Getting rid of VBSEO

[ldma]

I have read a few threads on this but none of them really answers my question. I understand the process is to remove the product, delete the VBSEO files including .htaccess, and then apply a custom rewrite script.

What i am unclear about is what would happen if I didn't use a custom rewrite script and just went back to plain Vbulletin SEO friendly urls....or do I still need .htaccess?

[ikopylov]

Always.
You need to use htaccess
No more scripts is not required

[ldma]

Thanks.
So what does my .htaccess need to contain if I am just to use the Vbulletin default rewrite?

[Dave]

The .htaccess files of vBulletin can be found in the do_not_upload folder of the vBulletin download @vbulletin.com.

[ldma]

Oh brilliant...thanks...so I can just replace the VBSEO .htaccess with that one to put rewrites back to 'factory settings'?

[Dave]

Yes.

However, all VBSEO URL's that people have posted in threads on your forum and other forums will probably not point to a valid location anymore. You can create some custom rewrite rules to redirect those URL's to vBulletin's URL's.

[ldma]

I just tried replacing it, and was greeted with a blank white screen.

What options do I need on Friendly URLs screen....just to get basic functionality back...my host is about to kick me out due to VBSEO executing silly amounts of scripts and using all their CPU

--------------- Added 1454019187 at 1454019187 ---------------

Also, say my url looks like:
http://www.ajarnforum.net/vb/the-staffroom/82474-no-longer-in-minburi.html

What custom rewrite rule should I go for?

[ikopylov]

Many examples of how to write a system redirects in these threads (see bottom)
The fact is that under each forum is necessary to create their own rules
No one - three rules, and they are usually dozens, a system redirects rulers
Further, it is necessary to hold the replacement in the database
Before removing VBSEO test on the test forum, that you will


https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=307021
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=301887

[cellarius]

I just tried replacing it, and was greeted with a blank white screen.

You did uninstall vBSEO, too, did you? Just dropping the original .htaccess file in and having vBSEO still in place will result in a white screen error of death ;)

[Brandon Sheley]

Here are most redirects you'll need to remove vbseo successfully.

http://tools.geekpoint.net/xfseo/

[ikopylov]

Friends are you see links from his site? :
http://www.ajarnforum.net/vb/the-staffroom/82474-no-longer-in-minburi.html

Look at the part of the link highlighted in red color and you can tell me how to create redirect?

[final kaoss]

Pretty much have 2 options. Install dbseo and it'll take care of it for you if you set up the link structure the same way... or do what Brandon posted. Good luck!

Or a third.. paid option.. dbseo offers full support to do this if you buy it.

I went with option one when I switched with no ill effects. Everything redirected to the right urls with no problems.

[RichieBoy67]

If you do not redirect those old urls to the new ones any sites that have links to those urls will instead be linked to broken pages.

Also, google will have to reindex all of your new urls if not redirected. That is not neccesarily a bad thing though unless you have incoming links. You will also take an seo hit until all of your new urls are indexed.

Dbseo does it pretty seamlessly though and will redirect all the Vbseo urls to your new ones. Great product.

[shimei]

I think the Google algo. penalizes for all those 404 errors. After a year I still have over a thousand after changing forum solutions. And this is despite submitting a sitemap. Google seems to be reluctant to reindex the site. At least with mine... I consider a year pretty reluctant.

[RichieBoy67]

I think the Google algo. penalizes for all those 404 errors. After a year I still have over a thousand after changing forum solutions. And this is despite submitting a sitemap. Google seems to be reluctant to reindex the site. At least with mine... I consider a year pretty reluctant.

Are your new urls indexed? If so then you are reindexed. it is just that your old urls have not been removed. Chances are some of them are linked elsewhere. be sure to check in webmaster tools those erros and where they are linked from.

if you want your old ones removed you can submit them through webmaster tools and block them with robots.txt.

[final kaoss]

I think the Google algo. penalizes for all those 404 errors. After a year I still have over a thousand after changing forum solutions. And this is despite submitting a sitemap. Google seems to be reluctant to reindex the site. At least with mine... I consider a year pretty reluctant.

Here's a dirty little trick you can use to get those pages indexed. Put adsense on the site.

It makes the adsense bot crawl the page everytime someone visits it without a adblocker & that information gets passed down to the search part of google.

[shimei]

Here's a dirty little trick you can use to get those pages indexed. Put adsense on the site.

It makes the adsense bot crawl the page everytime someone visits it without a adblocker & that information gets passed down to the search part of google.

Thanks for the tip, I had disabled ad sense after traffic began a steady decline for two weeks. After I disabled it the site recovered in a week. Either people didn't like it ..... or there's something about Google. :)

[RichieBoy67]

Here's a dirty little trick you can use to get those pages indexed. Put adsense on the site.

It makes the adsense bot crawl the page everytime someone visits it without a adblocker & that information gets passed down to the search part of google.

I have honestly never experienced this but people have been debating this for awhile. I am not sure if this is the case or not. Do you have any resources on this that it has been verified?

--------------- Added 30 Jan 2016 at 01:10 ---------------

Plus I am sure the newer posts are indexed. it is most likely just that the old urls are also indexed still which is the reason for the errors.. I do not think adsense would fix the errors and remove the old urls. :)

Are the newer urls indexed?

[shimei]

I have honestly never experienced this but people have been debating this for awhile. I am not sure if this is the case or not. Do you have any resources on this that it has been verified?

--------------- Added 30 Jan 2016 at 01:10 ---------------

Plus I am sure the newer posts are indexed. it is most likely just that the old urls are also indexed still which is the reason for the errors.. I do not think adsense would fix the errors and remove the old urls. :)

Are the newer urls indexed?

My new urls are indexed, but it is the old ones that are still listed after a year in Google search. Again, there are close to 1500 of them. I haven't had the time to go and get rid of them one by one in Google tools. There should be an option or is there... to do them all at once?

[RichieBoy67]

Ok, in that case go view the errors and click on the url. Click on the tab that says linked from.. remove those from your site.

Make sure they are removed from your sitemaps. Delete and regenerate and resubmit.

Also, these may be showing in webmaster tools but if you search for the url in Google are they still showing?

Once you are done with this select all the errors and mark them fixed.. That should remove them. They may pop back up though. I doubt you are getting dinged though for this type of error especially if you have a decent error page set up.

[shimei]

Ok, in that case go view the errors and click on the url. Click on the tab that says linked from.. remove those from your site.

Make sure they are removed from your sitemaps. Delete and regenerate and resubmit.

Also, these may be showing in webmaster tools but if you search for the url in Google are they still showing?

Once you are done with this select all the errors and mark them fixed.. That should remove them. They may pop back up though. I doubt you are getting dinged though for this type of error especially if you have a decent error page set up.


I haven't checked the cause of the 404s in awhile. It seems that Google is not showing 404s for old urls. It is however trying to index my search and advanced search results which expire. There were 1500 of them. I created a disallow rule in the robots.txt file:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /advanced_search?r
Disallow: /search?r

Thanks Richie, I marked them as all fixed.

[RichieBoy67]

You may also add
Disallow: /search.php

[shimei]

You may also add
Disallow: /search.php

Thanks!