SMF Duplicate Content?

[Aileen]

I have 2 URL's


http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.msg3826#msg3826
http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.0


When I removed the #msg3826 making it
http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.msg3826

on the first URL I noticed that both URL's have the same content
and ofcourse this is duplicate content but I am trying to look for a live URL in the topic with
http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.msg3826
link
but i cant find. Is there any link of some sort.
I read an article made by someone in the internet that after switching to VB visitors coming from organic searches increased. I dont know if this is true but just in case

Is there a way to optimize URL's in SMF by removing duplicate links?


Thanks for your time

[青山 素子]

Search engines ignore fragments in URLs (The # and stuff after it is called a fragment).

With newer versions of SMF (1.1 release and newer), any URL with a message ID in it at the end is marked by a meta tag to not be indexed.

Lots of people claim lots of things, anyway. I've heard everything from SMF sucks for SEO, to it being awesome. The thing to keep in mind is that SEO is way more complex (and simple too) than a software change and some special URLs.

Basically, there are a lot more factors than just the software going into things. Themes have an impact (and vB has a different theme) and backlinks have a definite impact. In addition, nearly every search engine tweaks lots of little things each day that can affect rankings.

If you are concerned about SEO, there is a good post at The Admin Zone on SEO. Some of it is forum system specific, but there are many good nuggets in there.

[Aileen]

Thanks so much for this very insightful reply motokan


BTW

how about
http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.msg3826
and
http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.0

it doesnt have # but it has the same content?

[青山 素子]

how about
http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.msg3826
and
http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.0

it doesnt have # but it has the same content?

Take a look at it on a 1.1 forum. You'll see the one with the .msg in it has a noindex meta tag. Note that you need to be using a theme built for 1.1 final or later. Themes built for a 1.1 RC or beta don't support that.

(It's easy to add, however. The logic is in the index.template.php file.)

[metallica48423]

Koodi [Valitse] Laajenna

<meta name="robots" content="noindex" />

That is what will show in any page under those conditions.  Take a look at your page code when you have those instances

[Aileen]

Thanks so much for this very insightful reply motokan


BTW

how about
http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.msg3826
and
http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.0

it doesnt have # but it has the same content?

I think there is  a small glitch in my SMF since

http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.msg3826 has a meta tag index follow
and
http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.0 has no meta tag


Can I modify a meta tag for this?

thanks

BTW i have 1.1.4

[metallica48423]

the first link SHOULD have the noindex tag. 
The second SHOULD NOT.  the second is a base topic URL.  this is the one designated TO be indexed.

[Aileen]

I see, thank you so much for the help. Can I do this manually?

[metallica48423]

what do you mean?  what are you looking to do manually?

if you view the page source, the links above should have the tag as i mentioned they should

[Aileen]

how to add/modify noindex and nofollow meta tag on the pages with these

http://forums.example.com/index.php?topic=1074.msg3826

links since in my SMF is says index follow.


Thanks again. you made things clear to me.

[Ben_S]

Look at the default index.display.template.php and see how that does it.

[metallica48423]

if it says follow instead of nofollow something had to have edited the code to change it.