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Nov 10th, 2005
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The quick 'n' dirty ultra simple vBulletin SEO hack

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This is a very quick 'n' simple vBulletin SEO hack. It's easy to apply and it's the one I have been using here on DaniWeb for the past couple of months. I was going to wait until we went vB 3.5 to release it but I might as well do so now ... Disclaimer: This is for vBulletin 3.0.x. It should not be too complicated to port to 3.5 with their hooks system, but I have no experience with 3.5 and therefore don't want to say one way or another. If you use this hack, please link to DaniWeb in your footer. This is a free hack, and it can make or break the traffic to your site. I don't know of any other freely available hacks like this one. Please help us out in exchange for releasing this!

STEP 1: Create an .htaccess file in your forum directory and put the following into it: 
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^getdaily.html$ search.php?do=getdaily [L]
RewriteRule ^getdaily([0-9]+).html$ search.php?do=getdaily&f=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^unanswered.html$ search.php?do=process&replyless=1&replylimit=0&dontcache=1     [L]
RewriteRule ^unanswered([0-9]+).html$ search.php?do=process&replyless=1&replylimit=0&dontcache=1&forumchoice=$1&childforums=1 [L]
RewriteRule ^forum([0-9]+).html$        forumdisplay.php?f=$1         [L]
RewriteRule ^forum([0-9]+)-([0-9]+)-([a-z]+)-(.*)-([0-9]+)-(.*).html$ forumdisplay.php?f=$1&page=$2&sort=$3&order=$4&pp=$5&daysprune=$6 [L]
RewriteRule ^forum([0-9]+)-(.*)-([a-z]+)-([a-z]+).html$    forumdisplay.php?f=$1&daysprune=$2&order=$3&sort=$4     [L]
RewriteRule ^announcement([0-9]+).html$     announcement.php?f=$1     [L]
RewriteRule ^announcement([0-9]+)-([0-9]+).html$    announcement.php?f=$1&announcementid=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^thread([0-9]+).html$     showthread.php?t=$1     [L]
RewriteRule ^thread([0-9]+)-([0-9]+).html$    showthread.php?t=$1&page=$2     [L]
RewriteRule ^getnew.html$ search.php?do=getnew [L]
RewriteRule ^getnew([0-9]+).html$ search.php?do=getnew&f=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^printthread([0-9]+).html$    printthread.php?t=$1     [L]
RewriteRule ^sendthread([0-9]+).html$    sendmessage.php?do=sendtofriend&t=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^referthread([0-9]+)-([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?t=$1&referrerid=$2    [L]
RewriteRule ^lastpostinthread([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?goto=lastpost&t=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^newpostinthread([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^nextnewesttothread([0-9]+).html$    showthread.php?t=$1&goto=nextnewest    [L]
RewriteRule ^nextoldesttothread([0-9]+).html$    showthread.php?t=$1&goto=nextoldest    [L]
RewriteRule ^post([0-9]+).html$     showthread.php?p=$1     [L]
RewriteRule ^post([0-9]+)-([0-9]+).html$    showpost.php?p=$1&postcount=$2    [L]
RewriteRule ^post([0-9]+)-([0-9]+)-([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?p=$1&page=$2&pp=$3    [L]
RewriteRule ^thread([0-9]+)-([a-z]+).html$ showthread.php?mode=$2&t=$1    [L]
RewriteRule ^post([0-9]+)-([a-z]+).html$ showthread.php?p=$1&mode=$2    [L]

STEP 2:

In the includes/functions.php file, below
php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
  1. function print_output($vartext, $sendheader = 1)
  2. {
  3. global $pagestarttime, $query_count, $querytime, $DB_site, $bbuserinfo;
  4. global $vbphrase, $vboptions, $stylevar, $_REQUEST;

in 3.0.7 (in another version of 3.0.x, just put the code below the global declarations in the print_output function) add:

