phpBB Search Engine Optimization - Sessions, static ( SEO )

mjmls wrote:

I am not sure where this problem is nested. Would it have anything to do with the Robots.txt file, or the .htaccess?

This would be a problem with the .htacess and the rewrite module. There is either a configuration problem on the server or an error was made during the install (the error will be in the .htaccess portion).

Quote:

On another instance of installation, prior to my last phpbb update, I was having my site indexed thankfully, but the search engine listing would say, "critical error, could not connect to database", when it was presented in the results page. Would this indicate that I did not properly implement the robots.txt file?

No, this would indicate either a problem with your code or more likely a database crash at the time it was being spidered.

With shared hosting sometimes a spider can crash the database because the host is limiting database connections.

0 Replies

azz,

It might be easier to specify which portions of the mod that you don't want. Because at the rate you are going you will want the majority of it.

0 Replies

LocanT wrote:

1. Usergroups- Are these an issue as they are still viewable by guests and I presume SE.

I'd not really consider them an issue. The spiders will see the usergroup link but after that the usergroups are reached through forms and they won't spend much time from there.

Quote:

If so! Is there a Mod for that? or if not, should I just dump them(in my case I am only just starting so it would not be a issue)

You can always just wrap the link to the usergroups in a user_logged_in switch.

Quote:

2. Do I still need to do the mod rewrite and if so
Does anyone have an idiots guide?
I am totally lost with even knowing what a htaccess file does let alone mod rewrite or how to go about it.

Google spidered my forums very deeply without mod_rewrite. Other search engines don't do as well with variables in URLs and when I added this here spiders like the Teoma/Jeeves spider came by and visited a couple hundred thousand times (e.g. last month Jeeves alone used 27 GB of transfer).

So you'll do ok without it but using it takes you to the next level. It's a big help.

As to how to implement it it is quite simple. Let me know what you need help with.

0 Replies

Craven de Kere wrote:

azz,

It might be easier to specify which portions of the mod that you don't want. Because at the rate you are going you will want the majority of it.

Hi Craven, as suggested below are the features I don't want to use...

Also, am I right in assuming that all of the changes in your MOD will only affect guests?
(I.e when users log in - it'll be back to normal?)

Ok, here goes these are the features we do not require:

2) Make the date of the last post link to the last post like the icon did on index.php (However, I don't really follow this one, can you explain it please? Does my forum not have it? The forum URL I gave you yesterday)

8) Make the date of the last post link to the last post like the icon did on viewforum.php (Again don't follow this one... is it not a feature on our board?)

## 11) Remove avatars for guest views (Craven de Kere)

15) Make the date of the last post link to the last post like the icon did on search.php (Again, I don't think we got this?)

22) Hide forum stats from guests and spiders (If the stats stay will the usernames that are online not be 'links'? If they will is it easy enough for you to write the code to make it so? thanks in advance)

23) Static URLs with mod_rewrite, see the included file (Although I really like the idea of this, I'm scared I'll mess things up by modifying the .htacess file! incidently, the one that needs to be changed, which directory is it in?)

Ok you were right! I did end up wanting more! :-)
Thanks
Azz.

0 Replies

azz wrote:

Also, am I right in assuming that all of the changes in your MOD will only affect guests?
(I.e when users log in - it'll be back to normal?)

You have already asked this question and I answered it then.

Quote:

2) Make the date of the last post link to the last post like the icon did on index.php (However, I don't really follow this one, can you explain it please? Does my forum not have it? The forum URL I gave you yesterday)

This is already explained in the first post of this thread.

Quote:

8) Make the date of the last post link to the last post like the icon did on viewforum.php (Again don't follow this one... is it not a feature on our board?)

This is already explained in the first post of this thread.

Quote:

15) Make the date of the last post link to the last post like the icon did on search.php (Again, I don't think we got this?)

This is already explained in the first post of this thread.

