If you prefer mod_rewrites and want to use the, no one will bash you for that. If you try to claim that they are necessary for a forum to rank well, you'll definitely get "bashed" for that.
well so far google's dropped about 3000 pages but i believe they're from the archive (which vbseo repoints to the original thread)
Exactly. If you like it - go for it. My stance is that it is not necessary for SEO or to get Google indexing your forum. Some people like elaborate skins too... Nothing wrong with that. But I merely advise people that VBSEO is not necessary to obtain good rankings or indexing.
On a side note, Drupal at http://drupal.org has seo friendly URLs built in and word stuffed URLS with a free module. And http://vbdrupal.com combines vb and drupal.
I really prefer the look of keyword URL's. Here's one from John's forum: http://www.v7n.com/forums/coding-forum/30212-adsense-vbulletin.html Code (markup): In addition, my experience has been that Google weighs the URL heavily in it's relevancy algorithm.
I guess you could say that the earlier you implement SEO modifications onto your vBulletin forum the less drastic effect they could have on dimming your immediate search engine traffic because of content duplication issues. However, modifications such as vBSEO are pretty much introducing a more complete SEO package, which doesnt just involve creating context relevant URLs but also reducing content to code ratios, adding height and width attributes to images, rewriting custom URLs, adding Google Analytics tracking, and also the implementation of Trackbacks and Pingbacks too.
Wow this thread I learn allot thanks Joe. Well I done mod rewrite on my wordpress but, after this thread I do not think I will do it on my forum and test and see how it goes.
The point about H2-H6 tags is interesting. I wonder if H1 should be dropped altogether, or if it's best to have the H2-H6 in addition to using H1? I actually often go straight to H2 anyway.
I suspect H1 has been devalued due to overuse. Given the mentality of many webmasters and self-title SEO experts, no doubt the same will happen to H2-H6 in due course.