vBSEO 2.4.0 Released - Includes Google AdSense Targeting Feature!

Hi everyone,

Despite battling bulging Xmas beltlines and sleepiness, a bout of the Chicken Pox for 3 members of the Crawlability team, and a short vacation in Santo Domingo... as of right now vBSEO 2.4.0 has been officially released!

Thanks in no small part is due to all of our vBSEO customers, moderators, friends and our new pre-release testing team for helping to make one of our largest releases to date (and our first of 2006) a reality.

If you have come to expect a little something extra with each new vBSEO release, then you certainly will not be disappointed with version 2.4.0! This release contains over 50 new features, updates, and bug fixes.

2.4.0 includes a new Enable Adsense Section Targeting? feature that helps to improve the Google AdSense ads that are displayed - making them more highly targeted - boosting your clickthrough rate - and boosting your revenue! Find out more below.

Grab some Java and set aside a few minutes if you are interested in finding out all about what's inside the box for 2.4. AdSense targeting is just the beginning.

We've revamped our Relevant Phrases feature, streamlined our installation process, created a new mechanism for your vBSEO license key, provided you with a feature to use thread titles as anchor text for all thread links, and created the ability for you to view your vBSEO CP in your native language (complete with a helpful translation script).

As if that wasn't enough - read on for more features, updates, and fixes that have been provided in 2.4.0.

UPDATE: The vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator was awarded the HOTM (Hack of the Month) for November 2005. A special thank-you goes out to all of our users who supported us by voting!

Buy vBSEO 2.4.0

Here is a summary of updates included in vBSEO 2.4.0:

(1) NEW FEATURE: Improve Google AdSense Optimization using the new Enable Adsense Section Targeting? feature available in the vBSEO Control Panel. This feature is based on the Google AdSense Section Targeting format. By enabling it (a) forumhome, (b) forumdisplay, and (c) showthread pages will be more highly targeted for Google AdSense ads.

With this feature, the following Google section targeting tags are used to identify content on a forum page that is most relevant to the page's content, thereby helping to improve the relevancy of the AdSense ads that are displayed on the page. Higher AdSense ad relevancy should lead to higher clickthrough rates & boosted revenue.

The more relevant your Google AdSense ads are to the actual discussion the better.

Example:

If a user with the username "frog" posts a message within a thread, the ads should be relevant to his posting, not his username. That is, you do not want AdSense to start displaying advertisements related to "amphibians" or "Kermit"! Especially if the thread topic is "winning chess strategies"...

HTML Code:

<!-- google_ad_section_start -->

HTML Code:

<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

These tags are applied to post content and post titles.

Optimization by Excluding Non-Relevant Content

There are also tags specified by Google that allow you to indicate content on a page that should not be used to determine relevant AdWords to display. These tags are applied to post signatures and usernames:

HTML Code:

<!-- google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) -->

HTML Code:

<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

The above tags are automatically applied to the vBSEO copyright notice when this feature is activated.

Identifying key content helps to ensure that AdSense ads are more highly targeted.

(2) NEW FEATURE: 'Add Thread Titles' feature added to the vBSEO Admin CP allows thread URLs links within posts to have the anchor text for the link replaced with the thread title. Without this feature the anchor text is typically the URL itself unless the poster specifies alternative anchor text. This feature also applies to the URLs for showpost pages when the corresponding Add Thread Titles to Showpost Links Anchor Text? feature is enabled.

There are 4 configuration options for this feature:

A. Do NOT add thread titles - This is the default option & will maintain vBulletin's original functionality.

B. ADD thread titles as "popup text" - This places the thread title in the popup box that appears when the link is hovered with the mouse. However, anchor text is unchanged.

C. ADD thread titles as "original-text (thread title)" - This option includes the original anchor text and then adds the thread title to the anchor text within parathesis right after the original anchor text.

D. REPLACE original anchor text - The original anchor text is replaced completely with the thread title.

Links pointing to private forums are not replaced (for security and privacy purposes).

Note: This feature is available only for vBulletin forums running 3.5.x versions.

(3) UPDATED FEATURE: Relevant Phrases feature has been complete revised to make the process of boosting your forumdisplay and showthread page SEO much easier via our vBSEO relevant replacements.

When you edit your templates, you can add <!--VBSEO_RR_x--> where x is the number of your relevant replacement. There is no need to worry about adding conditionals in your templates to determine which replacements should be used for forumdisplay vs. showthread. vBSEO does this automatically now.

You can specify the alternative values for each RR tag & then vBSEO will automatically replace it in your template with the right value based on whether a forumdisplay or showthread page is being accessed.

It still requires you to do a few *simple* template edits - but this will make the powerful Relevant Phrases feature much more user friendly for less technically oriented admins.

We urge you to explore the Relevant Phrases feature to amp up your SEO even more.

