Vbulletin 5 and SEO it is horrible, why and how to fix it?

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  • fionix
    Senior Member
    • Jul 2007
    • 140

    Vbulletin 5 and SEO it is horrible, why and how to fix it?

    I have been using a lot of SEO tools and one of them (used by thousands) is Screaming Frog which spiders through the entire forum and pulls up the SEO settings i.e. meta description and meta title.. just these 2 basic things are not working in VBulletin 5.2.1 - When someone write a Topic it shall at least take the first line from the initial post and use it as met description but NO - Vbulletin use the same meta description over and over again this in 8 of 10 topics...!!

    Why is it so difficult for the Vbulletin developper to make sure the script is putting in the right description for SEO purpose, this can't be new to anyone! or ?

    I'm able to manual correct these big mistakes by hitting the EDIT PAGE -> SAVE PAGE but doing so on say 10,000 topics is just insane!

    Any comment or help here ?
    Cyprus Company Formation
    |Cyprus Offshore Bank Account| Offshore Company Formation| Asset Protection Offshore
  • glennrocksvb
    Former vBulletin Developer
    • Mar 2011
    • 4011
    • 5.7.X

    #2
    Meta description on topic pages works. If you view the source of this page, you will see this:

    HTML Code:
    <meta name="description" content="I have been using a lot of SEO tools and one of them (used by thousands) is Screaming Frog which spiders through the entire forum and pulls up the SEO settings i.e. meta description and meta title.. just these" />

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    • fionix
      Senior Member
      • Jul 2007
      • 140

      #3
      The problem is that I just have been through 110 topics and manually edit each of them to get Vbulletin to understand that it has to take the first line of the message.. some topics there are no problems but there are many where it only takes maybe 2 - 3 words and then others where it take nothing. When I then click on EDIT and SAVE it works fine.
      Cyprus Company Formation
      |Cyprus Offshore Bank Account| Offshore Company Formation| Asset Protection Offshore

      Comment

      • fionix
        Senior Member
        • Jul 2007
        • 140

        #4
        btw... is there any function in the Admin where you can ask Vbulletin script to re generate the meta description of each topic? Maybe this will help? I moved the forum from one domain to another on the same server, so it should not be a problem I think..
        Cyprus Company Formation
        |Cyprus Offshore Bank Account| Offshore Company Formation| Asset Protection Offshore

        Comment

        • fionix
          Senior Member
          • Jul 2007
          • 140

          #5
          I just made a new post to test if this is working, and it is not... at least not always and I can't figure out what makes the Vbulletin script to decide if it put the entire meta description up or just the first 3 words..

          Here is an example.. http://www.offshorecorptalk.com/foru...s-bank-account it is really bad for SEO !!

          Okay, I think I figured it out.

          If a user put for instant Hi, in the top of the post it get no description, if a user write 1 or 2 word and put in "-" the rest of the line is not read and if a user put's a "," in there the rest of the line is also not read!

          I get a picture of why people are looking for alternatives, if Google can't read your forum whay use is there for it! Very sad situation for new forum users.
          Last edited by fionix; Sun 27 Mar '16, 11:37am.
          Cyprus Company Formation
          |Cyprus Offshore Bank Account| Offshore Company Formation| Asset Protection Offshore

          Comment

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

            #6
            It's worth noting that "Google can't read your forum" is absolutely wrong. Google hasn't relied on meta tags and keywords for a very long time now.
            https://webmasters.googleblog.com/20...-meta-tag.html

            What you need on a new forum to get into search engines, is content. You cannot 'fool' search engines into listing an empty forum by using keywords any more.
            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

            • William Thomas Jr
              Senior Member
              • Nov 2014
              • 526
              • 5.1.x

              #7
              And since Google no longer uses meta keywords it has no way of knowing how to list your site in the SERPs. One needs to do off site seo and create back links with anchor text. The anchor text contribute to Google knowing how to list your site in the SERPs.

              Comment

              • fionix
                Senior Member
                • Jul 2007
                • 140

                #8
                You don't get it or you don't want right? Who is asking for Meta Keywords and Meta Tags? I speak about META DESCRIPTION do you want to "fool" anyone and tell them that Google also don't care about META DESCRIPTION any longer? Then you have to carefully read on your SEO knowledge again. - Content is King I know that but a Good SEO optimized webpage both onsite and offsite is mandatory! So if Vbulletin total fails to put in the META DESCRIPTION it is bad onsite and your FORUM will NOT get the search engines ranking it could get if everything was good.

                You can do a simple test on this... I have edited 400 forum Topics manual now and they all got indexed and some even a better ranking then before the edit.. so don't tell me that META DESCRIPTION has nothing to say in your SERP RANKING it has, and you loose alot if you fail.

                QUICK UPDATE:
                All new post I have to Manual EDIT as Admin and SAVE so the META DESCRIPTION will be generated, but of course only if I don't use "," "-" or Bold or Italic font or something!

                I really hope you get this fixed very soon, it is insane!

                Any other users of Vbulletin 5 please check if you can replicate this error if so you don't need to worry about why your rankings are bad any longer!

                I have 17000 Topics now that I need to manual EDIT maybe it's easier just to switch to something different.
                Last edited by fionix; Sun 27 Mar '16, 10:39pm.
                Cyprus Company Formation
                |Cyprus Offshore Bank Account| Offshore Company Formation| Asset Protection Offshore

                Comment

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

                  #9
                  If you feel there is a bug in the software, please report it in the bug tracker via the link in the navbar. The developers will then investigate it.
                  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

                  • glennrocksvb
                    Former vBulletin Developer
                    • Mar 2011
                    • 4011
                    • 5.7.X

                    #10
                    Originally posted by fionix
                    I just made a new post to test if this is working, and it is not... at least not always and I can't figure out what makes the Vbulletin script to decide if it put the entire meta description up or just the first 3 words..

