Zoints Thread Tags - GREAT for SEO
 

Demo:

http://network.zoints.com/tags

If you choose to send tags to Zoints (optional) you can see what we do with them and how we send you traffic and nice inbound links: http://zoints.com

A great article on the importance of tagging can be read here.

The Zoints Thread Tags System will improve forum side search, SEO, and traffic for forums that choose to utilize it. And in my opinion, it's just plain cool :)

When a member creates a new thread, they can now input a series of "tags". Tags are simply keywords that describe the thread.
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


If you then go to your-forum.com/tags you will be presented with what is called a "tag cloud". The more times a tag is used, the larger the text grows. As you can see, the tags are also searchable.
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


Clicking on one of the tags in the cloud then lists all of the threads that are tagged with that particular keyword. The default option lists tags in a forumdisplay format. There is an option in the admincp to use a simple format.
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


Clicking on the thread title of one of the above threads then takes you to the thread. If you have the option on, the tags the thread are tagged with are also listed above the thread. Clicking one of those tags takes you to all the threads on the forum tagged with the same tag. Search engine spiders are going to have a field day with this :)
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


The thread starter and moderation staff have a slightly different view which allows for administration of tags:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


The forum's tags are also searchable via the search dropdown. The advanced search option allows for a variety of additional criteria to be seached for. Your members create a whole new (and highly efficient) forum search engine!
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


If you have the option on in the admincp and register your forum, once every hour, your tagged threads in publically viewable forums are linked via the corresponding interest tag on the Zoints Forum Network. For example, if you go to http://zoints.com/tag/children you will see what is pictured below. Not only is this a great relevant inbound link for SEO, but you will get traffic from Zoints direct to these threads!

Another example of this in action: http://zoints.com/tag/music

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


The admincp options
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png


https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2008/05/1.png

Official support for this modification will be at http://network.zoints.com in this forum.


Change log:
2008/05/01 - 1.2.3
* vBulletin CSRF Protocol Compatible
2007/12/24 - 1.2.2
* Security patch

2006/10/24 - 1.2.1
* Bugfix: breaking inline moderation when tag cloud below posts
* Bugfix: ajax input not working when tag cloud below posts
* Bugfix: seo hook effective for "results as threads" option
* Bugfix: Autogenerated tags have "quot" removed
* Bugfix: Automated template edit screwing up styles
* Improved instructions for manual template edits

2006/10/19 - 1.2.0
* Option to display results as threads
* Advanced search page
* Popular tag cloud pagination
* Popular tags displayed in forums
* Option to display tags in showthread at the top/bottom
* Fix for vbadvanced products navbar links
* Other minor fixes and tweaks

2006/10/02 - 1.1.2
* Bugfix: Foreign language characters in thread description
* Bugfix: Commas showing up when removing first tag in showthread via ajax
* Removing some redundancy in the tags AJAX removal

2006/09/30 - 1.1.1
* Bugfix: Preventing all HTML from being parsed inside tag descriptions

2006/09/30 - 1.1.0
* Adding and deleting tags from showthread via AJAX
* Mass-deleting single tags from entire cloud for admins
* Automatically generate tags for older threads (with option to show or hide on main cloud)
* Automatically stripping out tiny (2 or less characters) tags

2006/09/28 - 1.0.8
* Minor bugfix

2006/09/28 - 1.0.7
* Bugfix for required tagging

2006/09/28 - 1.0.6
* Character replacements
* Tag limit per thread
* Option to require tags for a thread
* Bugfix where stopwords may not have worked properly
* Bugfix for vBSEO / main cloud not showing up

2006/09/xx - 1.0.5
* Unreleased dev build

2006/09/23 - 1.0.4
* Ability to add multiple tags via showthread.php
* Ability to exclude certain forums from utilizing tags
* Addition of custom hook for developers to change thread urls

2006/09/21 - 1.0.3
* Ability to add and remove tags from showthread.php
* Bugfix for older versions of mysql

2006/09/21 - 1.0.2
* Small bugfix

2006/09/20 - 1.0.1
* Showing tags list on showthread.php

2006/09/20 - 1.0.0
* Initial release

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Q. After upgrading to 1.2.0 my tag results point to my forum root. Yes, I run Zoints SEO.

A. Please apply this simple fix


Q. Is it possible to show the tag cloud in a vBAdvanced CMPS module?

A. Yes. Please see my sig for the link.


Q. Is this compatible with vBSEO urls?

A. Yes, please apply this plugin.


Q. Can you change the colors of the links in the cloud?

A. Yes, see these directions.

Slight problem with other skins as the Tags link looks different to the rest of my navbar links www.meeting4fun.com

Installed and is working like a charm :D

I think I have seen this mod before. Maybe for vbb3.5x by http://www.boardtracker.com/

The cloud doesnt show up?

How many threads do you have tagged? My cloud showed up after tagging a couple of threads.
;-)

not a bad idea, i'm just not sure about the aesthetics.

6-7. Ι didnt know that. Thank you, Great hack!

Installed. ;)

I have problem with greek words :(

so this links back to zoints as well ?! ( pass )

Only if you want it to. The option can be turned off or on in the ACP.