The replacement patterns that can be used to format your relevant replacement phrases have also been updated and expanded. Here are the new patterns available:

[thread_title] - The thread's title.
[forum_description] - Current forum's description.
[forum_title] - Current forum's title.
[parent_forum_description] - Parent forum's description.
[parent_forum_title] - Parent forum's title.
[bb_title] - Your forum's main title.
[default_keywords] - Your keywords as defined in admincp.
[first_post_X_words] - X number of words from the first posting in the page.

(4) NEW FEATURE: The vBSEO upgrade process has now been streamlined with a new feature that allows XML settings backups and restores to be skipped. Note: Using the XML backup system to store a copy of your settings is still advised, but will not be necessary during a vBSEO upgrade.

Your current settings will be stored in a database & will be automatically retrieved and added to the vBSEO configuration options each time vBSEO is upgraded.

Note: Your current password will not be stored in the database. It must be reset with each installation for security purposes.

(5) NEW FEATURE: vBSEO CP Interface Language option added to the vBSEO Admin CP allowing you to select your interface language. A translation script is provided. From your browser, load vbseocp_translate.php from your includes/xml/ folder and you can help to create a vBSEO Control Panel language file for your native language.

(6) NEW FEATURE: Your vBSEO License Key option now in vBSEO Admin CP. It displays the version of vBSEO installed, the URL to the forum root, and your current registration key. You can also manually provide your vBSEO registration key using this feature.


(7) NEW FEATURE: Thread previews are now removed from thread links to (a) reduce page size, (b) boost the C2C ratio, and (c) improve the keyword ratio for words used in thread titles only.

(8) NEW FEATURE: Remove Thread Preview Text For Guest Visitors? option added to the vBSEO CP allows you to disable the thread preview popup for any thread links when the user is visiting as a guest.

(9) NEW FEATURE: Alt text for images in Who's Online page now rewritten since it may contain a dynamic vBulletin URL.

(10) UPDATE: Character replacements for non-English characters can be overwritten from the defaults within the vBSEO configuration file ($vbseo_custom_char_replacement).

(11) UPDATE: Smart Stopword Removal from URLs? feature now maintains as many stopwords as possible as long as the total keywords in the URL does not exceed the setting for Limit URL Length.

(12) UPDATE: Added code to track outbound links that are clicked on a forum, for use with Google Analytics. You must have the Add Google Analytics Code to your Forum Pages? setting in your vBSEO Control Panel set to "Yes".

Originally Posted by Google Analytics

For more information on tracking outbound links with Google Analytics:
http://www.google.com/support/analyt...y?answer=27246

(14) UPDATE: short_tags_open setting can now be turned off in the PHP configuration.

(15) UPDATE: Tracks visits by new SE bot for "Mediapartner". Required for compatibility with vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator Bots Activity Log.

(16) UPDATE: Compatibility with vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator. The generator was displaying errors when calling a vBSEO function.

(17) UPDATE: Add Google Analytics "Tracking External Link Clicks" Code? setting in vBSEO Admin CP is disabled by default.

(18) UPDATE: Compatibility with vBSEO Google/Yahoo Sitemap Generator updated so that "[forums-inactive]" is added when URLs are requested while the forum is offline. When archive URLs are requested, /archive/index.php is added to the sitemap download log.

(19) UPDATE: Description for Enable Google Analytics Funnel for Member Registrations? feature in vBSEO CP updated. URL for goals for member registrations replaced with "registration-complete.html" instead of "activate.html".

(20) UPDATE: Turkish replacement characters added.

(21) UPDATE: Remove dashes (-) from CRUs when dot (.) is used as a separator instead of a dash (-) separator.

(22) UPDATE: Removed vBSEO copyright notice from popup windows for MSN, Yahoo, and Skype, etc.

(23) UPDATE: 301 redirects are disabled for private forums until permissions are verified, including the showthread and announcement pages included in private forums. This is to prevent a potential privacy issue.

(24) UPDATE: More foreign characters now compatible with CRUs including Chinese. Note: This applies only when the Replace Non-English Characters in URLs? feature is disabled.

(25) UPDATE: rel='novbseo' URL rewriting exclusion attribute can now be rewritten as rel="novbseo" and still work. Both single and double quotes supported.

(26) UPDATE: Compatibility with "PM Attachments 3.5" hack.

(27) UPDATE: Define the 'META DESCRIPTION' Length? option in vBSEO CP is now based on characters instead of word length.

(28) UPDATE: Compatibility with 'Profile Comments' hack.

(29) UPDATE: $vbseo_custom_char_replacement now used for username reconstruction for usernames with non-English characters.