Quote:

22) Hide forum stats from guests and spiders (If the stats stay will the usernames that are online not be 'links'? If they will is it easy enough for you to write the code to make it so? thanks in advance)

I will not be writing the code for what I think you are trying to say because I don't think it would be useful.

Quote:

23) Static URLs with mod_rewrite, see the included file (Although I really like the idea of this, I'm scared I'll mess things up by modifying the .htacess file! incidently, the one that needs to be changed, which directory is it in?)

The answer to this question is in the mod file.

0 Replies

Hi Craven

- There's no explanation for number 2 in the first post of this thread (?)

- When I asked you whether all changes were for guests only you said:
"No, there are some things that will be altered for all users. Most are trivial."
If the info is close to hand can you let us know what these are?

- I think number 22 is probably a personal thing - I'd prefer it if people could see who's online without having to log in. But don't worry I won' ask you to re-write the code as I know you are busy.

Also just quickly can you let me know which bits of the code I won't need if I don't want features:

2
8
15
22

Thanks in advance.

0 Replies

azz wrote:

Hi Craven

- There's no explanation for number 2 in the first post of this thread (?)

Actually there are a few paragraphs devoted to it. I didn't want to retype it so I pointed you there but that didn't work so I will just quote it.

Craven, in the first post of this thread wrote:

1) Remove the "View Latest Post" icon and link on index.php (Craven de Kere)

This is a page rank drain issue. The link is restored but the image is removed because it makes the page too "busy" and because the images are not as attractive as the text link we will subsequently create using the last post date.

2) Make the date of the last post link to the last post like the icon did on index.php (Craven de Kere)

3) Unlink the username of the last post on index.php (Craven de Kere)As explained above the latest post link is now accessed from thelatestt post date. There are a few reasons for this. First of all a text link is almost always better than an image link. Secondly the text link will change (as the dates change). This makes the link more attractive to search engines but most importantly it provides a slight chance at more keyword traffic by branding the link with a date and time as a keyword.

For example, if a post on 9/11 was indexed that day mightgth have a slightly better chance of being found under long search engine queries that contain that date. It's a minimal improvement but ties into making the page less busy and small improvements add up when SEO is concerned.

Now you asked whether or not your forum has it. I don't know and did not keep your link (I get over 50 PMs a day on average so they get pushed out of my inbox quickly).

If you did not make the code changes you likely do not have this and you can compare what you see on yours to what you see here to see the difference.

Quote:

- When I asked you whether all changes were for guests only you said:
"No, there are some things that will be altered for all users. Most are trivial."
If the info is close to hand can you let us know what these are?

It's in the first post of the thread. Items that are changed only for guests are labelled as such.

The changes that are not labelled as such are not done only for guests. You can also log in and out here and see the differences for yourself if the explanations are unclear.

Quote:

Also just quickly can you let me know which bits of the code I won't need if I don't want features:

2

Ah, I forgot that. Here's 2:

Code:

# 

#-----[ OPEN ]------------------------------------------ 

# 



index.php 



# 

#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------ 

# 



$last_post .= '<a href="' . append_sid("viewtopic.$phpEx?"  . POST_POST_URL . '=' . $forum_data[$j]['forum_last_post_id']) . '#' . $forum_data[$j]['forum_last_post_id'] . '"><img src="' . $images['icon_latest_reply'] . '" border="0" alt="' . $lang['View_latest_post'] . '" title="' . $lang['View_latest_post'] . '" /></a>'; 



# 

#-----[ REPLACE WITH ]------------------------------------ 

# 



/* 

$last_post .= '<a href="' . append_sid("viewtopic.$phpEx?"  . POST_POST_URL . '=' . $forum_data[$j]['forum_last_post_id']) . '#' . $forum_data[$j]['forum_last_post_id'] . '"><img src="' . $images['icon_latest_reply'] . '" border="0" alt="' . $lang['View_latest_post'] . '" title="' . $lang['View_latest_post'] . '" /></a>'; 

*/ 



# 

#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------ 

# 



'<a href="' . append_sid("profile.$phpEx?mode=viewprofile&" . POST_USERS_URL . '='  . $forum_data[$j]['user_id']) . '">' . $forum_data[$j]['username'] . '</a> '; 



