URL rewrite in vb5

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  • I, Brian
    Senior Member
    • Feb 2003
    • 400
    • 3.6.x

    URL rewrite in vb5

    I had a look at the admin panel, but the URL rewrite settings seem extremely basic - basically, on, off, and something inbetween.

    I don't expect something as complicated as vbseo - but what there is at present is too simple. Wordpress is free software and that offers more options than paid-for vb5 licence.

    I need to warn Jelsoft now - most of us vbseo customers who would like to migrate to vb5 will not do so unless we can conserve our URLs.

    That means if we want to add .html to the end of URLs, you'll need to provide it. If we want the option to have forum names in URLs or not, you will need to provide it.

    vbseo is a huge community, but most of us moved to it because we wanted a more focused search engine friendly solution, and vbseo offered it. Most of us are sensitive to issues to things like completely changing URL structure, because changing that will impact the integrity of the site. If you don't understand that, you are looking to deliver a weak product.

    I'm not sure Jelsoft get this, and if they don't, you will miss out on a lot of vb5 sales because of it.

    Just to underline this, because I'm not sure it has been understood.

  • Mark.B
    vBulletin Support
    • Feb 2004
    • 24286
    • 6.0.X

    #2
    Thanks for your feedback.

    The honest answer is...this won't change for 5.0.0, though you are welcome to add an improvement request in the Tracker so it can be considered for future versions.

    vB5 Improvement request


    I think your best hope is probably that vBSEO release a vB5 version. This is always the risk with using any third party product, particularly one that changes something so fundamental as the URL structure. If the third party stops updating their product, it can leave you in a bit of a dead end.

    The product will always aim to cater for the vast majority of customer scenarios in the first instance - the fact is that the vast majority of customers don't use vBSEO.

    I don't know if vBSEO plan a vB5 version or not, I have heard conflicting rumours on the grapevine so I am not sure. Certainly, I would not expect they would do so before vB5 comes out of beta.

    PS - It's not Jelsoft these days, it's vBulletin Solutions.
    MARK.B
    vBulletin Support
    ------------
    My Unofficial vBulletin 6.0.0 Demo: https://www.talknewsuk.com
    My Unofficial vBulletin Cloud Demo: https://www.adminammo.com

    Comment

    • Wayne Luke
      vBulletin Technical Support Lead
      • Aug 2000
      • 73981

      #3
      Actually the answer in vBulletin 5 is that those options are no longer valid. mod_rewrite is required and the format can be seen at http://www.vbulletin.com/vb5demo/
      Translations provided by Google.

      Wayne Luke
      The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
      vBulletin 5 API

      Comment

      • I, Brian
        Senior Member
        • Feb 2003
        • 400
        • 3.6.x

        #4
        Originally posted by Mark.B
        The product will always aim to cater for the vast majority of customer scenarios in the first instance - the fact is that the vast majority of customers don't use vBSEO.
        I can certainly appreciate that users who put any reliance on third party plugins put themselves at their mercy.

        But it's not about vbseo, it's about forum owners wanting better search engine friendliness. vbseo was the paid option of many to do this.

        It would be a genuine shame if you didn't at least expand the URL rewrite a little - I think you'll find that most users would be happier with this.

        Even more to the point, multiple licence holders and big board admins like myself are not going to buy into vb5 if it forces a change of URL structure we have no control over.

        I guess it's a cost analysis issue for you to consider: how much time and effort to put in place at least basic URL rewrite options, like Wordpress offers; vs the loss of new business through customers unable to buy into vb5. I certainly can't upgrade any of my licences with the current URL format in vb5.

        Comment

        • Zachery
          Former vBulletin Support
          • Jul 2002
          • 59097

          #5
          If you'd like us to expand the url rewrites, then please log an improvement request It is as simple as that.

          Comment

          • Inkognito23
            New Member
            • Jan 2008
            • 9
            • 3.8.x

            #6
            the improvement request is very easy done by vbulletin solutions product developers himselfs!

            buy a licence from vbseo and give a look of their options for SEO enhancement!

            put all this vbseo features in the core of vb5 and you can charge for sure +40% more money for a vb5 licence!
            or make it as an official addon for a special price like vbseo costs...

            i see, a lot of frustated and feared vb customers everywhere incl. really bigboard admins... me included...

            Comment

            • Zachery
              Former vBulletin Support
              • Jul 2002
              • 59097

              #7
              If you want to see those things, please make sure YOU put them into an improvement request. I've never personally used vBSEO, nor do I personally see a need for that software.

              Since I don't have first hand knowledge of the improvement request you, or others want, I do not put them into the tracker. As when time comes for additional feedback or requirement requests I won't know how to answer. And then people get upset that the feature they requested didn't get implemented how they wanted it, or at all for that matter.

              So please, take the time to log an improvement request and provide as much detail as possible.

              Comment

              • Wayne Luke
                vBulletin Technical Support Lead
                • Aug 2000
                • 73981

                #8
                Originally posted by Inkognito23
                the improvement request is very easy done by vbulletin solutions product developers himselfs!

                buy a licence from vbseo and give a look of their options for SEO enhancement!

                put all this vbseo features in the core of vb5 and you can charge for sure +40% more money for a vb5 licence!
                or make it as an official addon for a special price like vbseo costs...

                i see, a lot of frustated and feared vb customers everywhere incl. really bigboard admins... me included...
                Pretty sure this is against the law. Copyright and all that...
                Translations provided by Google.

