Tweaking your Forum for SEO [3.5.3]

[croportal]

Lets discuss here of SEO

i have seen allot of discussion that you dont need vBSEO for better positions in serch engines.

on the http://www.vbwebmaster.com i have seen the discussion how to tweak you forum for 3.0 - 3.0.7 version

but how to 3.5.3

here is some tips that work in 3.0 but not in 3.5.3, if anobody know how to work 3.5.3 can please tell

lets go:

1.Conditional signatures for vbulletin VBSEO

What does it do?
============================

* Increases keyword density for keywords related to the thread topic.
* Reduces outbound links.
* Boosts ratio of content to outbound links.
* Conserves Google PageRank.
* Improves onpage search engine optimization for relevant keywords.
* Encourages users to post more detailed messages (helping you build more valuable content).
* Discourages users from posting with the sole purpose of establishing outbound links to their website(s) within the thread.
* Reduce the amount of signature clutter within threads.
* Optionally applies signature actions for pages accessible by guests and search engine crawlers only.

How does it work?
============================

Depending on your settings, this plugin will either:

1. Add rel=nofollow to links in the signatures of posts, OR
2. Remove the signatures from posts.

Note: These actions only occur when the # of words in the post is less than the minimum you specify. Users who post messages that meet the minimum word count will have their signatures displayed without changes.

2.Apply "rel=nofollow" attribute to all parsed URLs

The Nofollow Attribute

The new attribute is called "nofollow" with rel="nofollow" being the format inserted within an anchor tag.
When added to any link, it will effectively serve as a flag to tell the search engines that the link has not been explictly approved by the site owner, and therefore "not follow" it, or not use the referring page's (on your site) Page Rank in any way.

For example, this is how the HTML markup for an ordinary link might look:

<a href="http://www.somedomain.com/page.html">My forums are the best lol lol lol click here!!</a>

This is how the link would look after the nofollow attribute has been added, with the attribute portion shown in bold

<a href="http://www.somedomain.com/page.html" rel="nofollow">My forums are the best lol lol lol click here!!</a>

Once added, the search engines supporting the attribute will understand that the link has not been approved by the site owner.

Think of it as a way to flag to them, "I didn't post this link -- someone else did, don't associate me with it."

If Google sees nofollow as part of a link, it will:

1. NOT follow through to that page.
2. NOT count the link in calculating PageRank link popularity scores.
3. NOT count the anchor text in determining what terms the page being linked to is relevant for.

3. H1 TAGS

Yes, H1 tags are important, how important depends on how you use the tag and which search engine you're talking about.

Back in the days of yore... H1 tags were used as a page header designation. If your page was about "purple widgets' You would place <H1>Purple Widgets</H1> at the top of you page. When seen through a browser, the encapsulated text appeared much larger that the rest of the pages text and helped people to understand what that page of information was about. There are differing opinions about the importance of still using the tag today, but I still use it in my sites and it does seem to help. Using them won't catapult you to the top of the search engines but if used correctly at the top of the page, it can help certain search engines to understand what your page is about. It is usually a good practice to make sure the words in your H1 tag also appear several times on the page, in your METAs, and somewhere in the Title.

In this case, your H1 will be the same as your Page Title.To do this, Go to your SHOWTHREAD template and look for $navbar.

Below it, place this:

PHP Code:

<center>
<h1><font size="4">$thread[title]</font></h1>
$foruminfo[title]</center> 


This will give you the Bold print at the top of this thread that is the title of the thread. I chose to size it at 4. You can use any size you like or no size at all. I also centered it. Again, thats a style choice on my part.

This works in 3.5.3 but i am interesting in tips with dont work in 3.5.3

such like this:

forumhome_lastpostby template

PHP Code:

<img class="inlineimg" src="$stylevar[imgdir_button]/lastpost.gif" alt="$vbphrase[go_to_last_post]" border="0" /> 


i dont see this but i want to remove that

That code just gives you the little next to the Last Post. Its a waste IMO and just chews up bandwidth. People always click the text.

Title and Description Changes for Better SEO in your forums

How to that in 3.5.3

n 3.0 or 3.0.7 you must go to

SHOTHREAD TEMPLATE and do folowing steps

fin

<title>$vboptions[bbtitle] - $thread[title]</title>

and change it to:

<title>$thread[title] -The Home for VBulletin Forum Owners- $foruminfo[title]</title>
<meta name="description" content="$thread[title] $foruminfo[title] Visit VB Webmaster forum to discuss $thread[title]" />
<meta name="keywords" content="$thread[title] $vboptions[keywords]" />

NEXT IS

Change SHOWTHREAD_SHOWPOST template so Thread Title is listed first

find:

<title>$vboptions[bbtitle] - $vbphrase[view_single_post] - $threadinfo[title]</title>

and change it to:

<title>$thread[title] $foruminfo[title]</title>
<meta name="description" content="$thread[title] $foruminfo[title] $foruminfo[description] " />
<meta name="keywords" content="$thread[title] $vboptions[keywords]" />

In the FORUMDISPLAY template find:

<meta name="description" content="$foruminfo[description]" />
<title>$vboptions[bbtitle] - $foruminfo[title]</title>

and I changed it to this:

<title>$foruminfo[title] -The Home for VBulletin Forum Owners</title>
<meta name="keywords" content="$vboptions[keywords]" />
<meta name="description" content="$foruminfo[description] $foruminfo[title]" />

Now go to your "headinclude" template:


Find:

<meta name="keywords" content="$vboptions[keywords]" />
<meta name="description" content="$vboptions[description]" />

And delete it.


this stuff is for 3.0 - 3.0.7 except 1,2,3 i think

it will be great if wee all say what wee now for tweaking forum for best optimisation

and one more thing is to remove powered by vbulletin in title, you can do that in serach phrases and language

nobody????????