# 

#-----[ REPLACE WITH ]------------------------------------ 

# 



$forum_data[$j]['username']; 



# 

#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------ 

# 



$last_post = $last_post_time . '<br />'; 



# 

#-----[ REPLACE WITH ]------------------------------------ 

# 



$last_post = '<a href="' . append_sid("viewtopic.$phpEx?"  . POST_POST_URL . '=' . $forum_data[$j]['forum_last_post_id']) . '#' . $forum_data[$j]['forum_last_post_id'] . '" title="' . $lang['View_latest_post'] . '">' . $last_post_time . '</a>' . '<br />';

Quote:

8

In viewforum skip:

Code:



# 

#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------ 

# 



$last_post_author = ( $topic_rowset[$i]['id2'] == ANONYMOUS ) ? ( ($topic_rowset[$i]['post_username2'] != '' ) ? $topic_rowset[$i]['post_username2'] . ' ' : $lang['Guest'] . ' ' ) : '<a href="' . append_sid("profile.$phpEx?mode=viewprofile&" . POST_USERS_URL . '='  . $topic_rowset[$i]['id2']) . '">' . $topic_rowset[$i]['user2'] . '</a>'; 



# 

#-----[ REPLACE WITH ]------------------------------------ 

# 



$last_post_author = ( $topic_rowset[$i]['id2'] == ANONYMOUS ) ? ( ($topic_rowset[$i]['post_username2'] != '' ) ? $topic_rowset[$i]['post_username2'] . ' ' : $lang['Guest'] . ' ' ) : $topic_rowset[$i]['user2']; 



# 

#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------ 

# 



$last_post_url = '<a href="' . append_sid("viewtopic.$phpEx?"  . POST_POST_URL . '=' . $topic_rowset[$i]['topic_last_post_id']) . '#' . $topic_rowset[$i]['topic_last_post_id'] . '"><img src="' . $images['icon_latest_reply'] . '" alt="' . $lang['View_latest_post'] . '" title="' . $lang['View_latest_post'] . '" border="0" /></a>'; 



# 

#-----[ REPLACE WITH ]------------------------------------ 

# 



/*

$last_post_url = '<a href="' . append_sid("viewtopic.$phpEx?"  . POST_POST_URL . '=' . $topic_rowset[$i]['topic_last_post_id']) . '#' . $topic_rowset[$i]['topic_last_post_id'] . '"><img src="' . $images['icon_latest_reply'] . '" alt="' . $lang['View_latest_post'] . '" title="' . $lang['View_latest_post'] . '" border="0" /></a>'; 

*/ 



# 

#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------ 

# 



$last_post_time = create_date($board_config['default_dateformat'], $topic_rowset[$i]['post_time'], $board_config['board_timezone']); 



# 

#-----[ REPLACE WITH ]------------------------------------ 

# 



$last_post_time = '<a href="' . append_sid("viewtopic.$phpEx?"  . POST_POST_URL . '=' . $topic_rowset[$i]['topic_last_post_id']) . '#' . $topic_rowset[$i]['topic_last_post_id'] . '" title="' . $lang['View_latest_post'] . '">' . create_date($board_config['default_dateformat'], $topic_rowset[$i]['post_time'], $board_config['board_timezone']) . '</a>'; 



# 

#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------ 

# 



      $topic_author = ( $topic_rowset[$i]['user_id'] != ANONYMOUS ) ? '<a href="' . append_sid("profile.$phpEx?mode=viewprofile&" . POST_USERS_URL . '=' . $topic_rowset[$i]['user_id']) . '">' : ''; 

      $topic_author .= ( $topic_rowset[$i]['user_id'] != ANONYMOUS ) ? $topic_rowset[$i]['username'] : ( ( $topic_rowset[$i]['post_username'] != '' ) ? $topic_rowset[$i]['post_username'] : $lang['Guest'] ); 