For example, this thread on my site is tagged with "dr who" and appears like...

http://www.coolscifi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56909

... which then shows up in the 'main cloud' like:

http://www.coolscifi.com/forums/tags/

Pretty cool. And as you may have noticed there is absolutely nothing at all so far that mentions Zoints or even links to it.

That where the optional part comes in. In my ACP I have the option turned on so it gets sent to Zoints so when somebody views the "dr who" tag page on Zoints they get this:

http://zoints.com/tag/dr-who/

When trying to get my token I get this message from zoints:

Zoints Message
You do not have sufficient privileges to view this page.

What do I need to do?

Thanks,

Tim

2 questions:
Where are tags stored ? In case we might require to uninstall the modification in future.

How can you add tags to old threads ?

Thanks

1) On my system at least the install created two new tables named "zoints_tag" and "zoints_tag_update" contain the various pointers.

2) With this version a new 'tag' box appears when viewing a thread that allows you to enter tags for it.

thanks for immediate reply appreciated.
I need to be very cautious using this hack (though its something I was looking for since ages) will it messup if used heavily and trying to uninstall later ??

I would appreciate some comments from coder..
Regards,

San-Deep, sounds like you may want to post in the official support forum that David posted above... that way you can get the attention of the Zoints coders who worked on it. When I posted about a bug in the 1.0.2 version they responded pretty fast.

For uninstalling, I don't think there would be much of a problem from looking at the code it installed. The installer creates the new tables but it doesn't touch any existing vBulletin tables. The product install then creates a bunch of plugins to display the new templates in the existing vB templates and then to use the vB hooks when tags are entered.

If you're using a heavily customized style that the plugins can't handle and you end up having to manually modify your templates then I could see some extra work being required during the install & uninstall.

thanks for clearing that up... ill give this a better look once i get home then.

Awesome Hack Dave. Just one thing. Could there be a option so we can turn off the template edits? I prefer to do everything manually.

Im having a problem trying to get my token. It does not let me log in through my vb when I click token. I answer the quack questions correctly and still have a problem.

The install seemed to work fine on 3.6.1 I have tagged two threads and they appear on the tag search box. However when I click on the actual tag in that search window nothing happens??

Any comment

Hi Neal. Did you manually create that with a template edit? Or did the installer do that?

Hi Tim,

To get the token, you need to first register your forum via http://zoints.com/forum.z

We have to do this so we can identify your forum and create a unique token and means of authentication for you. This is of course optional and only if you want to send your thread links to Zoints where it will be found and followed by Zoints members.

Understandable. I'll talk to an engineer and see what we can come up with.

Greek76 and I have discussed this on http://network.zoints.com. If anyone else has this issue, please provide details so we can try to identify exactly what is happening. When he goes direct to the pages, it works fine.

Thanks!

Can you link to your site here or PM me a link so I can investigate please? Thanks!

Hello,

the tags are stored in the database table 'zoints_tag' (or if you are using a vb table prefix, "table prefixzoints_tag"). There is also a second table named 'zoints_tag_update' (same note regarding vb prefixes applies), which stores information on when the thread was last updated so the info can be relayed to zoints (if you are using the feature).

The vBulletin product management system allows devs to add 'install' and 'uninstall' code into the product, which take care of the adding and removing of database modifications on installing/uninstalling products. When you uninstall the product through the product manager, those two tables will be automatically removed and you do not have to anything further.

Let me know if you have any more questions regarding this.

To elaborate a little further on what Soup said, this has also been tested on Big-Boards with no performance issues arising. :)

If you want to customize the appearance of the 'Tags' link in the navbar, you can customize the template 'zointstags_tagslink', which contains all the HTML of the 'Tags' link.

This will be a feature of the next version. (You will be able to disable the automatic template edits by turning a plugin off)

Great idea.
Installed, thanks for the hack :)

It's working wonderfully on my board

http://www.areyouserios.com/tags/

My site is www.physiobob.com/forum

Many thanks :knockedout:

Howdy :)

Since you are using IIS, for the "tags URL type" in the admincp options, select "basic URL structure".

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/external/2006/09/2.png

The installer did that

That's FAB. All is working fine now and what's even better is that the tag links in the search box are now all the same size. The other option was a bit of a mess for my more formal type of forum. This is a great mod everyone should consider giving a go! :laugh:

Thanks, I have it working now.

Tim

I'm about to provide an update that explains how to turn off the auto-installer plugin so you can do it manually. :)

Version 1.0.4 is now released:

This is added to the admincp options:

http://img3.zoints.com/forums/tag-exclude.png


Change Log

2006/09/23 - 1.0.4
* Ability to add multiple tags via showthread.php
* Ability to exclude certain forums from utilizing tags
* Addition of custom hook for developers to change thread urls

2006/09/21 - 1.0.3
* Ability to add and remove tags from showthread.php
* Bugfix for older versions of mysql

2006/09/21 - 1.0.2
* Small bugfix

2006/09/20 - 1.0.1
* Showing tags list on showthread.php

2006/09/20 - 1.0.0
* Initial release


How to turn off the automatic template updates

If you want to DISABLE the automatic template edits for whatever reason, then you can do so by going to the Admin Control Panel:

Plugins & Products > Plugin Manager

Find the plugin titled "Zoints Thread Tags (automatic template edits)" and uncheck "Active", then click "Save Active Status" at the bottom of the page.

SO to upgrade, do we just reinstall everything over the pervious version?