Making vBulletin search more prominent

**tavenger5** · 11-11-2008 02:40 PM

Accoording to google only 100 people use search on my site a day on average. That's pretty bad, IMO.

What have some of you done to increase visibility of the vBulletin search?

**briansol** · 11-11-2008 03:43 PM

search is my 14th most visited page according to analytics, and just 100 pages shy of my pm stats.

so, i'd say its visible enough?

**meonet** · 11-11-2008 07:06 PM

Hello guys there is a method to implement the custom search of google on the default search.php page of vbulletin?

**briansol** · 11-12-2008 12:41 AM

I use it for guests only to keep loads down and maybe earn a couple bucks on the side. (Well, it's more like a couple cents :( )

step 1)
alter search_forms template. here's my compelte template.
basically, you make a new if condition for guests and include the google code, else the default template:

The highlighted code comes from google's search and requires your adsense pub ID, so log into adsense and create a new search unit. you'll get similar code. just plug in your pub id, etc

Code:

$stylevar[htmldoctype]
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">
<head>
$headinclude
<title>$vboptions[bbtitle] - <if condition="$show['searchthread']">$vbphrase[search_thread]<else />$vbphrase[search_forums]</if></title>
$tag_cloud_headinclude
</head>

<body>
$header
$navbar

<if condition="is_member_of($vbulletin->userinfo, 1,4)">
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
    <td class="tcat">Search</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="alt1" style="text-align: center;">
<div id="guestbar">Welcome, Guest!  Please <a href="register.php$session[sessionurl_q]" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[register]</a> or Login:<br />
                                <form action="login.php?do=login" method="post" onsubmit="md5hash(vb_login_password, vb_login_md5password, vb_login_md5password_utf, $show[nopasswordempty])">
                                    <script type="text/javascript" src="clientscript/vbulletin_md5.js?v=$vboptions[simpleversion]"></script>
                                    <label for="navbar_username">$vbphrase[username]</label><input type="text" name="vb_login_username" size="10" value="$vbphrase[username]" onfocus="if (this.value == '$vbphrase[username]') this.value = '';" />&nbsp;&nbsp;<label for="navbar_password">$vbphrase[password]</label><input type="password" name="vb_login_password" size="10" />
                                    <input type="hidden" name="cookieuser" value="1" /><input type="submit" class="button" value="$vbphrase[log_in]" title="$vbphrase[enter_username_to_login_or_register]" />
                                    <input type="hidden" name="s" value="$session[sessionhash]" />
                                <input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="$bbuserinfo[securitytoken]" />
                                    <input type="hidden" name="do" value="login" />        
                                    <input type="hidden" name="vb_login_md5password" />
                                    <input type="hidden" name="vb_login_md5password_utf" />
                                </form>
                                <p>Members have access to more features, better search, and see fewer ads!  It's free, what are you waiting for?</p>
                            </div>
<br />
<br />

<style type="text/css">
@import url(http://www.google.com/cse/api/branding.css);
</style>
<div class="cse-branding-bottom">
  <div class="cse-branding-form">
    <form action="http://yourdomain/forums/guestsearch.php" id="cse-search-box">
      <div>
        <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="partner-pub-xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" />
        <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="xxxxxxxxxx" />
        <input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1" />
        <input type="text" name="q" size="31" />
        <input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" />
      </div>
    </form>
  </div>
  <div class="cse-branding-logo">
    <img src="http://www.google.com/images/poweredby_transparent/poweredby_FFFFFF.gif" alt="Google" />
  </div>
  <div class="cse-branding-text">
    Custom Search
  </div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
</td>
</tr>
</table>


<else />

PUT THE REST OF THE CODE FOR THE 'GUTS' OF THE DEFAULT TEMPLATE HERE, STARTING WITH:

<if condition="$show['errors']">



AND ENDING WITH:

<if condition="$tag_cloud">
    <div style="margin-top:20px">$tag_cloud</div>
</if>



</if>

$footer

</body>
</html>

The part in blue needs to be a custom made page. This acts as the 'wrapper' for the search results.

