SEO benefit of removign copyright?

Don't worry, this isn't a request for branding free here, I know that is already being discussed.

I am talking about vbulletin, as they have it available. I don't mind spending the money on a couple of my sites to remove the branding from the code, but wondered if there was any SEO benefit to it.

Anybody care to jump in on this theory?

If you have any link on your pages, it could pass some PageRank to a 3rd party site that would otherwise be distributed to your own pages. That is why we rel=nofollow our links & provide the link free option.

The vbulletin copyright isn't a link though, it is just copyright text. So, other than looks, do you think there is any benefit to it?

In that case, no I do not believe removing it will have any impact on your SEO.

Thanks, that is one of my concerns as I weigh the benefits of paying to have this removed.

Well, I am WAY more likely to register at a vbulletin forum than on any other forums.
If I come across a site that uses phpbb's default template, I leave the site immediately.

Also some people search for "*topic* vbulletin". So I would only remove the copyright notice if you have a coprporate site or something like that.

even if you search on that, there's still plenty of references to vbulletin in the code... folders, css files, classnames, etc etc.q

Originally Posted by briansol

even if you search on that, there's still plenty of references to vbulletin in the code... folders, css files, classnames, etc etc.q

Only if you keep the default skin and templates.

even still, there's plenty of other references to it. Here, vbseo.com, the skin is not default. And yet i was able to pull out the following examples. And there's plenty more that i simply gave up looking for

http://www.vbseo.com/clientscript/vbulletin_menu.js
http://www.vbseo.com/clientscript/vb...post_loader.js
http://www.vbseo.com/clientscript/vb...n_inlinemod.js
http://www.vbseo.com/clientscript/vb...multi_quote.js

.vBulletin_editor {
background: #E1E1E2;
padding: 6px;
}

<td id="vB_Editor_QR" class="vBulletin_editor" align="left">

etc etc...

Originally Posted by briansol

even still, there's plenty of other references to it. Here, vbseo.com, the skin is not default. And yet i was able to pull out the following examples. And there's plenty more that i simply gave up looking for

http://www.vbseo.com/clientscript/vbulletin_menu.js
http://www.vbseo.com/clientscript/vb...post_loader.js
http://www.vbseo.com/clientscript/vb...n_inlinemod.js
http://www.vbseo.com/clientscript/vb...multi_quote.js

.vBulletin_editor {
background: #E1E1E2;
padding: 6px;
}

<td id="vB_Editor_QR" class="vBulletin_editor" align="left">

etc etc...

If you copypaste the default calls for external css's and etc, you will see "vbulletin" or "vb" in the code (the code shown in the browser), as I said, if you make your own skin and templates, this references can be changed to whatever you choose. I've been a vBulletin admin for almost 5 years and know what im talking about.

Eitherway the subject of this thread isnt this. And I keep saying that when vbseo offers a reasonable release of vbseo without branding, ill buy it for my forums. For the moment I am well off without adding a copyright notice in my business. Cya

Sure, all the files can be renamed and changed..... but find me one skin that does this. Ive yet to see it.

with all the calls in all the templates to the files and all the edits that would need to be made to pull this off is a huge waste of time for skinners. I know I personally wouldn't attempt this.

Aa for the brand free version, I don't have any detials other than I know it is in the works for a future release.

vbulletin's branding free option takes the copyright out as well as several other instances of the vbulletin name. Not sure if it takes them all out or not.

As for people not wanting to go to forums that are not vbulletin, I guess that depends on the type of forum you run. Most of the people at my football or atv forums have no idea what vbulletin is.

Originally Posted by sportsoutlaw

vbulletin's branding free option takes the copyright out as well as several other instances of the vbulletin name. Not sure if it takes them all out or not.

As for people not wanting to go to forums that are not vbulletin, I guess that depends on the type of forum you run. Most of the people at my football or atv forums have no idea what vbulletin is.

The vb Brand Free allows you to remove the Copyright 2006 Jelsoft blah blah

The powered by vBulletin on the title can be removed even with the leased version.

my 2 cents

Originally Posted by COBRAws

The vBulletin Brand Free allows you to remove the Copyright 2006 Jelsoft blah blah

The powered by vBulletin on the title can be removed even with the leased version.

my 2 cents

I am aware of that.

Per vbulletin, purchasing the branded free version also removes other instances of "vbulletin" in the code.

None of my forums show "powered by vbulletin" in the title, and they dont show the default copyright code either.

My question was concerning the SEO benefit, not what I can remove.

Good question to reopen for 2011. I've wondered if the vbulletin.com url increases spam. I'm pretty sure its one way all the spammers are finding us. Plus, I would love to know if branding removal would help SEO at this time?