php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
  1.  // do Dani's SEO optimization
  2. global $session;
  3.  
  4. $search_array = array(
  5. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;page=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;sort=") . '([a-z]*)' . preg_quote("&amp;order="). '([a-z]*)' . preg_quote("&amp;pp=") . '([0-9]*)' . preg_quote("&amp;daysprune="). '([^"]*)"#',
  6. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;daysprune=") . '([^"]*)' . preg_quote("&amp;order=") . '([a-z]*)' . preg_quote("&amp;sort=") . '([a-z]*)' . preg_quote("&amp;pp=") . '([0-9]*)' . preg_quote("&amp;page=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  7. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;daysprune=") . '([^"^&]*)' . preg_quote("&amp;order=") . '([a-z]*)' . preg_quote("&amp;sort=") . '([a-z]*)"#',
  8. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;daysprune="). '([^"^&]*)"#',
  9. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;page=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  10. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  11. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;page=") . '([0-9]*)' . preg_quote("&amp;pp=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  12. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;page=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  13. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  14. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]goto=lastpost&amp;t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  15. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]goto=newpost&amp;t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  16. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"printthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  17. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"sendmessage.php?$session[sessionurl]do=sendtofriend&amp;t=") . '([0-9]+)"#', 
  18. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;goto=next"). '([a-z]+)"#',
  19. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]p=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  20. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]p=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;page=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;pp=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  21. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showpost.php?$session[sessionurl]p=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;postcount=") . '([0-9]+)"#', 
  22. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]mode=") . '([a-z]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  23. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]p=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;mode=") . '([a-z]+)\##', 
  24.  
  25. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"announcement.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;announcementid=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  26. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"announcement.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
  27.  
  28. // sanitizing
  29. '#<a ([^>]*)href\=\"([^"]*)&amp;page=([^"]*).html"#',
  30. '#<a ([^>]*)href\=\"([^"]*)&amp;highlight=([^"]*).html"#',
  31.  
  32. // other
  33. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getdaily&amp;f=") . '([0-9]*)"#',
  34. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getdaily") . '"#',
  35. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=process&amp;replyless=1&amp;replylimit=0&amp;dontcache=1&amp;forumchoice=&amp;childforums=1") . '"#',
  36. '#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=process&amp;replyless=1&amp;replylimit=0&amp;dontcache=1&amp;forumchoice=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&amp;childforums=1") . '"#'
  37.  
  38. );
  39. $replace_array = array(
  40. '<a \1href="forum\2-\3-\4-\5-\6-\7.html"',
  41. '<a \1href="forum\2-\7-\5-\4-\6-\3.html"',
  42. '<a \1href="forum\2-\3-\4-\5.html"',
  43. '<a \1href="forum\2-\3.html"',
  44. '<a \1href="forum\2-\3.html"',
  45. '<a \1href="forum\2.html"',
  46. '<a \1href="thread\2-\3.html"',
  47. '<a \1href="thread\2-\3.html"',
  48. '<a \1href="thread\2.html"',
  49. '<a \1href="lastpostinthread\2.html"',
  50. '<a \1href="newpostinthread\2.html"',
  51. '<a \1href="printthread\2.html"',
  52. '<a \1href="sendthread\2.html"',
  53. '<a \1href="next\3tothread\2.html"', 
  54. '<a \1href="post\2.html"', 
  55. '<a \1href="post\2-\3-\4.html"', 
  56. '<a \1href="post\2-\3.html"', 
  57. '<a \1href="thread\3-\2.html"', 
  58. '<a \1href="post\2-\3.html#', 
  59.  
  60. '<a \1href="announcement\2-\3.html"',
  61. '<a \1href="announcement\2.html"',
  62.  
  63. // sanitizing
  64. '<a \1href="\2-\3.html"',
  65. '<a \1href="\2-\3.html"',
  66.  
  67. // other
  68. '<a \1href="getdaily\2.html"',
  69. '<a \1href="getdaily.html"',
  70. '<a \1href="unanswered.html"',
  71. '<a \1href="unanswered\2.html"'
  72.  
  73. );
  74. $vartext = preg_replace($search_array, $replace_array, $vartext);
Please do not duplicate all or part of this code elsewhere. Thanks should go out to Xenon for suggesting to me that I can rewrite URLs from within this function. Thanks!! ... And, please, give credit where credit is due - if you use this hack, please link back.
Last edited by cscgal; Mar 21st, 2007 at 3:36 am. Reason: Updated to use new code tags
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Nov 12th, 2005
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Re: The quick 'n' dirty ultra simple vBulletin SEO hack

