phpBB Search Engine Optimization - Sessions, static ( SEO )

I have answered part of your question elsewhere, I did not provide code examples but do not have the time to at this moment. I did point you in a way that should work, however.

In regard to the template changes, the most important is the title change, the rest is not nearly as important.

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Thanks, got that part working great. Now, on the index page you have it showing the who made the latest post. On my index it doesnt show anything at all anymore, other than the time of the last post.

How would I fix that?

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By correctly applying the mod code. If done correctly, it works. If not, it doesn't. So the intructions for fixing it are contained within the mod.

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Thanks for you help thus far, could you tell me at least though would that be an edit on the index.php file or in the index.tpl file that would cause this?

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Whats the latest version of this seo mod?

I`ve tried to install SEO 2.0.0 but it doesn`t work with phpBB-2.0.17,
because the code has changed. I think!?!?!?

Currently i am using the keyword urls mod by webmedic
whitch also works very nice, until you didn`t have some subforums,
and a some others mod installed!?
Anyway could someone please give me any infos of the latest version?

Thanks,
regards,
bbds

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Hello everyone!

I'm planning on getting rid of my php-nuke cms and running phpbb independently, I already successfuly exported nuke_phpbb data into 2.0.017 phpbb and working on mod_rewrite for it. The worst part I can not find the exact mod to have the same urls which already indexed by Google and I'm thinking I'll be able to match (some of) my old rules to the new ones to keep the indexed pages the same.

Anyways, that was kinda intro.

I applied the MOD to my brand new 2.0.17 and looks like its working. I have a few questions:

1. Does it only work for the guests? Mod doesn't apply when I loged in and I see it as a problem if member will be linking to threads/posts with the original php urls and this raises duplicate content issue. What do you think?
2. Even when I'm loged out I can see php urls for the files like:
- index.php
- faq.php
- search.php
- memberlist.php
- profile.php
- etc.
Doesn't MOD cover the whole thing? If not, is there a reason?

Thank you.
Max

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There wouldn't be duplicant content because theirs no way for guests/spiders to see the php url's for threads. And yea the way yours acts is the same as mine.

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mdvaldosta wrote:

There wouldn't be duplicant content because theirs no way for guests/spiders to see the php url's for threads.

I think you're wrong. Login into your forum, copy the url to any of your threads or posts, then logout and paste the url into the address field of your browser and see if it opens up. My point was, that the members of the forum when they logged in they might link to the posts/threads using long php urls that they see (when logged in) and in this case spiders will find the original urls and crawl those pages again. Unles we disallow spiders to any php files, which I don't think was mentioned in the documentation.

Or I'm missing something?

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to make MOD working while logged in I removed conditions before the replace_for_mod_rewrite function in the page_header and page_tale files - this rewrote all the urls for guests and loged in members. Since I'm not PHP wiz, I would like to ask if this will affect my forum somehow in negative way?

Thank you.

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Concern about links to post after mod-rewrite
After adding the mods to my second site, I am wondering about something that may or may not be a problem. What happens when people link to my message forums from outside? Be it with the html link or the regular link? If they used the register link, when the search engine follows it, it will end up on a different page. Seems like you eliminate the ability of your forum posts to gain any recognition because you are still going to have duplicate enteries for any that are normally linked.

Am I wrong here? If so could someone shed the light as to why I should not worry about it?

Smile

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mdvaldosta wrote:

Thanks for you help thus far, could you tell me at least though would that be an edit on the index.php file or in the index.tpl file that would cause this?

It could really be either. In fact, it could be a litany of things you or I may not even dream of. However it's unlikely to be due to having made the mod changes correctly. ;-)

This is why the best response I can give you is to suggest that you check your error against the mod or to pay someone else to do so. If I were to guess at what it could be I would only be wasting our time.

BBDS wrote:

Whats the latest version of this seo mod?

The mod version information is always contained within the first two posts. I update this information centrally there to prevent confusion (and questions ;-).

Quote:

I`ve tried to install SEO 2.0.0 but it doesn`t work with phpBB-2.0.17,
because the code has changed. I think!?!?!?

Works just fine.

Quote:

Currently i am using the keyword urls mod by webmedic
whitch also works very nice, until you didn`t have some subforums,
and a some others mod installed!?

I do not understand your question.

Quote:

Anyway could someone please give me any infos of the latest version?

