I just came across this:
http://www.medical-education.us/forum-software-seo-bbpress-smf-xoops-t498.html
I realize it's from a couple of years back. I'd appreciate anything you might be able to share with regards to this important topic.
In looking at posts on this very list I see a lot of "index.php?topic=" which isn't the best for SEO. Any tools (mods?) to improve upon this?
Quote from: martin05rc on February 18, 2012, 12:57:37 PM
.. I see a lot of "index.php?topic=" which isn't the best for SEO. ...
That's old school
The URLs don't have anything to do with SEO actually. Google indexes forums just fine with them. However, there are a couple of mods to get fancier URLs, the most popular one being Pretty URLs (http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=636). I would also highly recommend the Optimus Brave (http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=2659) mod, which gives your pages more distinct titles and meta descriptions.
Also take a look at http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=427913.0 (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=427913.0).
Quote from: floridaflatlander on February 18, 2012, 01:08:31 PM
Quote from: martin05rc on February 18, 2012, 12:57:37 PM
.. I see a lot of "index.php?topic=" which isn't the best for SEO. ...
That's old school
Not sure what you mean.
Do you mean to say that I am wrong? That'd be OK as I am nowhere near an SEO expert. Can you explain?
I thought that content-relevant URL's (http://www.vbseo.com) where best for SEO. No?
Quote from: ethankcvds on February 18, 2012, 01:10:33 PM
Also take a look at http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=427913.0 (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=427913.0).
It's worth reading. :)
I second that.
The link above will explain it better. No, content related urls are a real waste of time on a forum.
With all due respect to the poster of that article, I am always suspect of anything that isn't backed-up by data emanating from side-by-side testing of the proposed solutions.
That's not to say that I don't understand what he is saying. In fact, it tends to make a lot of sense. Then you read articles such as this one and you have to take pause and think about it a little bit:
http://nickoneill.com/how-fortune-stole-a-new-york-times-article-and-got-all-the-traffic-2012-02/
I think you missed the point.
First...
Seo, in terms of urls, is pointless... Completely.
second...
Seo, in terms of any of that crap for a forum is pointless. It works for articles and other fixed content, but a forum is not even close to the same thing.
Seconded again.
The whole concept of a forum is that it is dynamic and member content driven. You absolutely cannot change their posts and topics to fit into an "SEO model" without killing the very nature of a forum itself. If you try, it will drive all of your members off and you will then have a dead forum. If you want to post content filled with keywords and titles that are supposedly seo friendly, then use blogs and articles. It doesn't work on a forum that is active and dynamic.
The thing is get regular good content.
also see this http://onlinebusiness.about.com/od/searchengineoptimization/a/search-ranking.htm
Note, not one is for pretty urls and that most if not all depend on good content one way or another.
And in the article you referenced it said
Quote"The original title was "How Companies Learn Your Secrets".
Kashmir Hill, a writer at Forbes, realized this and quickly developed a condensed version of the article with a far more powerful title:
"How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did". It cut out the crap and got to the real shocker of the story. "
(to a mom or dad that screams click me)
This is the title that you see in your tab on IE or Firefox and the title that google list on searches, not in the url.
Again title(content), not the url.
It's easy for blogs to do this (it's interesting that Forbes uses wordpress). I use it on my wp blog but to do it with a forum is just to much. Another thing is repairs, pretty urls is just something else to mess up.
Quote from: floridaflatlander on February 20, 2012, 06:27:20 PM
And in the article you referenced it said
Quote"The original title was "How Companies Learn Your Secrets".
Kashmir Hill, a writer at Forbes, realized this and quickly developed a condensed version of the article with a far more powerful title:
"How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did". It cut out the crap and got to the real shocker of the story. "
Note that this would be the text on the link to the article as well. Not only is there now a more rich (keyword-wise) page of text, but the link text is also much better.
In general, user-contributed content is very difficult to optimize because you're not in control of the content. Expecting users to think of smart topic titles for optimizing your forum is asking for the impossible.
OK. Got it.
Sorry to say but first link given by OP is actually from a clueless guy who knows nothing about SEO but yet he is sharing his experience. He is changing his urls again and again without doing anything about existing indexed content. Actually WP uses many small yet effective technique that makes it beautiful for SE , those can be done easily with SMF too and yes pretty urls are more pain then gain. IMHO, optimus Brave mod is more than enough to give good ranking.
Still, if you need something like Vbseo then nibogo has one mod which does it effectively, I have seen his mod and that guy has implemented lots of good stuff in it.
Personally, I think SMF jes good in terms of SEO. I have no ill to his sentence