                    Here is an example.. http://www.offshorecorptalk.com/foru...s-bank-account it is really bad for SEO !!
                    I looked at that thread you linked above and I can see the meta description fine.
                    HTML Code:
                    <meta name="description" content="Cyprus Bank Account Aside from starting an offshore company in Cyprus, company owners can also open their Cyprus bank account which can help them in protecting" />

                    Originally posted by fionix
                    Okay, I think I figured it out.

                    If a user put for instant Hi, in the top of the post it get no description, if a user write 1 or 2 word and put in "-" the rest of the line is not read and if a user put's a "," in there the rest of the line is also not read!
                    I tried the post below in my local 5.2 instance
                    Code:
                    [COLOR=#252C2F][FONT=Helvetica][SIZE=13px]Hi,[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]
                    
                    [COLOR=#252C2F][FONT=Helvetica][SIZE=13px]How are you?[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]
                    
                    [COLOR=#252C2F][FONT=Helvetica][SIZE=13px]Regards[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]
                    and I can see the meta description fine.
                    HTML Code:
                    <meta name="description" content="Hi,  How are you?  Regards" />
                    Can you post a link to a thread or a sample content where meta description does not work?

                    Flag Icon Postbit Insert GIPHY Impersonate User BETTER INITIALS AVATAR Better Name Card Quote Selected Text Bookmark Posts Post Footer Translate Stop Links in Posts +MORE!

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

                      #11
                      Originally posted by fionix
                      The problem is that I just have been through 110 topics and manually edit each of them to get Vbulletin to understand that it has to take the first line of the message.. some topics there are no problems but there are many where it only takes maybe 2 - 3 words and then others where it take nothing. When I then click on EDIT and SAVE it works fine.

                      The behavior you're describing is from vBulletin 3 and 4. When you upgraded we did not update this meta information. New topics in vBulletin 5 should pull from the topic and we've actually removed the global Meta Keyword and Description options.

                      Furthermore, you can edit each page and customize the Meta Description. We don't fill in the Meta Keyword field because it isn't actually used by any search engines anymore.
                      Translations provided by Google.

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

                      Comment

                      • fionix
                        Senior Member
                        • Jul 2007
                        • 140

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Wayne Luke


                        The behavior you're describing is from vBulletin 3 and 4. When you upgraded we did not update this meta information. New topics in vBulletin 5 should pull from the topic and we've actually removed the global Meta Keyword and Description options.

                        Furthermore, you can edit each page and customize the Meta Description. We don't fill in the Meta Keyword field because it isn't actually used by any search engines anymore.
                        okay... first part is clear so this is a problem and I have to go through more than 17000 pages to edit the META DESCRIPTION. Thanks for this information, andway to make this as an auto process or something?

                        Second part: You continue to speak about Meta keywords - I don't mentioned them a single time and don't care because of the reasons you already mentioned. I care a lot about the META Description actually.
                        Cyprus Company Formation
                        |Cyprus Offshore Bank Account| Offshore Company Formation| Asset Protection Offshore

                        Comment

                        • fionix
                          Senior Member
                          • Jul 2007
                          • 140

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Glenn Vergara
                          I looked at that thread you linked above and I can see the meta description fine.
                          HTML Code:
                          <meta name="description" content="Cyprus Bank Account Aside from starting an offshore company in Cyprus, company owners can also open their Cyprus bank account which can help them in protecting" />


                          I tried the post below in my local 5.2 instance
                          Code:
                          [COLOR=#252C2F][FONT=Helvetica][SIZE=13px]Hi,[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]
                          
                          [COLOR=#252C2F][FONT=Helvetica][SIZE=13px]How are you?[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]
                          
                          [COLOR=#252C2F][FONT=Helvetica][SIZE=13px]Regards[/SIZE][/FONT][/COLOR]
                          and I can see the meta description fine.
                          HTML Code:
                          <meta name="description" content="Hi, How are you? Regards" />
                          Can you post a link to a thread or a sample content where meta description does not work?
                          Yes, you can see the meta description now because I EDITED it as Admin and clicked SAVE so it pulled up.

                          Here is a link: http://www.offshorecorptalk.com/foru...fshore-company
                          Meta Description according to Screaming Frog: In the recent past, the

                          Also posted it in the tracker as suggest: http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/...s:all-tabpanel
                          Cyprus Company Formation
                          |Cyprus Offshore Bank Account| Offshore Company Formation| Asset Protection Offshore

                          Comment

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

                            #14
                            Originally posted by fionix
                            okay... first part is clear so this is a problem and I have to go through more than 17000 pages to edit the META DESCRIPTION. Thanks for this information, andway to make this as an auto process or something?
                            No, there is no automatic process to do this.
                            Translations provided by Google.

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

                            Comment

                            • In Omnibus
                              Senior Member
                              • Apr 2010
                              • 2310

                              #15
                              Your meta description should not duplicate your content. It should describe your content. Duplicating your content is exactly that: duplicate content.

                              Even the most basic HTML pages use a title and description which occur only once per page.

                              Google does not distinguish between tags, keywords, and descriptions any longer since so many sites tried to game the rankings by keyword stuffing.

                              Now their algorithm ignores those factors entirely.

                              But it does penalize for duplicate content.

                              Comment

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