2nd post of this thread

See the link called "download latest version".

ibsteam wrote:

1. Does it only work for the guests? Mod doesn't apply when I loged in and I see it as a problem if member will be linking to threads/posts with the original php urls and this raises duplicate content issue. What do you think?

The mod_rewrite portion only works for guests.

As to whether it is a problem, it is certainly not optimal and will be addressed in the future, but doesn't pose any real problem with being indexed in search engines.

Quote:

2. Even when I'm loged out I can see php urls for the files like:
- index.php
- faq.php
- search.php
- memberlist.php
- profile.php
- etc.
Doesn't MOD cover the whole thing? If not, is there a reason?

"php" is not a problem, too many GET variables are. Most of those pages have no worthwhile content that would be hidden behind GET variables (in fact some are pages that are better to have excluded from spidering altogether) and thusly there is no legitimate reason to further rewrite those urls.

Remember that for larger sites, it's not about how deeply the code can be modded. On the larger sites I run I appreciate the overhead saved by not modifying those urls.

However, if one wishes to do so, it's easy to copy portions of the mod and extend the rewrite for those pages.

ibsteam wrote:

My point was, that the members of the forum when they logged in they might link to the posts/threads using long php urls that they see (when logged in) and in this case spiders will find the original urls and crawl those pages again. Unles we disallow spiders to any php files, which I don't think was mentioned in the documentation.

Or I'm missing something?

"Duplicate content" merely downgrades the weaker ranking page out of the pair. The strongest URI wins and there's little loss* to the site.

*The only loss really is that in rare cases conflating the ranking of both URIs would improve it and in rarer cases still would this make a SERPs difference that would mean additional traffic.

Anywho, this will be addressed in a future version of this mod officially, but anyone is free to add address the session issues if they do not wish to wait.

ibsteam wrote:

to make MOD working while logged in I removed conditions before the replace_for_mod_rewrite function in the page_header and page_tale files - this rewrote all the urls for guests and loged in members. Since I'm not PHP wiz, I would like to ask if this will affect my forum somehow in negative way?

Thank you.

Users who do not use cookies to log in will lose their session under some (pretty common) conditions and be unable to stay logged in.

aeiouy wrote:

Am I wrong here? If so could someone shed the light as to why I should not worry about it?

Please see my posts to the others. It's not optimal but certainly not going to cause problems to worry about.

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Appreciate the responses... I guess my biggest concern is by splitting the urls, that things like backlinks and such are being split between two different sites.

Google's Sitemap tool just added a new verification option. After you add a specific blank file to the same place as your site map it gives you stats on your site. Included in those stats are information about errors contained not only in your site map, but with problems it got crawling your site in general.

One thing that I noticed, is people using backlinks as unregistered guests. I guess I never thought of it before, and I don't know the ultimate cost of this, just something I am thinking about.

On a side note, the nice thing about the sitemap stats are they also show you files excluded by google search engine spiders via robots file. So it lets you know things are working in that regard.

Anyways, I haven't really come up with a good way to rectify this myself, but I am sure I will let it stew a bit and see if I get any bright ideas.

By the way, if anyone needs assistance getting this great mod to work with mkportal with the forums inside the portal, send me a pm. There are few things you have to change to make it work properly.

Anyways, thanks again for the great work on this Craven. It is one of my must install mods before launching a new site with phpbb.

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Thank you for replying to my questions Craven - I really appreciate your time.

Craven de Kere wrote:

ibsteam wrote:
1. Does it only work for the guests? Mod doesn't apply when I loged in and I see it as a problem if member will be linking to threads/posts with the original php urls and this raises duplicate content issue. What do you think?

The mod_rewrite portion only works for guests.

As to whether it is a problem, it is certainly not optimal and will be addressed in the future, but doesn't pose any real problem with being indexed in search engines.
[...]

Remember that for larger sites, it's not about how deeply the code can be modded. On the larger sites I run I appreciate the overhead saved by not modifying those urls.

This is good, now it explains why you chose to rewrite only guests part which makes sense to decrease loading time for large forums.

Quote:

"Duplicate content" merely downgrades the weaker ranking page out of the pair. The strongest URI wins and there's little loss* to the site.

*The only loss really is that in rare cases conflating the ranking of both URIs would improve it and in rarer cases still would this make a SERPs difference that would mean additional traffic.

Anywho, this will be addressed in a future version of this mod officially, but anyone is free to add address the session issues if they do not wish to wait.

