]

Showing one thing to google and another thing to a user is called cloaking.

[Viper007Bond]

Showing one thing to google and another thing to a user is called cloaking.

I know what it is, I looked it up on Wikipedia. :)

This doesn't show different things to Google vs. users. Users can view the archive all they want and this doesn't affect bots. This simply makes sure people who found your forum via a search engine always come in to the real thread which is easier to read. Why would Google care about that? It's the exact same content and there's no malicious intent (or even advantage) here.

[Veer]

Thanks, any idea about how can i disable archive?

[Viper007Bond]

Thanks, any idea about how can i disable archive?
http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/main/vboptions_group_archive

[ZzZ_ZzZ]

thanks :)

[noonespecial]

Is there anyway to modify this to work with printthread.php results too?

[alexanderpas]

Is there anyway to modify this to work with printthread.php results too?

just forbid your bots to even move in there ;)

[rjmjr69]

installed does not work for me 3.6.4 . Type in url and still displays my regular archive

[rjmjr69]

Hello any support on this?

[jmw]

This can get you banned from Google. It appears to be cloaking per original hack explanation.

[my_aly]

ty man

[Viper007Bond]

installed does not work for me 3.6.4 . Type in url and still displays my regular archive

As intended. This doesn't block users from using your archive.

To get it to "trigger", go to Google and type this into the search box:

site:http://yoursite.com/forum/archive/

Then click one of the links. You should be taken to the real thread.

[Viper007Bond]

This can get you banned from Google. It appears to be cloaking per original hack explanation.

Honestly, I'm not sure which side of the line it falls on as it only applies to users incoming from a search engine.

It's not as if it's detecting the bot's user agent and then displaying different content to the search bot in an attempt to change page rank or whatever.

It's simply redirecting to the real thread when the archive is found via a search engine. If you directly browse to the archive, it won't do any redirecting.

So personally, I don't think Google would have a problem with this. Then again, I can't speak for Google.

[yathyo]

Thanks Viper, nice plugin! ;) If you want to avoid duplicated contents at Search Engines replace PHP Code with the following one:



if ( $threadinfo['threadid'] ){
header ('HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently');
header('Location:'. $vbulletin->options['bburl'] . '/showthread.php?t=' . $threadinfo['threadid']);
exit();
}

[HALF MOON]

Installed

[Gharibe]

Nice and great ,
does it decrease our serps?

[apiasto]

superb work very handy thnx you got my vote

[inciarco]

Excellent Mod!! :up::up::up:

Works OK in vB 3.6.7 PL1!! :up:

My Best Regards!! ;)

:)

[Phornixx]

Great Mod, I had it in my pendent installs folder and finally installed, thanks!