Integration with vBulletin - 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.



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.



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.



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



The thread starter and moderation staff have a slightly different view which allows for administration of tags:



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!



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




The admincp options

















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

[Unexplained.tv]

upgrading

[GrendelKhan{TSU]

upgraded thanks!

Originally Posted by GrendelKhan{TSU

2. its already there. I want to move it. can you tell me what to look for and which template?

still looking for what code to move in what template though.

[Lionel]

Is there a way to dissociate the limit to display between vbadvanced and main cloud tags? I'd like to display more than 50 tags in the main cloud, but that also displays the same quantity in vbadvanced.

[Lionel]

never mind, I harcoded the limit in the module.... About pagination for main cloud?

[buro9]

I like the look of this a lot, except for one thing: The search results when you click on a tag.

If there are lots (and I mean hundreds if not thousands) of threads tagged with a particular tag, the search results looks like a particularly ugly way of displaying that kind of volume of data.

Is it possible that once you click on a tag, that the display can be more like a standard forumdisplay... that is, that it would be a virtual forum containing all threads that are tagged with something that the user has permission to see.

If that bit can happen (or if it's an option already), then I will be utterly convinced about this hack. It's damn nice... just that small thing lets it down IMO.

[Zoints]

Originally Posted by Lionel

never mind, I harcoded the limit in the module.... About pagination for main cloud?

No there isn't. But that's a great idea.

[Zoints]

Originally Posted by buro9

I like the look of this a lot, except for one thing: The search results when you click on a tag.

If there are lots (and I mean hundreds if not thousands) of threads tagged with a particular tag, the search results looks like a particularly ugly way of displaying that kind of volume of data.

Is it possible that once you click on a tag, that the display can be more like a standard forumdisplay... that is, that it would be a virtual forum containing all threads that are tagged with something that the user has permission to see.

Here is a tag with 136 pages of results: http://forums.livingwithstyle.com/tags/help/

Can you please elaborate on exactly what it is that you don't like? Thanks!

[buro9]

Originally Posted by DChapman

Here is a tag with 136 pages of results: http://forums.livingwithstyle.com/tags/help/

Can you please elaborate on exactly what it is that you don't like? Thanks!

Sure... things you can't see or don't get per tagged thread with your view:

• Links to newest post
• Links to last post
• Username of last post
• Date of last post
• Views
• Indication of 'hot', etc threads
• Indication that you've read it
• Inline moderation
• Pagination of thread pages
• Way to see the number of replies
• Ratings
• Etc, etc

Basically... I *love* tags as a means of filtering, searching and grouping threads, especially that multiple tags can be applied per thread.

I just don't like the loss os functionality and usability, especially when users are already very familiar with the user interface provided by vBulletin within either forums (forumdisplay) or search results.

[Zoints]

Interesting. I don't see why we wouldn't be able to do that and provide a choice of views. We're a little backed up right now however. We have a pretty big hack coming that has taken a lot of resources. I will add this to the queue though. I can see how some would prefer it.

[buro9]

Fantastic... I'd certainly be sold to it if it gets added