vRewrite - SEOed URLs for vBulletin

About

vRewrite is an advance but simple system to rewrite vB's URLs. The rewrite system uses preg_match_all and str_replace to rewrite the URLs. It will rewrite any URLs that are dynamic ex: showthread.php?t= to /the-forum/title-of-the-forum-id.html. Why? SEs (Search Engines) rate results based on filename. Not only that, but most SEs give a "boost" to static URLs (what we do here) versus dynamic URLs. vRewrite accomplishes both of this, for all URLs that a search engine (or a guest) will see.

Installation

Please download vRewrite.zip and read install.html for more information on how to install it.

Requirements

vRewrite assumes that you are using Apache with the mod_rewrite module enabled, and running vBulletin 3.5.x. However, if you ask for support here on IIS' module or on vBulletin 3.0.x - I will be more then happy to assist you.

Contributions

I would like to thank Chroder and Cole for assisting me release vRewrite. I could not have released it if it wasn't for them.

I would like to thank the following people/boards for helping beta test vRewrite and making it a better product.

Gaming Ultimate, BP Gaming, NBS Designz Cyclez, Hosting-Talk and Forum University.

Copyright

I've spent many hours working and perfecting vRewrite. The only thing I ask you to do is if you use it, please keep the link back. If you wish to put it in your style instead, simply remove or comment out that line. However, if you use vRewrite you MUST link back. That is the only thing I ask.

Known Issues

There are no known issues with the latest release (1.0).

Support / Issues

If you have any problems or discover a bug please post here in this thread. I have also included my email in the install.html email for one-on-one support. The only thing I ask you is please do not post this email address publicly - it is my personal email.

Changelog

1.5 Release - vRewrite 1.5 has become stable, and all users under 1.5 RC3 and 1.0 need to upgrade. Support for 1.0 will no longer be offered, and you will be told simply to upgrade. Please continue to keep all bug and feature suggestions on the bug tracker at:

http://www.techhelpforum.com/vrewrite

1.1 Release - Several bug fixes, and a few new features. Details here.

03/26/06 - Updated the thread to reflect vRewrite 1.5 Beta links. vRewrite files has NOT changed.

03/11/06 - Updated the thread to take advantage of vB.org's new prefix feature. vRewrite itself has NOT changed.

1.0 Release (02/19/06) - I have released the much awaited 1.0. This is the first stable release of vRewrite. All users now should be safe installing vRewrite. For more information, and how to upgrade, please see here.

1.0 Preview (01/12/06) - I have released a preview version of 1.0. This is the final version before 1.0 is considered stable. I believe everything should work in this new preview, but one bug (see known issues). Please see here for more information and how to upgrade.

01/05/06 - Updated ZIP to include a fix for boards running a table prefix. You do not need to upgrade unless you previously had SQL errors. You can upgrade by importing the product and choose "Allow Overwrite".

Donations

Any donations are very much appreciated! I do this out of my free time and work many hours on it - all for free. Anything to help is always very welcomed

If you use vRewrite, please click Install. This helps you keep track of additional upgrades and shows to me that you care about vRewrite


You may not post vRewrite ZIP or any files contained in the ZIP on any website. You may not also post any support requests/give support on any website other then this one, without my permission. If you do so, you will get a DMCA for copyright infringement. I do not want this spread to pirated users. Please stop piracy and do not share the source outside of this thread and vB.org/com. Thanks.

Support will only be obtained at:
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=182

[Immortal]

Hmm, I don't like saying updates John, as then when I don't meet it, it reflects bad upon myself.

Maybe sometime this week/next week?

[yayvb]

Hey Immortal,

I was just noticing a problem with trying to delete a single post and seemed to have the same error performing other moderation things. I wonder if it is because I took out a line or two of the .xml file hahaha. I didn't see this reported in this thread, but I saw someone asking in vbulletin.com yesterday the same error message as me.

I'm getting an error message at the top of the forum during those things, apparently someone else on vbulletin.com is too: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=176653

Has anyone mentioned this before? I tried looking at my inlinemod_start hook code and saw this:

if(preg_match("(t-)([A-Za-z0-9\-]+)-([0-9]+).html$", $vbulletin->GPC['mergethreadurl'], $tmatches)) 
{
$vbulletin->GPC['mergethreadurl'] =& 'showthread.php?t=' . $tmatches[3];
}

Is this valid?

[Immortal]

Yah, I know about that. There was a complete list a few pages back

[Bhuwan]

Originally Posted by Immortal

Yah, I know about that. There was a complete list a few pages back

the only solution I could find for this was a FILE MOD

[e-brooker]

Hi

Just a few suggestions:

The f is not really needed in the the forum display url: techhelpforum.com/f-windows-xp-11.html (in fact it would be better if it were not there from a search engines perspective)

The t is also not really needed in the thread display url: techhelpforum.com/windows-xp/t-how-to-do-a-repair-install-of-xp-439.html (again, it would be better if it were not there)

However the forum number should be present in the thread display url - because many of us make slight changes to our forum names from time to time so making sure the forum number is the 'key' should ensure no deadlinks if we change forum titles in the future

Would also be beneficial if the latest post links show the same urls as the main urls (and not a new url eg techhelpforum.com/windows-xp/t-how-to-do-a-repair-install-of-xp-439newpost.html like some rewrites do). So techhelpforum.com/windows-xp/t-how-to-do-a-repair-install-of-xp-439.html#post522484 is preffered.

Would also be great if once a reply is made the person is directed back to the mod-rewritten url (as going to a showthread.php url might make google think its duplicate content as adsense will pick up the url..).

Sounds like a nice hack! Look forward to seeing it develop

[Immortal]

The t-, f- and p- helps vRewrite tells which is which. There's really no other way to accomplish this without changing a good majority of the script.

As far as newpost is concerned, that part doesn't have a problems as you will get redirected back to the t- (not the p- mind ya ). SEOs really doesn't see this as duplicate content.

As far as the reply URL is concerned, make sure you have vRewrite Redirects enabled.

[e-brooker]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me.

Originally Posted by Immortal

The t-, f- and p- helps vRewrite tells which is which. There's really no other way to accomplish this without changing a good majority of the script..

Is it possible to move these to the end of the urls instead then?

What about renaming forums/sections do the old urls using old names find their way to the correct thread once a forum is renamed?

Thanks.

[Bhuwan]

Based on Andreas suggestion earlier in this thread, I think I've found a way to DRAMATICALLY reduce thenumber of queries (hoping to make it 0).

Will keep everyone updated

[yayvb]

This is exciting news!! Can't wait to get this new release. Wish I could help but I don't know what I'm looking at half the time.

[Immortal]

Originally Posted by yayvb

Wish I could help but I don't know what I'm looking at half the time.

That hasn't stopped me