Does vbSeo Helps in Seoing ??

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by paidhosting, Feb 20, 2007.

  1. jward

    jward Active Member

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    #21
    A vBSEO license is valid for a single forum only.

    There's a reason why our customers love vBSEO. But, it's not our affiliate program. Just about any site on the Web has one of those available. What makes them so happy to talk about their experience is Results.

    FYI Like many webmaster forums, affiliate links are not permitted on our forum at www.vbseo.com. You can be sure the feedback you are receiving is out of pure enthusiasm. If you read the article posted in my signature, I'm sure you can understand why.

    Devil's Advocate: Posting is not necessary. If you wait long enough, someone might come along and be the first to start!

    But it's a huge factor, isn't it? :)

    Likewise, so is SEO. And vBSEO just so happens to be the de facto standard in SEO for vBulletin.

    When a solution presents itself - why turn it away?


    vBulletin default URLs are what you might call "SESABON": Search Engine Semi-Acceptable, But Optimized NOT. :)

    vBulletin was designed as a "forum" solution, NOT an SEO solution.


    As a result, they've built the best forum software available today. However, the URL structure is not optimal for search engine crawling. It's filled with session IDs, URL query string parameters, duplicate URLs to the same content, etc. minstrel has linked to articles discussing this in other fourms during his "do-it-yourself" compaign.

    If you want to remove all of these non-optimal factors, and achieve link consistency & consensus... along with hundred of other advanced features and options, then the solution exists in vBSEO.

    Choose SEO, not SESABON. ;)

    Although, others in this thread may suggest otherwise (and do), SESABON is not a badge of honor.

    It's a sign of non-optimal SEO, and a missed opportunity in the form of lost traffic.

    And - besides - what do Canadians know? Just kidding. I'm from Canada too. :)
     
    jward, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  2. paidhosting

    paidhosting Peon

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    #22
    I was thinking of that(cause its free:D ) but i do not want to mod my forums too much as upgrading becomes pain in the ass. Plus zoints is not even supported. So thats another turn off . Do you use zoints or just default vb system?
     
    paidhosting, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  3. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #23
    Yes, forum SEO is important, as I said in my previous post above. But vBSEO isn't. I also mentioned the three most important factors - none of which require vBSEO or any other SEO package.

    Nonsense. I don't know what version of vBulletin you think you're describing (maybe 2.x?) but maybe it's time for you to take a look at how vBulletin OUT OF THE BOX filters out those URL issues for SE spiders.

    The solution also exists without vBSEO. You don't need to alter URLs at all. Anything else that vBSEO offers is available for free, as I also noted above.

    I suppose that would explain why almost NONE of the TOP forums - even if you narrow it down to the top vBULLETIN forums - do NOT use vBSEO? Like the one you're posting on now?

    The other point that bothers me about vBSEO infomercial posting - besides the false implication that you can't be a top 10 forum in your category without it - is the implication that it will rocket a new forum to the top 10 if it's installed. Both points are utterly untrue.

    Thanks. :mad: We had enough trouble living down Celine Dion and Jean Chretien... now this. :rolleyes:
     
    minstrel, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  4. paidhosting

    paidhosting Peon

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    #24
    There you go, thats what i was looking for, so vbseo will not put my forums on top 10 spots :D , so i suppose its not useful for me , will see what zoints does maybe.
     
    paidhosting, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  5. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #25
    Upgrading really isn't a pain with Zoints, in most cases.

    I do have Zoints SEO installed. I don't use it to alter URLs. I use only a couple of features:

    1. Standardizing the URL for the main index page to "funnel" PR to the domain (i.e., the URL without the "/index.php" part on the end. This is important for one thing only: Advertising. Advertisers like to see the highest public PR (in itself not a very useful factor) on the home page and this helps me keep them happy.

    2. Optimizing description tags for threads. I use the "First X words in a thread" option for this.

    3. Customizing the "Guest" message for unregistered visitors, similar to the "Welcome Guests" add-on.
     
    minstrel, Feb 25, 2007 IP
    JohnScott likes this.
  6. JohnScott

    JohnScott Notable Member

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    #26
    Minstrel, you know I like you, but why are you so hard on vbSEO?

    I tried it out first on some small forum. It was great. The default features are awesome - you can tell what parts get followed, what gets nofollowed, it increased the number of pages indexed, and you can choose tons of other stuff, like trackbacks, that I don't even use.

