If so, then just ask a mod to close the thread, simple as that. the features and opinions are answered above by everyone.
BTW if you want a better result on this, visit vBulletin. They have a WHOLE thread on this matter. It seems like vB dev. team urges you to stay away from vBSEO and that the SEO that's already included in the vB itself is GOOD enough! They also list all the features vBSEO has and how it is useless. No vB dev. has ever used vBSEO, nor do I think any of them will use it in the future.
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=162960 From a vBulletin team member: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1327309&postcount=48 There are other similar comments from other vBulletin Team members following in that thread.
Notice the bold part in urls in these results: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...ozilla:en-US:official&hs=YJ&q=ufo&btnG=Search Thanks for the link. I'm still weighing my options but am now inclining towards zoints. Can anyone please list all the other mods other than zoints that are required to achieve all the key features that vbseo provides?
Notice that the term is bolded in the page title and/or on page content, too. Which do you think takes precedence? And notice that some of those entries are bolded ONLY in the title, as with this one: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtKuBKIaVvs You don't NEED all the features from vBSEO. Most of the important ones you can get from Zoints SEO. Add to that (more important for a new forum): 1. Set up a Google sitemaps account and then use one of the several free sitemaps add-ons from vbullletin.org, like Sitemap Generator. 2. To help with initial spidering on a new forum, install Forum Archive List Forum Footer. It's ugly but you can disable or uninstall it when your forum gets going. Then ensure that you do the following: Look at your home page, if you have one that's different from the forum index. Bear in mind that all spiders can "see" and index is text. What is there on your home page to index? Fix this, making sure that your mostimportant search terms are included on the page and in the page title. Then go to your forum index page. Look at your category and forum titles. Look at your category and forum descriptions. How much do you see written there for search engine spiders to index that will constitute search terms people will actually use to find your forum? Fix those descriptions and then use the vBulletin option for displaying forum descriptions at the top of the forum listing pages. Give search engines something to work with instead of worrying about fancified URLs - all modern search engines spider native vBulletin URLs just fine. Some additional add-ons I don't use but you might prefer to add: Relevant Thread Text Zoints Thread Tags
They do spider and index it, but ranking well is a whole other story & not having descriptive urls is a serious disadvantage.
Pick any search term of your choice and Google it. Show me convincing evidence anywhere that having normal URLs is a serious disadvantage for vBulletin forums.
Not just vbulletin forums, it's well accepted that keywords in urls are better than not having keywords in urls. I don't have a vbulletin-specific example in mind but the results page I linked to in my earlier post is good enough a demonstration considering that search engines don't differentiate between vbulletin sites & other/static sites.
But we are specifically talking about vBulletin, where mod_rewrite is NOT required or even advantageous. There is other software - certain directory scripts, even othjer forum software - where I would recommend mod_rewrite. Not vBulletin. That's why I specifically requested a vBulletin search. As for your posted example, I've already pointed out why I believe that does NOT support your claim. Bolding means that Google found part of the search term there. It does not by itself demonstrate that Google ranked the page using the URL. Just a few examples from that query: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtKuBKIaVvs www.mufon.com www.artgomperz.com/framemst.html www.nuforc.org/ www.imdb.com/title/tt0063962/
if you have good budget go for vbseo, zoints can be used initially when you do not have enough funds vbseo might be better comparitively as it provides text url which is more helpful for seo.
Sorry are the 2 artgomperz.com/framemst.html & imdb.com/title/tt0063962 even on the first page? Youtube is the exception, it should be noted that youtube has a mammoth number of backlinks. Also, for mufon.com and nuforc.org, comparing them with other urls that rank worse than them reveal that they (mufon.com & nufoc.org) have lesser backlinks! I disagree, any domain name with the keywords (unless HIGHLY competitive) in the domain itself in perfect sequential order ranks #1 with very little linkbuilding.
the question was about vBulletin seo,, with your theory, if you look for fast sports cars.. you would google "fast ford sports cars" and not just "fast sports cars" you don't even make sense..lmao actually, that has nothing to do with my statement,, again.. you "think" you know what your talking about. the 10-20$ I would make from a vbseo affiliate sale is Very low priority compared to the livelihood of my sites.. and neither have great support.. if support and long term stability isn't something your concerned with, then by all means.. Try them out. the price has always been the same for vbseo... The team has offered contest and other promotional goodies, but the base price has never changed. -Bs
I suppose there's a middle ground as I have several band websites that rank very well due to what is IMO the advantage of having the keyword in the domain itself.