Going to get a Vbulletin!
 

Hi,

I'm going to switch my forum from a SMF to Vbulletin, after tried a demo on it =)

however, I have few doubts:(
1. can a license support sudomain? if I purchase 1 license for www.example.com, can I use it for www.abc.example.com?

2. could I hack my hompage like this?
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/
by deleting the boards and displaying the recent post by this addon, https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=134320

3. as above, will any hacks on homepage affect my seo?
I edit the above layout through:
Styles & Templates >> edit template >> Forum home templates

4. there are so many versions, which version of Vbulletin should I install?

thank you so much =)

1) Yes you can use your license for multiple subdomains, you can only use it for one site at a time though, and must edit this in your License Settings.

2) Yes you could, by editing the files.

3) I don't know.

4) Install either 3.8.X or 3.7.4.

Yes you can. The only rule is that only one copy of vBulletin must be running at any one time, bar the test board in the directory testvb or the like. You'd just enter the subdomain URL in the vBulletin member's area.

Yes you could.

Depends on what the hack does. Some hacks like vB SEO or Sitemap Generator will help SEO, and many hacks that add additional content will likely help it as well. However, some hacks may hurt it, but it all depends on the hack/modification in question.

3.7 is the latest stable version, 3.8 is the latest version (on release candidate 2 I think). vBulletin 4 will probably be released quite soon in the future. Pick one, but don't pick an older version (especially not a far older version).

Yes and no

To make this story a short as possible, SEO isn't related to vBulletin, SMF or any installed products.
It's an aspect of it's own.

Most likely your urls will be rewritten, and possibly can be forwarded (I suggest to take a look at this forum for this http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=92)
There is however a big chance you'll notice a drop and search engines will need some time to absorb/adjust.

Since you're asking about SEO in the first place I hope you'll already know content is the key.

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thanks all, so helpful =)
one more question, could I update the version to another version without paying anymore money?

To clarify on your first question:
You cannot run a different board on both these URLs at the same time. You must use either example.com or abc.example.com.

You should install the latest supported version. There is only one such version at a time and this will be recommended to you on the download page. Normally this is the latest version to be released, although that doesn't include pre-release software (e.g. Betas/Release candidates).

Yeah you can, once you have your license, you can download any version, and when a new version comes out, or you just decide you want an older/newer version, you can download them anytime.

Yes you can for almost all 4 of them depending on how bad you edit stuff.

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may I know how can I get an exactly same template/theme as vbulletin.ORG ??

The style used on vB.org is custom and not released to public. There are however some similar styles released.