    I tried it on a small forum - worked great. Installed it on v7n - saw a huge increase in search engine referrals, and installed it on a client forum and he was equally impressed with the traffic. Two of those forums it was installed on are "big boards" - over a half million posts. And with bigger forums I do believe that it helps a great deal.

    Think about it as a business decision. Is a click worth $.05? If so, 3,000 added visitors and its paid for itself. In my case, it pays for itself once a day at least.

    Are the other options? Yes, and if $149 is a big deal then use the free options. But I prefer to pay somebody so I can hold them accountable if something goes wrong.
     
    JohnScott, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  7. jward

    jward Active Member

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    #27
    vBSEO optimizes your forum on a thread by thread basis, focused on delivering traffic from thousands of long tail search queries, based on the most optimal user generated terms in each independent thread.

    Overall, you should expect an elevation in your top terms. However, as we say: SEO is a moving target. To promise a top 10 position for any specific keyword phrase, you need to be able to displace millions of other pages. SEO experts who promise this are either: (a) failing to deliver, or (b) optimizing for less competitive keyword traffic.

    At vBSEO, we never make unrealistic promises. While some of our clients do achieve top 10 positioning for their competitive terms, we focus on the long tail search query mass. With thousands of user generated content pages, it would be foolish to under-estimate the impact this can have on your Web traffic. For more on this topic, I recommend the following reading:

    http://www.amazon.com/Long-Tail-Fut..._bbs_sr_1/102-6830684-0574536?ie=UTF8&s=books

    For now, I urge everyone who takes their forum's success seriously, to consider your SEO options wisely. Thousands of our customers are advancing their search engine positioning every day.

    Minstrel - normally I would be surprised that someone with presumed knowledge of the scientific method would use a few counter-examples to disapprove a fact. But not from a psychologist. ;) Kidding.
     
    jward, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  8. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #28
    I've stated some of the reasons in this thread.

    1. I detest their viral marketing informercial approach, which borders on spamming. It's getting so you can barely turn around in an SEO thread on any forum without one of them popping up to hype vBSEO again.

    2. It's highly overpriced for what it does, especially since most of it's features are unnnecessary.

    3. They make claims that I think are misleading, especially yo new forum members.

    But what is "it"? I've never once claimed that sensible SEO won't work wonders for a forum - any forum, but some are worse than others out of the box. But if "it" means vBSEO, that's patently nonsense. Again, I ask you to look at the top vBulletin forums and tell me how many of them use vBSEO. Even with your v7n forum, you did not need vBSEO to get there. I perdsonally would not have used some of the features you used and the ones that really helped you could have done without any SEO package.

    That statement assumes you could not have achieved those results without spending the $160 for vBSEO. And that's clearly untrue.

    It's not a matter of $160 being a big deal - although for many small or new forum owners it IS a big deal. It's more a matter of it being an unnecessary expense. Show me what you've used vBSEO to do and I'll show you either a free solution that will do the same thing or that it's unnecessary to achieve your goals.
     
    minstrel, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  9. paidhosting

    paidhosting Peon

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    #29

    I take my forums seriously :D , but aint a wacko to try a 150$ piece of toy just to see if it will help me or not, and i do not like asking for refunds :eek: . Will ask for refund if i find support with script is awful or stuff like that though.., so unless I can try it out (do not tell me try the smaller demo first, what use is trying a cut down version of a script when you will be paying for full version ?? ), i will stick with default vb features, forums are not easy to run and make them popular and i think seo should be last on my "how to make my forums popular " list...

    Plus anyways i have seen only it helping big boards , but what about smaller new boards?
     
    paidhosting, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  10. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #30
    So does the FREE add-on Zoints SEO. Next?

    As are thousands of forum owners who are NOT vBSEO customers. :rolleyes:

    Hilarious. I have forgotten more about the scientific method than you will learn in your entire lifetime.
     
    minstrel, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  11. dprundle

    dprundle Peon

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    #31
    You guys are really busting on vbSEO - especially those who don't use it. I have it on both of my forums and I noticed a big difference in the amount of search engine indexing. But for $149 don't take my word for it. In my opinion $149 is cheap for what it does and how easy it does it.

    I understand you guys not trusting jward.. he's a salesmen.. but go look @ my sites, I don't have an affiliate link anywhere, I just like the product.

    #1) Is it something magical that will get you top 10 board status?
    Hell no, are you on drugs?