Yes, I agree that one of the pages will be devalued, but this is still not the best practice since the whole forum can be crawled through just a few original links and we don't know which links will be downgraded - why take chances? Looking forward to the upgrade.

Quote:

ibsteam wrote:
to make MOD working while logged in I removed conditions before the replace_for_mod_rewrite function [...]

Users who do not use cookies to log in will lose their session under some (pretty common) conditions and be unable to stay logged in.

How can I rewrite logged in urls and still be able to keep the sessions open/available?

Thank you very much for the mod and your help!

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ibsteam wrote:

This is good, now it explains why you chose to rewrite only guests part which makes sense to decrease loading time for large forums.

Actually, it is because of issues with users retaining a session while rejecting cookies. Those users have their session ID in the url and rewriting the urls can cause them to be unable to stay logged in.

Because of the problems various sites can experience I made sure that the mod would not cause any problems by restricting the url rewrite to guests.

If you want it for all users just remove the "if logged in" and tell your users they have to allow cookies to stay logged in.

Or you could alter your phpbb sessions further to cope with the rewrite.

In order to provide bug-free code I have left this for a time in which I can thoroughly deal with sessions and test on multiple platforms.

For now, I have to leave it as is.

Quote:

How can I rewrite logged in urls and still be able to keep the sessions open/available?

I have not yet looked into all the ways to do so. Little details could mean further problems with user sessions and I have not done the legwork I would need to answer your question.

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I've applied this mod and it seems to work fine, but is there any way to rename the forum-1.html files to reflect the forum's actual name? I'd also like the same for individual posts urls (use the subject text instead of about####.html)

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I have decided to scrap the mod_rewrite mod.. I still love the rest of the changes... but after thinking about it a bit more, I just don't see the benfit compared to the potential confusion it creates. None of the big search engines have any trouble crawling regular post urls for PHPBB at this point, so the mod is not helping there. But it is creating MORE duplicate content, which potential weakens the value of all your forum posts over time.

I do appreciate the work, and perhaps in the past the mod_rewrite part made sense

I might lose something because of the wording of my redirects, but I doubt that will have much long-term impact.

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Installation assistance
Hi Craven,

I've just installed a phpbb forum on my site, and would like to implement some sort of seo mod to help it along. My site is run on Microsoft servers.
Does this mean I can't utilise the static URL feature?

I would like to keep signature files visible for guests. What change do I need to make to include this function?

Thank you for your assistance.

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993ti wrote:

I edited the category hierarchy succesfully.

PM me for the code ( i don't want to mess this thread up :wink: )
Grtz

Hi

I came across this website while search for SEO mods. Since I just joined in, I can't send you a PM. Could you kindly let me know how to modify the code so that it works with CH? Thanks

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fastfude wrote:

I've applied this mod and it seems to work fine, but is there any way to rename the forum-1.html files to reflect the forum's actual name? I'd also like the same for individual posts urls (use the subject text instead of about####.html)

Yes, there is a way but it would involve writing your own method for the static urls that would add a lot more overhead.

It's planned for a future version of the mod, but for now you would have to do this yourself.

aeiouy wrote:

None of the big search engines have any trouble crawling regular post urls for PHPBB at this point, so the mod is not helping there.

This bears highlighting. Many webmasters rush to do this just because code is out there to help them do so. Thing is, aeiouy is right. The major engines will can handle a few GET variables with ease.

The rewrite does help a bit, but is not essential to being indexed.

mox wrote:

I've just installed a phpbb forum on my site, and would like to implement some sort of seo mod to help it along. My site is run on Microsoft servers.
Does this mean I can't utilise the static URL feature?

There are some IIS plugins that claim to help you do so, however my code is only aimed at the apache server and you will use it at your own risk.

Quote:

I would like to keep signature files visible for guests. What change do I need to make to include this function?

Simply don't make the changes that remove it.

993ti wrote:

I edited the category hierarchy succesfully.

PM me for the code ( i don't want to mess this thread up :wink: )
Grtz

Feel free to post the code.

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I skipped a few steps since no one has posted something that will work with CH - anyways, after trying out all the SEOs out there, I think that it might just be my incorrect use of the .htaccess file.

currently my forum is here: /public_html/forum

Where should I put the .htaccess file, and what should I CHMOD it to? This is the version I use... so far no address gets rewritten at all, and I know mod_rewrite works because my other web scripts use it.

Code:

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]

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phpBB Search Engine Optimization - Sessions, static ( SEO )

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