Member Avatar for coolvision

I want to know that which type of forum is better in point of Search Engines Indexing, I saw some forums threads with html extention like http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/forum45.html , this daniweb forums threads are all with html extetion and I saw mostly threads have pr, as compare with DP it shows threads as http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5 , which I think not a search engine friendly.
So, friends what you say about this point, and how daniweb is using this type of forums ? I saw that both DP and Daniweb running vBulletin but Daniweb is SE Friendly and DP is not. why ? and how dani done this ? .
Actually currently I am running SMF forum but I want to run Search Engine Friendly forum which I think can drive more traffic. Plz tell me how can I run Search Engine Friendly Forum ? .
Thanks in Advance.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Candy_ME

Dani AI

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Short summary: the visible suffix (for example “.html”) is not what makes a forum SEO‑friendly — stable, descriptive permalinks plus correct crawl/index signals are. Several replies in this thread already point at the right parts: noted session IDs, observed gains after changing software and adding SEO mods, and linked to rewrite options. The lasting ranking benefits come from readable URLs, consistent canonicals, working sitemaps and clean redirects rather than the presence of a particular file extension. (developers.google.com)

Practical checklist (apply on a test site first): enable friendly/permalink rewriting only after backing up; when changing URL formats always put server-side 301 redirects in place so old links keep working; make parameterized or filtered URLs canonical to their preferred form; avoid putting session identifiers in URLs (use cookies or server sessions) to prevent index bloat; generate an XML sitemap (only list canonical, indexable pages) and submit it to Search Console. These steps are the technical levers that actually control which URLs search engines index. (developers.google.com)

Robots and crawl hygiene: allow the sitemap and thread pages in robots.txt, but consider blocking clearly junk parameter patterns or internal utility pages so crawl budget isn’t wasted. For discussion of parameter/session pitfalls and practical handling for large sites, legacy guides and ecommerce case studies remain useful background. (ecommercetuners.com)

Forum‑specific notes and quick wins: SMF (the OP’s platform) has a “search engine friendly URLs” option and third‑party pretty‑URL mods — these can help, but flipping formats on a live, indexed site without redirects or sitemap updates can cause temporary ranking disruption (test on staging, preserve old URLs, monitor Search Console). Short immediate wins: ensure thread titles are output into the page <title> and meta description, expose a clean XML sitemap, remove session IDs from links, and run an occasional crawl (Screaming Frog / similar) to surface duplicate/parameter URLs and redirect chains.

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Member Avatar for stymiee

vBulletin is search engine friendly out of the box. You don't have to have a .html file extension to be search engines friendly. Basically don't use session IDs in your URLs and you will be alright.

Member Avatar for stymiee

Nice link Dani. :)

Member Avatar for coolvision

Thanks for replies, however as I am running SMF forum and I found that there is option or SE Friendly urls on/off, so I get it on. plz check my forum and tell me if its now good SE Friendly Forum or not. ? .

Thanks

Member Avatar for Dani

Thanks for replies, however as I am running SMF forum and I found that there is option or SE Friendly urls on/off, so I get it on. plz check my forum and tell me if its now good SE Friendly Forum or not. ? .

Thanks

Check out our Site Reviews forum for that. There's no site specific talk permitted in the Site Management category.

Member Avatar for Devilsown

I noticed a huge increase in serps when i swtiched from my phpbb of 2 years to vbb.
I would strongly recomend switching.


I also bought a mod called vbseo, there are some free ones that do simlar.

Member Avatar for coolvision

May I know which one is free tool, which works similar to vbseo, and what is your openion about SMF, I like SMF as its easy to use.

Member Avatar for Devilsown

zoints has a free one that worked ok for me. I tried it for alittle. And felt the other was worth the extra money.

I never used smf, I just went with vbulitten because out of the box it is the best seo wise. It stil has along way to go. I was lucky to be able to beta test vbseo beta skin on my forum. I noticed a huge increase with this when i swap over. And this skin has quite afew things i see that could be improved on.

Member Avatar for Candy_ME

I too personaly feel, v bulletin is really good in terms of SEO's. Invision board also does a good job than Phb bb

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