VBSEO VS VBULLETIN

tdd1984 · 01-15-2007, 07:26 AM

Hey the reason I decided to post this topic is beaucase I'm curious aobut using vbulletin, and vbseo, I mean are they the same thing, or what? i want to make sure my traffic stays with me now.

Bernard · 01-15-2007, 07:37 AM

vbulletin = forum software (the one this forum, v7n, is using)

vbseo = seo modification package for vbulletin (main benefit IMO is the mod rewrite for thread URLs - like the URL you see in the address bar for this thread)

Getting your traffic to stay will be more of a function of providing compelling content and an active community in the forum than the actual software or the SEO tweaks you add to it.

cessai · 01-15-2007, 07:45 AM

^ thanks for the info. i also don't know the difference between the two.

gastongr · 01-17-2007, 05:42 AM

Quote:

^ thanks for the info. i also don't know the difference between the two.

Default vBulletin URLs look like this:

Forum Category Pages
/forumdisplay.php?f=1

Thread Pages
/showthread.php?t=1

Member Profile Pages
/member.php?u=1

vBSEO uses the apache's mod_rewrite module to 'convert' the URLs to something like this:

Forum Category Pages
/forum-name/

Thread Pages
/forum-name/thread-title.html

Member Profile Pages
members/username.html

Having 'relevant', unique URLs with keywords inside them helps SEO.

lizza · 01-17-2007, 05:56 AM

I haven't looked deep into these things..

Nice find.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gastongr

Default vBulletin URLs look like this:

Forum Category Pages
/forumdisplay.php?f=1

Thread Pages
/showthread.php?t=1

Member Profile Pages
/member.php?u=1

vBSEO uses the apache's mod_rewrite module to 'convert' the URLs to something like this:

Forum Category Pages
/forum-name/

Thread Pages
/forum-name/thread-title.html

Member Profile Pages
members/username.html

Having 'relevant', unique URLs with keywords inside them helps SEO.

casperl · 01-17-2007, 05:01 PM

As far as i read, VBSEO is a quality product and it is easy to install. The only complaints is about the close form of its source codes. As far as i understand, the fear of some people is that if the product is not supported any more, the forum owner will not be able to upgrade his/her forum (a security problem). Or it will be very difficult?

ninjashoes · 01-17-2007, 05:35 PM

You can find free hacks that do everything vbseo does on vbulletin.org. Alot of people rush out and buy it thinking its gonna double their traffic because vbseos marketing strategy is very convincing with the testimonials and all.

Forget Vbseo and buy yourself an xbox360

gastongr · 01-17-2007, 06:56 PM

Quote:

The only complaints is about the close form of its source codes. As far as i understand, the fear of some people is that if the product is not supported any more, the forum owner will not be able to upgrade his/her forum (a security problem). Or it will be very difficult?

The code is encrypted, you can't update or modify it without the producers.

I really don't like vBSEO, it's very expensive compared to what vbulletin costs.

vBulletin has years of development and a great reputation, it's the best forum software.
This vBSEO mod is one year old and costs almost like a vbulletin license and it's encrypted. Not good for me.

Quote:

You can find free hacks that do everything vbseo does on vbulletin.org.

There are many free alternatives but they are not as complete as vBSEO, and most are buggy and poorly supported.

However i wouldn't buy vBSEO, i don't like long, keyword spamed, urls.
I preffer the much simpler default urls of vbulletin

WagerX · 01-17-2007, 07:22 PM

I have been using VBSEO for about 6 months on my new forum. It changes the urls to a keyword rich format. I'm pretty sure that search engines take this into account when calculating SERPs. VBSEO also has a program that automatically generates a sitemap for you. That's been working perfectly.
I recomend it.

gastongr · 01-17-2007, 07:42 PM

Quote:

VBSEO also has a program that automatically generates a sitemap for you. That's been working perfectly.

That is a free tool they have produced, anyone can use it. With out without vBSEO

.

ninjashoes · 01-17-2007, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WagerX

I have been using VBSEO for about 6 months on my new forum. It changes the urls to a keyword rich format. I'm pretty sure that search engines take this into account when calculating SERPs. VBSEO also has a program that automatically generates a sitemap for you. That's been working perfectly.
I recomend it.

