 | Join Date: Mar 2007 | Posts: 78 |
SEO Template Edits and Relevant Replacements using vBSEO
Overview: Explain what I've done as far as SEO edits go with the use of vBSEO. I've found many threads about SEOing your board but not too many of them use any of the vBSEO options. In this thread, I'll show you my RR's and give you the edits in a TMS file so you can also take full advantage of your RR's in vBSEO.
Sites I'd like to thank for helping me through this with all their SEO posts:
vBSEO
vBulletinSetup
vBulletin-FAQ
Time-2-Dine
vBulletin.org/vBulletin-Germany.org (for Template Modificaiton System)
Ever since TMS came out, I've been working hard to get everything "ported" to TMS to make life that much easier when I update. I've taken the premium skin that I paid for and converted it over to TMS before I updated, and let me tell you, it took me a total of 5-10 minutes to update my board and the skin (counting the time to upload all the files
) after having everything properly working in TMS. This is a highly recommended mod to use, especially with all the vB updates, this mod is a time saver.
This post and the TMS file and txt file contains the following edits:
Full use of vBSEO's RR's
Use of h1, h2 and h3 tags (with vBSEO RR's) - Only viewable to guests to keep the site cleaner for members
Replaced the old title and meta tags with modified title and meta tags
Removed forum title from showthread and forumdisplay
Removed the forum description from navbar
Removed much coding from the guests usergroup:
-Skin selector
-Display options
-Forum rules
-Forum Tools
-Icons from forumdisplay
-Last post information for many templates
-New Thread image
-Icons and Logins from forumhome
-Display Mods
-New reply, close buttons
-A lot of postbit information:
--Avatar
--Edit note
--Information (posts, location, etc)
--The small buttons (quote, multi-quote, etc)
I've tested these many times to make sure they are xhtml (transitional) valid. Feel free to check out the live demo and check to see if it's xhtml valid (w3.org).
Live Demo: Photoshop Graphics Tutorials
Relevant Replacements using vBSEO:
This edit is not totally finished, I'm waiting for 1 quick answer over at vBSEO (here) but for the most part they are done. But I don't think I'll be getting an answer any time soon.
My RR's (h1, h2, and h3 edits) show up only for sub-forums and threads (well, for searchid's now...but thats what I'm waiting on an answer for at vBSEO) only for guests.
Since I'm using TMS, I figured why not release this to the vBSEO community I've gotten so much help from everyone else that I would like to help out people and make things easier for them. I also thought I would release it here first since 1, it seems to be more active here than vBSEO lately and 2, seems like you are one of the only sites (besides vbseo) that helps people with using the vBSEO product.
Instructions to installing my edits:
TMS Users:Take the attached TMS file and upload it (this will only work for vBSEO users since I've connected the edits to the vBSEO product).
TXT file users: You can do all the edits that you would like to implement on your board manually and then read on:
Go into your vBSEO CP and edit your RR's. These are what I use, so if you use them, be sure to make an ABOUT THE PAGE image and edit the directory code to your image or remove the whole image. The top code is for the forumdisplay field, the bottom is for showthread:
<!--VBSEO_RR_1-->
<!--VBSEO_RR_2-->
<!--VBSEO_RR_3-->
While you are still in vBSEO, go down to the Dynamic Meta Tags section and turn those off (keywords and description). With the template edits in the TMS file, the meta tags provided in the file are much better than using this vBSEO feature.
Go into your styles (all your styles if you have more than 1) MAIN CSS and add to the Additional CSS Definitions section (at the very bottom) this:
For TMS users: Go into TMS > Edit Templates > vBSEO and edit the navbar: h1, h2, h3 tags + ads and add your own ads there. I have noted where to put the ad code.
For TXT file users: Go into your navbar and find the h1, h2, h3 tags edit you did and apply your own ads or remove my notes for where the ads go.
TMS users: Last step, be sure to test your templates in TMS to see if any of my template edits didn't work (they will work on non-modified skins, so if you have a heavily modified skin, I'm sure you'll run into a few problems). If one doesn't show up, view the edit as well as the accompanied template to see why it's not working and modify the TMS edit.
