Show Thread Enhancements - External Link Titles, retrieve descriptive titles for URLs

Keywords: SHOWTHREAD, external, link, titles, URLs, SEO

Description:
Retrieves descriptive titles for external posted links. Allows for better link recognition and, in theory, could help increase page SEO.

Details:
I recall this being requested somewhere, so I decided to take a stab at it. This is yet another feature offered in vBSEO.

For those unaware of what this actually does.. by default, when a URL is posted without a description it looks like:
http://www.vbulletin.com

With this modification enabled, it will now look like:
vBulletin.org Forum - The Official vBulletin Resource!

Nicer, eh?

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Installation:

1. Download and import product-linktitles.xml via the Product Manager.
2. Enable the modification via AdminCP > vBulletin Options > External Link Titles Options (it is disabled by default)
3. ???
4. Profit!

Notes:
There's really no magic here, it polls for titles using the cURL() function. If for some reason your host does not have cURL() enabled, you're out of luck.

From time to time you may notice the occasional link that does not get titled -- this is due to either the fact that the url is not active or it either timed out waiting for a response. By default, the system will wait for 5 seconds before timing out. If you wish to modify the timeout, you may do so via the AdminCP.

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Comments:
As with all my hacks, this modification is provided free of charge. However, if you find this product useful and have money burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to make a small donation, I won't mind.. really.

Version History:

• 1.0.0 - Initial release, here's to hoping...
• 1.1.0 - Added the ability to blacklist specific domains from having link titles retrieved (configurable via the AdminCP)
• 1.1.1 - Wrapped returned titles in html_entity_decode(); to return properly decoded HTML characters.

Currently Known Bugs:

• None

* Please note that this modification was developed on a forum with a userbase of 1 (myself). I've tested it for basic functionality but I cannot guarantee functionality or behavior on your forum. So, please -- make backups before installing this product!

[mdawg]

Is this native in Vbulletin 4 or 5?

[BirdOPrey5]

Not native in any VB version but this mod or a similar one works in VB4 even though it is a VB3 mod and there is a similar one for VB5 as well.

[mdawg]

What is the mod for vb5?

[btedition]

It did work perfectly with 4.2.0

What you all need to know is that it seems to be working based on your brower's reading ability. What I mean is that, for URL X to have its name loaded then you need to have URL X browsed by your web browser to have its title replaced. If you didn't open the URL X and just got the link from a scratch paper which you kept on a side, then most likely the link will not be fetched.

[mdawg]

Will this work with 4.2.2 ? I had it installed but turned it off and I can't recall now why I did turn it off. There was some compatibility issue I believe.

[ozzy47]

Not sure if this one works, but I use this one in vb4 and is still works, https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=189658

[mdawg]

I don't think this works in vb 4.2.3 I re-enabled it to give it a try doesn't seem to do anything.