      $topic_author .= ( $topic_rowset[$i]['user_id'] != ANONYMOUS ) ? '</a>' : ''; 



# 

#-----[ REPLACE WITH ]------------------------------------ 

# 



      $topic_author = ( $topic_rowset[$i]['user_id'] != ANONYMOUS ) ? '' : ''; 

      $topic_author .= ( $topic_rowset[$i]['user_id'] != ANONYMOUS ) ? $topic_rowset[$i]['username'] : ( ( $topic_rowset[$i]['post_username'] != '' ) ? $topic_rowset[$i]['post_username'] : $lang['Guest'] ); 



      $topic_author .= ( $topic_rowset[$i]['user_id'] != ANONYMOUS ) ? '' : '';

Quote:

15

As of the mod version 2.0.0 all the search.php changes are for this, so you can skip any changes to that file.

Quote:

22

As of version 2.0.0 all the index_body.tpl changes are for this so you can skip any changes to that file.

0 Replies

I installed this mod two weeks ago. Still no search listings in Google, but Yahoo and All The Web now contain pages that list topics from my phpBB. But only if I click the "more pages from this site" link (Only my index page shows up in the original search result). Is there a way to get avoid this, such that all indexed pages appear as a distinct search result?

Still eager to see some results in Google though. My patience is by no means running out, though.

Thank you once again, Craven.

Best,
Joe Belmaati
Copenhagen Denmark

0 Replies

I just want to remove my sid ???

How should i do ?

0 Replies

Joe Belmaati wrote:

I installed this mod two weeks ago. Still no search listings in Google, but Yahoo and All The Web now contain pages that list topics from my phpBB. But only if I click the "more pages from this site" link (Only my index page shows up in the original search result). Is there a way to get avoid this, such that all indexed pages appear as a distinct search result?

Still eager to see some results in Google though. My patience is by no means running out, though.

Thank you once again, Craven.

Best,
Joe Belmaati
Copenhagen Denmark

It takes time... wait a couple of months before getting worried :-)

0 Replies

UnXpected wrote:

I just want to remove my sid ???

How should i do ?

Here u go..

Code:

# 

#-----[ OPEN ]------------------------------------------ 

#  



includes/sessions.php 



# 

#-----[ FIND ]------------------------------------------ 

# 



$SID = 'sid=' . $session_id; 



# 

#-----[ REPLACE WITH ]------------------------------------------ 

# 



if ( $userdata['session_user_id'] != ANONYMOUS ){ 

   $SID = 'sid=' . $session_id; 

} else { 

   $SID = ''; 

} 



# 

#-----[ SAVE/CLOSE ALL FILES ]------------------------------------------ 

# 

# EoM

0 Replies

Is there any problem after adding this ???

0 Replies

Thank you Craven

I did not realise that a spider could/would use that much transfer, that is frightening. I suppose to put that in perspective for me, your site is very extensive. Never the less a valueable point for me to take on board.

I will come back if I may in a while re the mod_rewrite issue.

Just a quick one for now if you could please,

Regarding
I have several registered member only forums on my phpBB(hidden to the guest) will/ can the spiders see the content and still potentially rank them or will I have to make them open for them for guests in order to do so?

Thanks in advance

PS:

I read that you need to be concentrating on work that you actualy get paid for(I unfortunately know the feeling), as a suggestion seen as this mod of yours must be one of the most potentially beneficial out and then looking at the service you provide.

Do you have a contribution papypal thingy?

I feel that your service is worth a few pounds from folk on a once a year basis at least.

folks would be fortunate to get this service from a webhost they would pay for.

If you have I'll certainly put few euro in there at the end of this month

0 Replies

LocanT wrote:

I have several registered member only forums on my phpBB(hidden to the guest) will/ can the spiders see the content and still potentially rank them or will I have to make them open for them for guests in order to do so?

Hi Locan

All Forums you want indexed in the search engines must be visible to 'guests' otherwise the content won't be seen by the bots.

