[How-To] Keywords in URLs for non-english forums

[marco1]

Hello Everyone,

That's my 3rd tutorial here in the biggest SEO company forum about how to use thread title and forum title in URLs for non-english forums with vBSEO

What you will need ?

• You will need to convert your database to UTF-8 to get the URLs working fine without any unreadable symbols
• 301 Redirect from your old thread format to the new thread format (You can request it here vBSEO SEO Plugin - URL Rewrite Settings at vBSEO.com )
• Database tools script to convert your database or if you didn't have it you can convert your database with this Mod vCharset Converter - enjoy the AJAX & UTF-8 - vBulletin.org Forum WORKS WITH vBulletin 3.8

First if you will convert your database with vCC Mod :

The Mod sometimes didn't convert the database correctly SO YOU SHOULD TAKE BACKUP OF YOUR DATABASE FIRST

Tips :
Don't make the convert on your live forum first try it in your local computer
It's very hard work and I'm recommended to make the convert with some one experience on it
The Mod is no longer support by the author so that's makes problem with the Mod if you have any problem with it so you will not found any one help you because I'm not support this plugin
I'm didn't recommended for the bigboards to convert the database or change the URLs format
You can hire me to convert your database
I have convert more than 5 forums without any problem so try again if you didn't get your database converted correctly

Remember :

URL rewriting not only adds relevant keywords to your forum URLs but also consolidates multiple (different) URLs into ONE URL for EACH unique resource. This second benefit enhances your site's internal linking structure by creating a network of consistent links that allow search engines to properly find and index your site's unique content. A consistent link structure also ensures incoming links ALWAYS "create value" by pointing to main content pages and never to secondary or duplicate entries, thus increasing relevancy for your core content with each back-link. IMPORTANT: This is a SET-IT AND FORGET-IT! feature. Once you select your URL structure here, it is STRONGLY recommended NOT changing these settings again. Doing so will directly impact URL integrity, losing valuable incoming links and search engine positioning.

You can say it's an acceptable tradeoff for SEO. You can Get more visitors after add the keywords in URLs

[marco1]

After convert your database to UTF-8 What you will need to change with vBSEO ?

Open vbseocp.php

Scroll down until
"Replace Non-English Characters in URLs?"
Choose :
"Keep non-English characters in URLs"

2nd :

Scroll down until Forum URLs :
And load vbseo.com URLs format and you can costume your URLs format as you like

Tips : Don't forget to add thread or forum ID in your URLs To avoid any problem with search engines

[marco1]

Some FAQ And Troubleshooting

Does this will make all old pages indexed in Google didn't work ?

No, All the old links indexed it will REDIRECT To the new URL with 301 redirect which is the safely and the supported way in all major search engines to redirect any URL to new URL

And As I said before you can request 301 redirect for your new URLs format in this forum vBSEO SEO Plugin - URL Rewrite Settings at vBSEO.com

OR

You can PM Me with your old URLs format


P.S : Acronym tags & stop words doesn't work with non-english words


If I converted my database does this will make any problem with my forum ?

No, If you convert it correctly it will not make any problem with your forum

And Also as I said before you can convert your database with this MOD
vCharset Converter - enjoy the AJAX & UTF-8 - vBulletin.org Forum

OR

Database converter v.2.2

OR

Search in Google with UTF-8 Database converter

[marco1]

Problems After the Converting

1- vBSEO Slugs didn't work with non-english forums

Yes, That's correct you need to add the forum name in the "encode format"

Example :

%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1

So it will be

'2' => '%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1' 

P.S : You can send PM To me with your forum name and I will encode it

More INFO : [How-to] Use vBSEO's Forum Slugs - Custom Sub-Forum URLs


2- Relevant Replacements

It will not work correctly with the non-english forums and you should also use the "encode format" to get this option works correct

3- vBulletin Search doesn't work with the non-english words

Open vBulletin Admincp > Maintenance -> Update Counters -> Rebuild Search Index

[marco1]

Forums with Multiple languages

This is the forums how is using english forums with non-english forums

If you use "THREAD_ID-THREAD_TITLE" OR "THREAD_TITLE-THREAD_ID" you will not need to use any additional rewrite rules it should automatically rewrite by vBSEO

Example :
I Have changed the thread URL but without change the THREAD_ID like this :

http://www.vbseo.com/f34/how-use-vbseos-forum-by-marco-mamdouh-33313/

The original thread URL is :

http://www.vbseo.com/f34/how-use-vbseos-forum-slugs-custom-sub-forum-urls-33313/

And I have replaced

slugs-custom-sub-forum-urls

With

by-marco-mamdouh

And try to open the URL with by-marco-mamdouh You will found it AUTOMATICALLY Redirect to the correct thread URL

[marco1]

How-To Fresh vBulletin installation with UTF-8

Welcome in my last posts in this tutorial

It's better to start your forum with UTF-8 not to convert your database, so in this post is HOW-TO install vBulletin with UTF-8

Step by step to how to do this :

1ST : Create new database (As the normal in any script installation)
2ND : Go to phpMyAdmin and do this sql query

ALTER DATABASE `db_name` CHARACTER SET utf8;

Change db_name with your vBulletin Database
3RD : Open your config.php and find :

// $config['Mysqli']['charset'] = 'utf8'; 

And un-comment it so it should be :

$config['Mysqli']['charset'] = 'utf8'; 

Save your config.php and upload it

Now start vBulletin installation and install it as the normal and it will install with UTF-8

[marco1]

*reserved for any update*

[GIORGINO]

Hi Marco I've this problem:

My DB is in the "utf8_general_ci" format and my language is italian (like me of course )
Why my ' char isn't rewritten by VbSeo?

For example, for the topic "L'amministratore" i have

http://www.example.it/f8/lamministratore-2567/

in place of

http://www.example.it/f8/l-amministratore-2567/

How can I solve this?

[zdig1]

all your tuto are not working

[Mert Gökçeimam]

all your tuto are not working

You're not showing up as a vBSEO license owner therefor the article is not designed to you.

[GIORGINO]

Hi Marco I've this problem:

My DB is in the "utf8_general_ci" format and my language is italian (like me of course )
Why my ' char isn't rewritten by VbSeo?

For example, for the topic "L'amministratore" i have

http://www.example.it/f8/lamministratore-2567/

in place of

http://www.example.it/f8/l-amministratore-2567/

How can I solve this?

* bump *

[Mert Gökçeimam]

If you want to keep that character , you need to define a character replacement like

''' => '-' 

[GIORGINO]

If you want to keep that character , you need to define a character replacement like

''' => '-' 

Thank you Mert. I've added ''' => '-' but after hit "save settings" i find // ''' => '-' string
what's wrong?

[GIORGINO]

* bump *