Verynice Hack and is there any chanse we can get this work like the VBSeo from vbseo.com ?
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Nov 13th, 2005
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Re: The quick 'n' dirty ultra simple vBulletin SEO hack

Update:

I just took a look at vB 3.5. Based on what I can see - and this still goes untested - add the .htaccess file as mentioned above. Then, throw all the PHP code into the global_complete hook. The only difference to make is the last line should read:

php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
  1. $output = preg_replace($search_array, $replace_array, $output);

We're doing a find/replace on the parsed $output instead of the raw $vartext because, quite simply, a hook doesn't exist earlier in the function. So hopefully it will work.


If for whatever reason that above hook doesn't work, the fail-safe way that will 100% work in vB 3.5 is to add the exact code as in the original tutorial below:
php Syntax (Toggle Plain Text)
  1. function print_output($vartext, $sendheader = true)
  2. {
  3. global $pagestarttime, $querytime, $vbulletin;
  4. global $vbphrase, $stylevar;
Last edited by cscgal; Jun 14th, 2007 at 1:00 am.
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Re: The quick 'n' dirty ultra simple vBulletin SEO hack

Quote originally posted by Club2share.com ...
Verynice Hack and is there any chanse we can get this work like the VBSeo from vbseo.com ?
Using directories can be accomplished by simply replacing the .html postfix areas of the code with the / prefix as necessary.

I haven't investigated the code close enough to know whether this function has access to the $thread['title'] variable ... I assume that it does, and if so, you can simply use it in the PHP code, but it remains untested.
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Nov 14th, 2005
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Re: The quick 'n' dirty ultra simple vBulletin SEO hack

Hello cscgal,

I've applied the hack to a new style and followed step by step (3 steps was easy ).
I found a bug though.
The multi-page links return a 404 error.

The multi-page link show up as
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/-1-20.html

rather than

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforum...ad34695-1.html
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Re: The quick 'n' dirty ultra simple vBulletin SEO hack

This hack has been tested to have no problems on both a vB 3.0.7 installation as well as a vB 3.5 installation - both by editing the functions.php file as mentioned above. It has not yet been tested using the 3.5 hooks method.

Which version are you working with?
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Re: The quick 'n' dirty ultra simple vBulletin SEO hack

Quote originally posted by cscgal ...
This hack has been tested to have no problems on both a vB 3.0.7 installation as well as a vB 3.5 installation - both by editing the functions.php file as mentioned above. It has not yet been tested using the 3.5 hooks method.

Which version are you working with?
It is for version 3.0.3.
I may have edited a few templates from the previous mod_rewrite hack so I'll get on this later this week and see where the problem lies. Thanks.
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Re: The quick 'n' dirty ultra simple vBulletin SEO hack

Yes, that seems like it's almost definitely the problem.
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Nov 16th, 2005
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Re: The quick 'n' dirty ultra simple vBulletin SEO hack

I've reverted the templates and files to the default stage. And whala~ everything is good to go.


Except two things:

Quote ...
1) New post links in the forumhome goes to the .php page rather than .html.
e.g. http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforum...hread2379.html link takes you to http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforum...4318#post14318

Quote ...
2) In the online.php? page, if the visitor (a google bot) is looking at a specific posts in a thread, e.g. http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforum...08#postid=8308
it shows up as a .php? rather than a .html

but all other threads show up properly as .html. So only when a member or a visitor is at a specific post, the link in the online.php? page shows up in such a way.
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Nov 17th, 2005
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Re: The quick 'n' dirty ultra simple vBulletin SEO hack

My hack only alters URLs in templates, not URLs that were generated in the php files themselves. If you want to fix problem #1 you illustrated, you would have to start editing PHP files. It's a trade off whether you want to be 100% SEO'ed or whether you want the hack to be self-contained. For me, I don't care about it redirecting to the non-SEO'd version as long as the spiders get a taste of newpostinthread.html and lastpostinthread.html

To answer your second question, I didn't bother SEO'ing this because spiders never see the online.php page, it should be set to members-only access.
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