It's a simple php script that does nothing more than call the 'skin' and a new custom search template.

guestsearch.php

Code:

<?php

// ####################### SET PHP ENVIRONMENT ###########################
error_reporting(E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE);

// #################### DEFINE IMPORTANT CONSTANTS #######################
define('NO_REGISTER_GLOBALS', 1);
define('THIS_SCRIPT', 'guestsearch');
define('CSRF_PROTECTION', true);

// ################### PRE-CACHE TEMPLATES AND DATA ######################
// get special phrase groups
$phrasegroups = array(

);

// get special data templates from the datastore
$specialtemplates = array(
    
);

// pre-cache templates used by all actions
$globaltemplates = array(
    'guestsearch',
);

// pre-cache templates used by specific actions
$actiontemplates = array(

);

// ######################### REQUIRE BACK-END ############################
require_once('./global.php');

// #######################################################################
// ######################## START MAIN SCRIPT ############################
// #######################################################################



$navbits = array();
$navbits[$parent] = 'Search YOUR DOMAIN';

$navbits = construct_navbits($navbits);



eval('$navbar = "' . fetch_template('navbar') . '";');
eval('print_output("' . fetch_template('guestsearch') . '");');

?>

Finally, add the new template:

Again, most of this code comes directly from google.... so be sure to replace it with yours as given from the adsense setup.

template name: guestsearch

Code:

$stylevar[htmldoctype]
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" dir="$stylevar[textdirection]" lang="$stylevar[languagecode]">
<head>
$headinclude
<title>$vboptions[bbtitle] - $vbphrase[search_forums]</title>
</head>

<body>
$header
$navbar


<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
    <td class="tcat">Search Results</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td class="searchres">

<br />
<div id="guestbar">
                                Welcome, Guest!  <br />
Members have access to more features, <b>better search</b>, and see fewer ads!  It's free, what are you waiting for? Please <a href="register.php$session[sessionurl_q]" rel="nofollow">$vbphrase[register]</a> or Login:<br />
                                <form action="login.php?do=login" method="post" onsubmit="md5hash(vb_login_password, vb_login_md5password, vb_login_md5password_utf, $show[nopasswordempty])">
                                    <script type="text/javascript" src="clientscript/vbulletin_md5.js?v=$vboptions[simpleversion]"></script>
                                    <label for="navbar_username">$vbphrase[username]</label><input type="text" name="vb_login_username" size="10" value="$vbphrase[username]" onfocus="if (this.value == '$vbphrase[username]') this.value = '';" />&nbsp;&nbsp;<label for="navbar_password">$vbphrase[password]</label><input type="password" name="vb_login_password" size="10" />
                                    <input type="hidden" name="cookieuser" value="1" /><input type="submit" class="button" value="$vbphrase[log_in]" title="$vbphrase[enter_username_to_login_or_register]" />
                                    <input type="hidden" name="s" value="$session[sessionhash]" />
                                <input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="$bbuserinfo[securitytoken]" />
                                    <input type="hidden" name="do" value="login" />        
                                    <input type="hidden" name="vb_login_md5password" />
                                    <input type="hidden" name="vb_login_md5password_utf" />
                                </form>                                
                            </div>
<div id="cse-search-results"></div>
<script type="text/javascript">
  var googleSearchIframeName = "cse-search-results";
  var googleSearchFormName = "cse-search-box";
  var googleSearchFrameWidth = 800;
  var googleSearchDomain = "www.google.com";
  var googleSearchPath = "/cse";
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/afsonline/show_afs_search.js"></script>


</td>
</tr>
</table>

$footer

</body>
</html>

and i made a custom class called "searchres" so i could style the block.

just add to the final custom CSS block in edit main css: (and change colors to match your skin if necessary)

Code:

.searchres { 
background: #fff;
padding: 10px;
margin: 0;
}

that's it.

**briansol** · 11-12-2008 12:42 AM

also note, you may need to alter your groups in the first step

<if condition="is_member_of($vbulletin->userinfo, 1,4)">

1 and 4 are my unregistered and awaiting email conf groups.

**meonet** · 11-12-2008 07:55 AM

Thanks Brian it work fine

**Lee G** · 11-29-2008 04:21 PM

Typical, you think of an idea and Brian already has it sorted.

Thanks for a great tip and walk through

**meonet** · 02-08-2010 06:41 PM

Someone have already converted this modification for vb4?

**Brian Cummiskey** · 02-08-2010 06:46 PM

It should be the same thing with the exception of changing <if to <vb:if

**meonet** · 02-08-2010 07:19 PM

I think that the name of this template "search_forms" has been changed.

**Mert Gökçeimam** · 02-08-2010 07:44 PM

You need to convert all variables inside the template mockup Brian supplied with vBulletin 4 variable usage.

**Brian Cummiskey** · 02-08-2010 08:16 PM

search_common is the new template name for search_forms

**meonet** · 02-08-2010 08:22 PM

Ok thanks Brian i will try to edit it.

**meonet** · 02-08-2010 08:48 PM

It doesn't work, seems that the code is different.

**Brian Cummiskey** · 02-08-2010 09:14 PM

I will add this to my ever-growing list to do. :X

Making vBulletin search more prominent

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