The only thing I can see that won't work thoroughly is the "Remove last post for guests". I had to go into my skins TMS files and edit those so if it's not working for you, be sure to check out this thread:
http://www.vbseo.com/f28/reduce-band...-guests-11013/
*WARNING*: Be sure any of the template edits that deal with meta tags are properly working! I have the old meta tags removed and added new meta tags to various templates! View your source code to make sure your meta tags are properly working! I'd hate to see someone getting mad that something is not working. Be sure to go through everything to make sure it works. I believe I've titled everything properly for you to understand what it does.
Be sure to check your site in all browsers too. Everything should work properly since I did extensive testing on my edits, but each board has different template edits so be sure to look out for discrepencies.
I hope this helps people with vBSEO that would like to further SEO their boards. It seems there are not many guides out there to help you out more SEO'ing your board once you have vBSEO installed, so I hope people find this helpful. There are many other tips to go through in your vB options so be sure to check out the following threads:
http://forum.vbulletinsetup.com/f7/v...on-tips-2.html
vBSEO Optimization Tips
Thanks for reading
And if anyone has any more suggestions for SEO, please let me know. I'd love to make it so all the edits are in 1 file so people don't have to go through and do all the edits manually or go searching elsewhere on the net to find more information Though it's nice to know what each code does, some people may not have the time to do it or they would rather concentrate on the content of the site (content is king). This guide is not saying it will magically make your board appear in the top 10 in Google. This is a quick quote from dutchbb at vBSEO to help you understand PR and SERPs:
The bolded items are what all these edits will help you with. vBSEO helps you with a few more of the points but the main key to SE's is CONTENT! Fill your site up with valuable content and you WILL get noticed.
Another thing to help your site with the bolded terms, check out this post about changing your welcome headers in to an image with links:
http://www.vbseo.com/f28/how-make-yo...rs-image-7549/
Good luck!
Download the attached for the TMS file! If you don't have TMS, I highly recommend downloading it and making full use of it:
Sites I'd like to thank for helping me through this with all their SEO posts:
vBSEO
vBulletinSetup
vBulletin-FAQ
Time-2-Dine
vBulletin.org/vBulletin-Germany.org (for Template Modificaiton System)
Ever since TMS came out, I've been working hard to get everything "ported" to TMS to make life that much easier when I update. I've taken the premium skin that I paid for and converted it over to TMS before I updated, and let me tell you, it took me a total of 5-10 minutes to update my board and the skin (counting the time to upload all the files
) after having everything properly working in TMS. This is a highly recommended mod to use, especially with all the vB updates, this mod is a time saver. This post and the TMS file and txt file contains the following edits:
Full use of vBSEO's RR's
Use of h1, h2 and h3 tags (with vBSEO RR's) - Only viewable to guests to keep the site cleaner for members
Replaced the old title and meta tags with modified title and meta tags
Removed forum title from showthread and forumdisplay
Removed the forum description from navbar
Removed much coding from the guests usergroup:
-Skin selector
-Display options
-Forum rules
-Forum Tools
-Icons from forumdisplay
-Last post information for many templates
-New Thread image
-Icons and Logins from forumhome
-Display Mods
-New reply, close buttons
-A lot of postbit information:
--Avatar
--Edit note
--Information (posts, location, etc)
--The small buttons (quote, multi-quote, etc)
I've tested these many times to make sure they are xhtml (transitional) valid. Feel free to check out the live demo and check to see if it's xhtml valid (w3.org).
Live Demo: Photoshop Graphics Tutorials
Relevant Replacements using vBSEO:
This edit is not totally finished, I'm waiting for 1 quick answer over at vBSEO (here) but for the most part they are done. But I don't think I'll be getting an answer any time soon.
My RR's (h1, h2, and h3 edits) show up only for sub-forums and threads (well, for searchid's now...but thats what I'm waiting on an answer for at vBSEO) only for guests.
Since I'm using TMS, I figured why not release this to the vBSEO community
I've gotten so much help from everyone else that I would like to help out people and make things easier for them. I also thought I would release it here first since 1, it seems to be more active here than vBSEO lately and 2, seems like you are one of the only sites (besides vbseo) that helps people with using the vBSEO product.Instructions to installing my edits:
TMS Users:Take the attached TMS file and upload it (this will only work for vBSEO users since I've connected the edits to the vBSEO product).