0 Replies

Just a suggestion - it might help if you commented around the code describing which of the 23 items the particular code is responsible for. That may help those that don't want to implement certain ones.

Oh - and are you planning to replicate this for phpBB 2.2 once it's released (please say yes Wink

)?

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What is the advantage of removing the SID? :wink:

0 Replies

Re: phpBB Search Engine Optimization - Sessions, static URLs

Craven de Kere wrote:

6) Unlink the username of the last post on viewforum.php (Craven de Kere)

This is purely for page rank drain and to direct the search engine spiders to the content. Pages with too many links are penalized by some search engialgorithmsyms. The links to the profiles are also not the focus of the site. Most users are not searching the internet for information in your users' profiles. So this helps direct the search engines to the content on the topics instead of the many other links search engines could follow.

I would like to use just this part of the MOD not so much for SOE but that is very useful but we have a lot of Blind users who use screen readers So the less links on the page the easily it is for Blind users to navigate to the topics Part 7 would be useful as well but it would be more useful if they were not a link

The down side is we are only using 2 04 and we have made quite a few MODS to make it more user friendly to screen readers and readers with poor site will that part of the MOD work with 2 04

Thanks

Barrie

0 Replies

hi craven,

I planted the phpBB static URLs mod _rewrite 1.0.0 into my .htacess and other files. Seems like there is something wrong with .htaccess and I was not able to access the website on internet at all.

Have no prior experience to .htaccess at all. This is how it looks like... hope you can help out!

Code:

# Define default pages

DirectoryIndex index.html



# Error Pages

ErrorDocument 404 http://www.travelwalk.net/



# Prevent viewing of htaccess

<Files ~ "^\.ht">

order allow,deny

deny from all

satisfy all

</Files>



# Disable directory listing from this point

Options -Indexes



# Omit all files from the directory listing

IndexIgnore *



RewriteEngine On 

RewriteRule ^forums.* index.php [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^post-([0-9]*).html&highlight=([a-zA-Z0-9]*) viewtopic.php?p=$1&highlight=$2 [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^post-([0-9]*).* viewtopic.php?p=$1 [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^view-poll([0-9]*)-([0-9]*)-([a-zA-Z]*).* viewtopic.php?t=$1&postdays=$2&postorder=$3&vote=viewresult [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^about([0-9]*).html&highlight=([a-zA-Z0-9]*) viewtopic.php?t=$1&highlight=$2 [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^about([0-9]*).html&view=newest viewtopic.php?t=$1&view=newest [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^about([0-9]*)-([0-9]*)-([a-zA-Z]*)-([0-9]*).* viewtopic.php?t=$1&postdays=$2&postorder=$3&start=$4 [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^about([0-9]*)-([0-9]*).* viewtopic.php?t=$1&start=$2 [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^about([0-9]*).* viewtopic.php?t=$1 [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^about([0-9]*).html viewtopic.php?t=$1&start=$2&postdays=$3&postorder=$4&highlight=$5 [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^mark-forum([0-9]*).html* viewforum.php?f=$1&mark=topics [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^updates-topic([0-9]*).html* viewtopic.php?t=$1&watch=topic [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^stop-updates-topic([0-9]*).html* viewtopic.php?t=$1&unwatch=topic [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^forum-([0-9]*).html viewforum.php?f=$1 [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^forum-([0-9]*).* viewforum.php?f=$1 [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^topic-([0-9]*)-([0-9]*)-([0-9]*).* viewforum.php?f=$1&topicdays=$2&start=$3 [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^ptopic([0-9]*).* viewtopic.php?t=$1&view=previous [L,NC]

RewriteRule ^ntopic([0-9]*).* viewtopic.php?t=$1&view=next [L,NC]

0 Replies

ok. Seems like my web server doesn't support mod_rewrite for security reasons..

deep ****.
:-)

What can I do to make my phpBB forum more spider friendly then ?

0 Replies

the static URLs mod_rewrite
can't work ????

Why ??

0 Replies

phpBB Search Engine Optimization - Sessions, static ( SEO )

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