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

[Bhuwan]

Originally Posted by LICryptkeeper

I get this when i perform searches (new posts) this happens even when I turn OFF "rewrite searches" in admincp. I'll try the suggestion you gave renada

ALL my settings are default in admincp exept for "on" and "searches off"

also I noteced, inside forums, it's rewritten with a / at the end (t-forumname-01.html/)

forums part you can disable (i.e. remove the "/")

i posted a fix for the additioanl text ons earches (i left an echo statement).

be careful when changing settings as u have toupdate the .htaccess file also.

[LICryptkeeper]

all fixed. hope thers no more errors

[Alex_]

Originally Posted by Bhuwan

Thread name limitation can be very easily applied, espeically since you could use vBulletin's build-in functionality.

No no, I do not mean limiting the allowed thread title length but the length of the name in the url. Cause rewriting only depends on the id in the url I think I will strip an url from blar-blar-blar-blar-12.html down to blar-12.html (first X chars of the title)

[Bhuwan]

Originally Posted by Alex_

Nono, I do not mean limiting the allowed thread title length but the length of the name in the url. Cause rewriting only depends on the id in the url I think I will strip an url from blar-blar-blar-blar-12.html down to blar-12.html (first X chars of the title)

Thats what i mean -- it can be done very easily.

[jdingman]

I found a new bug too. When a user creates a username with a space in it, it creates the html file -###.html instead of user name-###.html. Is there a way to sanitize that so it doesn't break and leave out the username?

[Bhuwan]

Originally Posted by jdingman

I found a new bug too. When a user creates a username with a space in it, it creates the html file -###.html instead of user name-###.html. Is there a way to sanitize that so it doesn't break and leave out the username?

This is NOT a bug and the code is WORKING as designed...


HOWEVER, if you really wanted to keep the space... you could do this
in the xml file search for (there should be two instances of it):

$txt = str_replace(' ', '-', $txt);

<b>And replace it with </b>

//$txt = str_replace(' ', '-', $txt);

But if a user enters a space in the thread name (or forum name for that matter), it won't be replaced with a "-"
SO a thread name with "this is my thread" (t = 82) would be replaced as
"this is my thread-82.html" as opposed to "this-is-my-thread-82.html"


From a SEO stand point, how does it make a difference whether you keep the space or replace it with a "-"?
I am no expert, but I think this is irrelevent.
Furthermore, if I am not mistaken, the browser would replace the space with a %20

[jdingman]

The problem actually happening, is that it shows /member/-###.html instead of showing the username at all. It's not displaying ANYTHING for the username. Is that how it's supposed to work?

[Bhuwan]

Originally Posted by jdingman

The problem actually happening, is that it shows /member/-###.html instead of showing the username at all. It's not displaying ANYTHING for the username. Is that how it's supposed to work?

Is that for every user name or just th eusername with a space? is it on forumhome or a thread?

[jdingman]

it's actually just happening with that ONE username, being displayed on the homepage. I'm using the 'all the latest visitors that were here in the last 24 hours'. the other usernames work just fine, if they don't have spaces, but this one breaks.

Also, do you have plans in rewriting the memberlist.php pages or somehow making it easier for search engines to find all the member profiles? I haven't been able to get a working sitemap with all the rewritten pages yet...

[Bhuwan]

Originally Posted by jdingman

it's actually just happening with that ONE username, being displayed on the homepage. I'm using the 'all the latest visitors that were here in the last 24 hours'. the other usernames work just fine, if they don't have spaces, but this one breaks.

Also, do you have plans in rewriting the memberlist.php pages or somehow making it easier for search engines to find all the member profiles? I haven't been able to get a working sitemap with all the rewritten pages yet...

This seems more like a noncompatability issue than a bug. I'll take a look at making it compatable once 1.5 is stable

I configured vBSEO sitemap to write urls for vrewrite.