    #2) Does it have a TON of nice features and do a great job of creating SEO urls, blacklisting domains, adding social bookmarking and more nice features with each FREE update?

    Hell yes, its awesome. I use vbSEO + buying backlinks + article submissions.

    #3) Will any of my forums ever be a top board?
    Nope, and really I don't care. My boards are clean, professional and I've done everything possible to get the word out about them. $149 is nothing compared to what I've spent on my websites.
     
    dprundle, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  12. paidhosting

    paidhosting Peon

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    #32
    Oh by the way my forums already rank in top 20 for term "resource zone" in google, #2 on MSN, #24 on yahoo :D . On msn rank is from 4,320,610 results, "resource zone
    Page 1 of 4,320,610 results
    " I know i know msn is not really good..

    So will vbseo help change that is what i should be asking :D
     
    paidhosting, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  13. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #33
    paidhosting, I hereby publicly volunteer to help you optimize your forum to maximize traffic and SE rankings without vBSEO or any other paid solution - and by "volunteer" I mean at no charge, just to prove the point.

    If you are interested, PM me and I'll tell you either the specifics of how to do it yourself or, if you're willing to grant me admin access to your forum, I'll do it for you.
     
    minstrel, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  14. paidhosting

    paidhosting Peon

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    #34
    I will grant you access to admin, but first i need to somehow disable admin features to look at ip, cause i have strict policy to protect dmoz editors identity if they ask me to .. So, do you know way of blocking admin to look at ips? Please pm me on my forums.

    Thanks minstrel lets see what happens when a clear great mind works on a forum with a mission...
     
    paidhosting, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  15. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #35
    #4) Could you have accomplished everything you accomplished without spending $149?
    Yep. And you would have had $149 to spend on advertising or something else. :)
     
    minstrel, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  16. minstrel

    minstrel Illustrious Member

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    #36
    What you could do is create a new usergroup - "Tech Support" or something - which grants the access I need without the ones that worry you. I'll check the permissions options for vBulletin and let you know how to do that.

    Continued on your forum and via email.

    Addendum: Actually, for the benfit of anyone else who might want to do this, it's even easier than that. I just double-checked and you can edit the permissions for any of your Admins individually - so it's just a matter of disabling the features you don't want someone to have.

    Addendum 2: Actually that's wrong for IP addresses. The correct procedure is...

    You can individually edit the permissions for any Admin as follows:

    Admin CP | Forums and Moderators | Show All Moderators

    This will show you a list of Admins and Moderators- edit permissions as required.

    To disable viewing of IPs:

    Edit the settings for me and set "Can View IP Addresses" to "No".
     
    minstrel, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  17. paidhosting

    paidhosting Peon

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    #37
    Yup all done, you are set :D . Will be granting cpanel access also. Ttyon forums. In case you decide to backup files and stuff, require jailshell also?
     
    paidhosting, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  18. pc_user

    pc_user Notable Member

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    #38
    I can tell you, I help manage about 30+ online forums, with at least 1 new one every week. About 15 of them are running vbulletin and 2 of those run vbseo.

    The only time I recommend vbseo is if it's a large forum or if the project plans to be large. You can usually tell this based on budget, otherwise I recommend zoint or nothing at all.

    vbseo does have some advantages, do I think it's overpriced? well, besides the overly arrogant, almost borderline narcissistic staff members who believe strongly in self promotion, sure, but there are times it has value. I think they would do much better @ $99 or $49, heck, probably 5 times better than they are doing now but ultimately they are good at what they do.

    Can you live with zoint? Yup, what's the difference, there is some difference but not by much.

    Think of it like technology and hosting, it's not exactly linear. For example, you'd pay $X for 99.99% uptime, but you'd probably pay 2X for true 99.999% uptime and probably 5X to 10X for true 99.99999% uptime. Like I tell my technology clients, if you are willing to put up that extra cost and can afford it, then all for it, otherwise, stick with free or low cost options which vbseo is not.
     
    pc_user, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  19. dprundle

    dprundle Peon

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    #39
    :rolleyes: Sounds like you have a case of Sour Grapes...


    Instead I did it in a 5 minute install of vbSEO instead of an hours worth of time. An hour of my time is worth well over $149. Thank you vbSEO! I'll be using your product on all of my forums.
     
    dprundle, Feb 25, 2007 IP
  20. paidhosting

    paidhosting Peon

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    #40
    That is something new to me..:eek:
     
    paidhosting, Feb 25, 2007 IP