                Wayne Luke
                The Rabid Badger - a vBulletin Cloud demonstration site.
                vBulletin 5 API

                Comment

                • hornstar6969
                  Senior Member
                  • Aug 2005
                  • 1818
                  • 3.8.x

                  #9
                  I think the best route would be for IB just to buy the company vbseo so they own it, and then they can.
                  Selling my BigBoard GamerzNeeds.net/forums Threads: 193 502, Posts: 1 540 045, Members: 718 566 It is listed here http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showt...3#post18297060

                  Comment

                  • Inkognito23
                    New Member
                    • Jan 2008
                    • 9
                    • 3.8.x

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Wayne Luke
                    Pretty sure this is against the law. Copyright and all that...
                    its not agains any law! you should look at the options of vbseo, to understand what this software can do and what vbulletin5 cant do at the moment!
                    i didnt say, u should copy&cat vbseo sourcecode!

                    if u look how big is the community of vbseo, u will understand that they have a very huge amount of vbseo licence owners. why is that? because it gives you very big push on seo if its properly configged... i am the vbseo user from the first hour and i wish since years that vbulletin understand the needs of customers in SEO to implement the vbseo options in core of vbulletin.

                    as a bigboard admin, vbseo needs an additional 400ms of TTFB (TimeToFirstByte) besides vbulletins 250ms. i think, implemented in core or additonal official addon, vbulletin can charge more money and would have vbulletin5 customers faster as you guys could breath!!!!

                    its poor, if even vbulletin team or product developer never saw vbseo in their testing environment.... try, see, and implement as core or at least as addiontal official addon!

                    @zachery
                    put my post to improvement request and ur wish is done!

                    Comment

                    • dethfire
                      Senior Member
                      • Mar 2003
                      • 475
                      • 3.8.x

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Zachery
                      If you want to see those things, please make sure YOU put them into an improvement request. I've never personally used vBSEO, nor do I personally see a need for that software.
                      I personally don't like vBSEO. it's overboard, but in general it does fix many EASY SEO problems that vB has failed to fix for the past however many years it's been in existence and if you don't understand that then respectfully you don't understand SEO. The the vast duplicate content and meta is perfect example of this. Ridiculous how it was never addressed. vB does not meet Google standards and that is important.
                      Last edited by dethfire; Thu 31 Jan '13, 4:26pm.
                      http://www.physicsforums.com

                      Comment

                      • Zachery
                        Former vBulletin Support
                        • Jul 2002
                        • 59097

                        #12
                        Weird how so many successful forums don't use it then.

                        Slightly more on topic, what is wrong with the meta tags in vBulletin 5? Did you log a bug report?

                        Comment

                        • dethfire
                          Senior Member
                          • Mar 2003
                          • 475
                          • 3.8.x

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Zachery
                          Weird how so many successful forums don't use it then.

                          Slightly more on topic, what is wrong with the meta tags in vBulletin 5? Did you log a bug report?
                          Like I said, I don't use it either, it's way overboard and they reach for features, but you won't admit, but you know there were some serious problems with 3 and 4 that never got addressed. You don't know the level even successful forums have been penalized for it. It hinders their full potential. Google WMT proves this. I hope vB5 takes it seriously.


                          If you go to a thread like
                          www.vbulletin.com/vb5demo/forum/main-demo-forum/off-topic-discussion/9249-thomas-sabo-bracelets-can-absolutely-amuse-altered-people’s-appropriate-need

                          view source
                          <meta name="description" content="" />
                          <meta name="keywords" content="" />
                          http://www.physicsforums.com

                          Comment

                          • Zachery
                            Former vBulletin Support
                            • Jul 2002
                            • 59097

                            #14
                            Thanks, I'll check to see if its not reported, and report it.

                            Comment

                            • I, Brian
                              Senior Member
                              • Feb 2003
                              • 400
                              • 3.6.x

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Zachery
                              If you'd like us to expand the url rewrites, then please log an improvement request It is as simple as that.
                              No worries, now done.

                              Originally posted by Zachery
                              I've never personally used vBSEO, nor do I personally see a need for that software.
                              vbulletin 3 was the first forum software package to explicitly allow Google to index it out of the box.

                              Unbelievably, many other coders never understood why forum owners might want to have Google pick up their forums and display them prominently.

                              And yet, unless you have a presence on Google, you will not earn an advertising income from your forum, nor will your community grow without some alternative word of mouth marketing.

                              Being search friendly is very important, and vbseo was but one mod_rewrite option that offered to help with that. It's become a security liability now, though.

                              Ironically, SEO is just an extension of general usability principles, but even vb3 could make simply mistakes such as offer at least 10 different URLs for the same page:


                              - showthread (normal)
                              - archive
                              - printthread
                              - &mode=threaded
                              - &mode=linear
                              - mode=hybrid&t=
                              - &mode=threaded
                              - &goto=nextoldest
                              - &goto=nextnewest
                              - goto=newpost&t=
                              - goto=lastpost&t=
                              That's just one reason why so many people used a mod_rewrite solution - vbseo was just one of many - and why many people will not move to vb5 unless they have more comtrol over the mod_rewrite process.

                              They don't need the full vbseo control panel, but just a couple of simple options, more of less what free software such as Wordpress already offers, would keep make everyone with a mod_rewrite solution already in play much better minded to move to vb5.

                              Comment

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