Board Optimization - NuHIT URLs: Add rel=nofollow and control where links are opened

/*================================================= =====================*\
|| NuHIT URLs: Add rel=nofollow and control where links are opened
|| ================================================== =====
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|| nuHIT.com
|| Professional add-ons for vBulletin
\*================================================ ======================*/


Description

This small mod let's you control how URLs should be processed in your forum.

Adding rel="nofollow" to links in your forum will help improve your sites overall pagerank by reducing pagerank leak due to link to external sites added by your members.

This mod lets you do this for all URLs posted by your members.

In addition, you can control whether URLs should open in a new window, or should open in the same window the user is on.

Installation

• Download and extract .zip
• Upload product xml ( Admin CP > Plugins & Products > Manage Products > Import Product )
• Configure your internal domains from vBulletin Options > NuHIT URL Settings
• Click Mark as Installed, and you get this cool image for your signature

Features

• No vBulletin core files modified.
• No new files to add.
• Add rel=nofollow only to external links.
• Allow internal URLs to open in current window.
• Support multiple domains for internal URLs (e.g. forums.vbulletin.org,wiki.vbulletin.org)
• Easy to use and manage from vBulletin's Admin CP

[ElfMage]

FAQ

Are there any vBulletin core files modified?
No. NuHIT URLs uses vBulletin hooks to extend vBulletin's BBCode parser.

Hasn't this being implemented before?
I have seen posts where you need to modify files, or are limited in functionality. I may be mistaken..

Will this change my existing posts?
To rebuild the links in your existing posts, you need to go to AdminCP > Maintenance > Update Counters > Rebuild Post Cache.

This is from vBulletin's documentation:

Rebuild Post Cache:
vBulletin doesn't parse vB code in posts every time they are displayed. Instead the parsed posts are saved in the "postparsed" table. In this way vBulletin reduces the processing time needed to display a post. Update this counter to rebuild the parsed posts. This needs to be done after changing vB codes, posting allowances (like HTML code), etc.

[kall]

Originally Posted by ElfMage

FAQ

Are there any vBulletin core files modified?
No. NuHIT URLs uses vBulletin hooks to extend vBulletin's BBCode parser.

Hasn't this being implemented before?
I have seen posts where you need to modify files, or are limited in functionality. I may be mistaken..

You are totally mistaken on the file edits part.

Mine (the original you sarcastically refer to) has been a plugin since about a week after it was released.

*edit* Grats on the internal domains part. How much extra overhead does that add?

[rjmjr69]

I've never really caught on to what the whole parse the url is for and when why to use it. I'll wait for some more comments lol. Or if you could explain a bit more about it.

Thanks
Reserved until I learn a bit more

[MaestroX]

Great stuff Elfmage. I'm sure alot of non-vbseo users will enjoy the added feature

Allow internal URLs to open in current window.

Also a neat feature

[projectego]

Awesome! Just what I was looking for! Thank you.

[ElfMage]

Originally Posted by kall

You are totally mistaken on the file edits part.

Mine (the original you sarcastically refer to) has been a plugin since about a week after it was released.

Well, I did say that I could be mistaken... The 'totally' was added by you

I actually referred to some posts that programmers make from time time with instructions on changing class_bbcode.php.

I just saw your mod linked in the 'Similar Threads'. If it is the one listed here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=93780, it seems to require editing class_bbcode.php. Again, I may be partially mistaken... I'll check it out later.

Originally Posted by kall

*edit* Grats on the internal domains part. How much extra overhead does that add?

Thanks. Not much overhead added, it uses the same logic as the rel=nofollow. The extra overhead is just a call to strpos for each URL that gets parsed (this usually happens only after a thread or post is added or edited, since vBulletin caches the parsed HTML).

[djbaxter]

Adding rel="nofollow" to links in your forum will help improve your sites overall pagerank by reducing pagerank leak due to link to external sites added by your members.

There may be some good reasons for using "nofollow". "PageRank leak" is NOT one of them. In fact, "PageRank leak" doesn't exist. It is a myth, a very persistent myth despite the fact that it was long ago and repeatedly debunked.

[ElfMage]

Originally Posted by djbaxter

There may be some good reasons for using "nofollow". "PageRank leak" is NOT one of them. In fact, "PageRank leak" doesn't exist. It is a myth, a very persistent myth despite the fact that it was long ago and repeatedly debunked.

Hi djbaxter, you may know about this more than I do...

I have read many articles and debates about Pagerank leak. Some say it doesn't exist, others swear by it.

It is a documented fact that incoming links will boost your pagerank. The reverse, pagerank leak due to outbound links, has been speculated ad nauseam, and no proof has been established on either side.

Again, that's my understanding. The initial purpose of rel=nofollow was to fight spamdexing.

Let's say that pagerank leak doesn't exist, and search engines ignore this entirely, you don't loose anything adding the rel=nofollow to your external links. On the other hand, if rel=nofollow does in fact help boost your pagerank, you may lose significant traffic due to having a pagerank "lower than your site deserves".

On one hand, if wrong, you don't lose anything, on the other, if right, you gain a lot. I think it is an easy choice.

[djbaxter]

Originally Posted by ElfMage

Hi djbaxter, you may know about this more than I do...

I have read many articles and debates about Pagerank leak. Some say it doesn't exist, others swear by it.

It is a documented fact that incoming links will boost your pagerank. The reverse, pagerank leak due to outbound links, has been speculated ad nauseam, and no proof has been established on either side.

Actually, there's an abundance of evidence that it's a myth and no evidence whatsoever that it exists. The value of any one of your outgoing links is a function of the PageRank of that page divided by the number of outgoing links. That means that the more outgpoing links you have, the less PR value each of the recipients gets from their single link.

But the original page containing all those outgoing links loses nothing. It will still retain the same PageRank it always had. PageRank is a measure of INCOMING links - links pointing to that page - NOT outgoing links.