Sitemaps dont do anything for you if all pages on your forum are already linked.

ninjashoes · 01-17-2007, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gastongr

The code is encrypted, you can't update or modify it without the producers.

I really don't like vBSEO, it's very expensive compared to what vbulletin costs.

vBulletin has years of development and a great reputation, it's the best forum software.
This vBSEO mod is one year old and costs almost like a vbulletin license and it's encrypted. Not good for me.

There are many free alternatives but they are not as complete as vBSEO, and most are buggy and poorly supported.

However i wouldn't buy vBSEO, i don't like long, keyword spamed, urls.
I preffer the much simpler default urls of vbulletin

I use zoints SEO mod to fix the links to forum home and thats really the only use I can see for vBSEO.

Backlinks, H1 tags, a good keyword intensive homepage will do so much for you and its free. VBSEO promises things that are illogical so I dislike their marketing strategy. I feel its dishonest telling people their traffic will double etc

the only good thing that mod rewrite will do for you are the keywords in urls but I strongly believe that unless the keywords are in the actual domain they arent taken very much into account.

say your sites about shoes

www.shoes.com = very very relevent

www.kingkong.com/shoes = hardly relevent at all

See what I mean?

go here and search for vbseo, http://www.vbulletin-faq.com

the owner of this site is great at vbulletin SEO, he offers plenty of great tips and his forum does great in the search engines, most of what I learned about VBSEO's uselessness was from here

even the creators or VBSEO and Zoints SEO will tell you mod rewrite has become pretty useless

Ferre · 01-17-2007, 08:16 PM

Well, since it's installed on this forum the traffic went up alright, but it did not double.

ninjashoes · 01-17-2007, 08:39 PM

What really sucked for me was that I tried mod rewrite for awhile and then got rid of it. I wound up with thousands of worthless pages indexed in google that no longer pointed to my site. I still think I have some of those rewritten urls indexed. I guess thats the price for experimenting though.

gastongr · 01-17-2007, 08:50 PM

Quote:

What really sucked for me was that I tried mod rewrite for awhile and then got rid of it. I wound up with thousands of worthless pages indexed in google that no longer pointed to my site. I still think I have some of those rewritten urls indexed. I guess thats the price for experimenting though.

lol, same happened to me.
I installed vBrewrite but couldn't stand watching those ugly urls.

ash1 · 01-17-2007, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WagerX

I have been using VBSEO for about 6 months on my new forum. It changes the urls to a keyword rich format. I'm pretty sure that search engines take this into account when calculating SERPs. VBSEO also has a program that automatically generates a sitemap for you. That's been working perfectly.
I recomend it.

but is it worth the money?
im hoping vbulleting will make this standard in a new update

casperl · 01-18-2007, 08:06 AM

Quote:

but is it worth the money?
im hoping vbulleting will make this standard in a new update

I think this is the most important question!! but i dont know the answer.

casperl · 01-18-2007, 08:10 AM

Quote:

What really sucked for me was that I tried mod rewrite for awhile and then got rid of it. I wound up with thousands of worthless pages indexed in google that no longer pointed to my site. I still think I have some of those rewritten urls indexed. I guess thats the price for experimenting though.

Url rewriting can be a real trouble. Same happened to me recently for a joomla site.

Once you have made a mistake, it is very difficult to reverse back..

+1 for VBSEO: From one point, having a stable, tested and supported software should be selected. (This is what i learne from my Joomla experience.) Be careful when you select a new open source solution even if it look very successfull. (e.g. OpenSEF for Joomla) At least it can cost you 1000$ to solve its problems

-1 for VBSEO: If it is encrypted then you are totally dependent on VBSEO's company. If they close the doors then you will stay in that vbulletin and VBSEO version. May be problematic.

casperl · 01-18-2007, 08:12 AM

Quote:

the only good thing that mod rewrite will do for you are the keywords in urls but I strongly believe that unless the keywords are in the actual domain they arent taken very much into account.

You are totally right in my experience but in addition to that having page title keywords (may be secondary keywords) inside url is very very important for SERPs too!

GChoi · 01-18-2007, 12:55 PM

Thanks Gastongr. for the useful Info! I have been considering trying out something like VbSEO.