I would even say it's the commitment any site owner puts towards their site or forums...it's not easy running a site or forum..it takes hard work and dedication ...

Over the long term....

One other BIG SEO thing to think about - does your frikkin page load fast?

Slow pages kill SEO and rank. It's documented, it's proven. If you are overmodded and have a glut of images - to the point where your pageload is measured in megabytes instead of kilobytes - you're looking at one big culprit right there.

Test it then optimize it, using this free tool developed by Google's tech president:

WebPageTest

Nope, too many link backs these days get you penalized. This was a giant part of the first Penguin update.

A few good back links on reputable sites are good but you definite do not want your link plastered every where especially in directories and not related sites.

As for the largest sites still using older versions it is most likely because it is an extreme hassle to do an upgrade on a major forum like that. it does not necessarily mean anything but preference.

--------------- Added 18 Mar 2014 at 15:11 ---------------

I agree with Page load. You can see the amount of time Google takes to crawl and download content in Google webmaster tools. They will also send you a warning if your site takes too long to load.

Remember Google does not see or load pages as we do. I definitely agree though slow loading pages is a Major culprit of having seo issues. Errors, etc are also not good.

In regards to the OP.

Your seo has a decent alexa rating but I would be more apt to see how his sites are doing in Google under the search terms needed to find his site. I say again, Alexa is not a standard to use for knowing how good someone is at seo. In addition, an seo is not going to do anything for your site that will last without content. Content is key.

Many people still try to get away with buying link schemes and they may see an improvement for awhile but google will catch up and you will get a manual action sooner or later and you will lose every thing gained. I have seen people do this over and over. There is no quick and easy fix for seo.

It doesn't hurt to have linkbacks, it does hurt to spam them.

Except, I have talked to alot of the owners of these and the "preference" was, v4 sucks. One of them did "upgrade" to v4 and they rue the day they did.

The truth is, there is nothing inherently wrong with the older versions, as is generally asserted and its proven every day by these big sites' use of them.

Here at vBorg, the standard answer to "why don't you upgrade" is and has been, there is no compelling reason. The highly customized modifications come in a close second however.

Too many incoming links on non related sites or spammy type sites will definitely damage your seo.

As for upgrade I guess it is a personal opinion thing. i have used both and have worked on both and personally i think 4.2.2 is the best version and the best forum script there is. It has many features older versions did not have, plenty of mods, etc.. Many still like the older versions though. I still think 3.8 is good, just not as good.

And when upgrading from any older version to something new and different members always complain for awhile while they get used to changes and it takes time for site owners to also get used to the changes. This doesn't mean one is better than the other but personally i think anything before 3.8 is way outdated and a pain to work. we are too spoiled with the plug in system! :)

One other basic of working with google and bing - do you have a webmaster account with both and have your sitemap installed with them, and updated frequently?

If you like a bloated database and a overall bloated script, sure. It's not my cup of tea. And it does NOT have anything compelling to recommend it over v3.8.x. It reminds me alot of windows vista.

But you're right, other than the above it's personal preferences. I think version 4 is a abomination, but not nearly as bad of one as version 5 is.

There are no seo "experts" so I would gather the reviews of a few individuals who say they "specialize" in seo and compare them... the few that sound the same as a gut instinct will be those who are normally on par w/ seo results. Whomever told you to install wordpress then backtrack to v3 may or may not know seo but long story short even if they do it appears as if they only know how to optimize v3 versus v4 or well to me seems like they are stuck in time tbh.

Yeah - I don't recommend anyone with a v4 installation reverting back to 3.8, for any reason. There's nothing compelling to recommend that either.

You need alot less SEO optimization work for a 4 than you do for a 3. 4 is better than 3 on that, out of the box.

But none of that matters nearly as much as content. Content. Content.

Dynamic, relevant and fresh content is by far the best SEO "tool."