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

[class101]

beware this version has a critical vulnerability, my recommandation is to disable it waiting for a new fixed version if you do not wish to see all your popular tags gone
//update: they moved my bug ticket to private section so they willl probably patch this right after holidays.

[xcingix]

I uninstalled this mod, but I am getting database errors from it.

[class101]

//update: they moved my bug ticket to private section so they willl probably patch this right after holidays.

Originally Posted by xcingix

I uninstalled this mod, but I am getting database errors from it.

if that's about the security bug you can just disable it temporarily trough the admincp pluginmanager but else cant help you, try reinstalling it and reuninstalling it , that could solve such probs sometimes

[Strike3ForumsMH]

Originally Posted by class101

beware this version has a critical vulnerability, my recommandation is to disable it waiting for a new fixed version if you do not wish to see all your popular tags gone ;http://network.zoints.com/showthread.php?p=28789

Just so the rest of the people here know, we have not had the chance to test this yet and verify it. I moved class's post at network.zoints.com to a private forum so we can learn what he is talking about (as he mentioned). If however you want to stay on the side of caution, make sure to just disable the product and not uninstall it, and then check back to see if we have anything to report with this bug or a fix.

Originally Posted by xcingix

I uninstalled this mod, but I am getting database errors from it.

Search engines are likely trying to find pages that no longer exist (ie /tags/tagname), I imagine that is how the errors are popping up if it is like past problems. If you have a specific error to report from the log (that seems to be different than what I am saying), let me know.

- Reid

[Strike3ForumsMH]

Originally Posted by chadi

Anyone figure out how to get $tagcloud working on a vbulletin custom page, plus forum home custom location?

Hi chadi,

Please check your PM's.

Oh and Merry Christmas everyone! I've been a bit busy over the past few days (with the holidays and my birthday), but I plan to look into SB's problem further. Oh and if anyone needs support, it'll likely be a bit slower than usual so just be patient (we all are attempting to check in on needed support though when we can break away from our families. )

- Reid

[FleaBag]

Upgrade went OK, thanks. Saw this hole reported yesterday, so great work on the fast response.

[class101]

good job

[FleaBag]

My URL's on tag results all seem to work with vBSEO now aswell? Not sure if this is related or not, as I'm sure they retained standard vB format previously. The last post URL appears incorrect, but still forwards to the correct post.

[Strike3ForumsMH]

Originally Posted by FleaBag

My URL's on tag results all seem to work with vBSEO now aswell? Not sure if this is related or not, as I'm sure they retained standard vB format previously. The last post URL appears incorrect, but still forwards to the correct post.

Could you either post a link for me to see FleaBag, or PM me if you are more comfortable with that?

Thanks.

ALSO: I know the hack is now listed as updated, I just wanted to post here to let everyone know that our engineers posted an updated solution today despite it being a holiday with the help of class101. So a big thanks goes out to Danny (the engineer who posted the update) and class101.

- Reid

[briansol]

def big thanks for the fast response on the holiday. good job guys