TXT file users: You can do all the edits that you would like to implement on your board manually and then read on:
Go into your vBSEO CP and edit your RR's. These are what I use, so if you use them, be sure to make an ABOUT THE PAGE image and edit the directory code to your image or remove the whole image. The top code is for the forumdisplay field, the bottom is for showthread:
<!--VBSEO_RR_1-->
Code:
<br /><img src="/images/aboutthispage.png" alt="[forum_description]" /><br />Below you will find a list of discussions in the <strong>[forum_title]</strong>. The [forum_title] page is where you will [forum_description]
Code:
<br /><img src="/images/aboutthispage.png" alt="[forum_description]" /><br />This is a discussion on <strong>[thread_title]</strong> within the <strong>[forum_title]</strong>, part of the [parent_forum_title] category; <em>[first_post_25_words]</em>...
Code:
<h1 class="h1navbar">[forum_title]</h1><br /><h2 class="h2navbar">[forum_description]</h2>
Code:
<h1 class="h1navbar">[thread_title]</h1><br /><h2 class="h2navbar">[forum_title]</h2>
Code:
The [forum_title] page is where you will [forum_description]
Code:
[thread_title] is discussed at [bb_title] in [forum_title]
Go into your styles (all your styles if you have more than 1) MAIN CSS and add to the Additional CSS Definitions section (at the very bottom) this:
PHP Code:
h1.h1navbar {font-family: arial, verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; margin:0; font-weight: bold;}
h2.h2navbar {font-family: arial, verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin:0; font-weight: bold;}
h3.h3navbar {font-family: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin:0; font-weight: normal;}
For TXT file users: Go into your navbar and find the h1, h2, h3 tags edit you did and apply your own ads or remove my notes for where the ads go.
TMS users: Last step, be sure to test your templates in TMS to see if any of my template edits didn't work (they will work on non-modified skins, so if you have a heavily modified skin, I'm sure you'll run into a few problems). If one doesn't show up, view the edit as well as the accompanied template to see why it's not working and modify the TMS edit.
The only thing I can see that won't work thoroughly is the "Remove last post for guests". I had to go into my skins TMS files and edit those so if it's not working for you, be sure to check out this thread:
http://www.vbseo.com/f28/reduce-band...-guests-11013/
*WARNING*: Be sure any of the template edits that deal with meta tags are properly working! I have the old meta tags removed and added new meta tags to various templates! View your source code to make sure your meta tags are properly working! I'd hate to see someone getting mad that something is not working. Be sure to go through everything to make sure it works. I believe I've titled everything properly for you to understand what it does.
Be sure to check your site in all browsers too. Everything should work properly since I did extensive testing on my edits, but each board has different template edits so be sure to look out for discrepencies.
I hope this helps people with vBSEO that would like to further SEO their boards. It seems there are not many guides out there to help you out more SEO'ing your board once you have vBSEO installed, so I hope people find this helpful. There are many other tips to go through in your vB options so be sure to check out the following threads:
http://forum.vbulletinsetup.com/f7/v...on-tips-2.html
vBSEO Optimization Tips
Thanks for reading
And if anyone has any more suggestions for SEO, please let me know. I'd love to make it so all the edits are in 1 file so people don't have to go through and do all the edits manually or go searching elsewhere on the net to find more information Though it's nice to know what each code does, some people may not have the time to do it or they would rather concentrate on the content of the site (content is king). This guide is not saying it will magically make your board appear in the top 10 in Google. This is a quick quote from dutchbb at vBSEO to help you understand PR and SERPs:Quote:
|
Originally Posted by dutchbb A quick summary; To enhance pagerank you need
|
Another thing to help your site with the bolded terms, check out this post about changing your welcome headers in to an image with links:
http://www.vbseo.com/f28/how-make-yo...rs-image-7549/
Good luck!
Download the attached for the TMS file! If you don't have TMS, I highly recommend downloading it and making full use of it:
--------------------
Se7enSins - Xbox mods, Halo mods, PSP mods, iPod mods, Zune mods, and more!
LayeredGFX - Graphics tutorials, resources, help, downloads and more!
Se7enSins - Xbox mods, Halo mods, PSP mods, iPod mods, Zune mods, and more!
LayeredGFX - Graphics tutorials, resources, help, downloads and more!
Last edited by AzzidReign; 08-16-2007 at 01:07 PM.
Linear Mode