(30) FIX: Unregistered user error message for user profiles with usernames containing a single apostrophe character ('). Occurred when VBSEO_REWRITE_MEMBER_MORECHARS set to 0 and VBSEO_FILTER_FOREIGNCHARS set to 1.
(31) FIX: Links to member profiles for users with double quotes (") in their username not resolving properly on the member list.
(32) FIX: Invalid thread links when vBSEO 2.3.2 installed with GARS.
(33) FIX: Incomplete URL rewriting on forum vBAdvanced CMPS homepage.
(34) FIX: Double slashes (//) in URLs allowed.
(35) FIX: URL rewriting below the forum root level.
(36) FIX: URLs not rewritten in XML feed when external.php is rewritten using vBSEO CRRs.
(37) FIX: Broken User Profile links (missing user ID) on new threads search result page.
(38) FIX: vBSEO now uses case-insensitive matching for domain names when rewriting URLs contained on vBAdvanced CMPS pages.
(39) FIX: Tracking External Link Clicks for Google Analytics now works for forum links to external sites in forumhome.
(40) FIX: Corrected error with Replace Non-English Characters in URLs? option.
(41) FIX: Custom Rewrite Rules that rewrite to virtual folders bug when $ was used in the CRR regex.
(42) FIX: Error when accessing a vB announcement.
(43) FIX: Rig gallery mod URLs being mistaken for vBulleton showthread links & incorrectly rewritten.
(44) FIX: When disabling the 301 Redirect Original Content feature, redirects will still be applied.
(45) FIX: Page 2 of sub-forums getting redirected to root.
(46) FIX: Limit URL Length feature failing to clip keywords when dot (.) used as a keyword separator for the CRU.
(47) FIX: Incompatibility with multipage thread format of CRUs causing replacement errors.
(48) FIX: vBA Latest Threads Module Rewriting Error.
(49) FIX: Avatars and Member Profile URLs containing forward slashes causing error.
(50) FIX: Merge threads with non-English characters.
(51) FIX: Blank page generated when acronym expansion feature applied to all text on complex posts.

Download Location: All Licensed users may download vBSEO 2.4.0 from their User Control Panel at the http://www.vbseo.com forums. Under the "Miscellaneous" section, there will be a link to "Download vBSEO".

vBSEO Downloads: http://www.vbseo.com/downloads/

Install Instructions:
(1) Close your forums via your admincp
(2) Remove the vBSEO 2.x Plugin via your admincp
(3) Install vBSEO as a product by uploading 'product-crawlability_vbseo.xml'
(4) Backup your .XML settings file (through 'forums/vbseocp.php')
(5) Upload all the files in the '/upload' folder *in Binary mode*
(6) Restore your previous settings by uploading your backup .XML file
(7) Re-open your forums

Note: Steps 2, 3, 4 and 6 are for upgrades only and are not required when you are installing vBSEO for the first time.

Discuss this Announcement Here

Discuss the announcement 'vBSEO 2.4.0 Released - Includes Google AdSense Targeting Feature!' on this thread.

Note: Please do not post bug reports, copyright concerns, or price issues on this thread.

OMG first post

Ok now that I have secured the first post let me add to it

Now to install it

Good job guys!

(Note: The copyright in the footer still shows 2005 on mine, using the non-linked version, and I have the version number turned off. )

WooooHoooooo!

3rd post

Excellent! I'll install it now

EDIT: Worked like a charm But yeah it's showing as &#169; 2005 on mine as well heh.

I have a question. Do I have to update the htaccess commands? and how would I do that using httpd.conf

Thanks

© 2005

Aghrrrrr, 2.4.1 will be released shortly with this update... kiddin - I'll update the download shortly.

@emin: PM Sent.

What about upgrades for members that are still using the 3.0.* product?

Hi,

The announcement says:

(4) NEW FEATURE: The vBSEO upgrade process has now been streamlined with a new feature that allows XML settings backups and restores to be skipped. Note: Using the XML backup system to store a copy of your settings is still advised, but will not be necessary during a vBSEO upgrade.

Your current settings will be stored in a database & will be automatically retrieved and added to the vBSEO configuration options each time vBSEO is upgraded.

I just upgraded without downloading the settings and now all my settings are gone. My custom rewrite rules, everything.

For the registration funnel do I add it like this: google-funnel/regform-submit.html or like http://www.mustangevolution.com/goog...rm-submit.html

Originally Posted by emin

Hi,

The announcement says:

(4) NEW FEATURE: The vBSEO upgrade process has now been streamlined with a new feature that allows XML settings backups and restores to be skipped. Note: Using the XML backup system to store a copy of your settings is still advised, but will not be necessary during a vBSEO upgrade.

Your current settings will be stored in a database & will be automatically retrieved and added to the vBSEO configuration options each time vBSEO is upgraded.

I just upgraded without downloading the settings and now all my settings are gone. My custom rewrite rules, everything.

For the first upgrade, you needed to save your settings to the XML and re-upload them. From 2.4.0 on, that won't be necessary. If you look at the upgrade steps at the end of the announcement, it says to back up your settings.

Originally Posted by BamaStangGuy

For the registration funnel do I add it like this: google-funnel/regform-submit.html or like http://www.mustangevolution.com/goog...rm-submit.html

I 've been using /google-funnel/regform-submit.html and it works. The other way may work also.

Originally Posted by emin

Hi,

The announcement says:

(4) NEW FEATURE: The vBSEO upgrade process has now been streamlined with a new feature that allows XML settings backups and restores to be skipped. Note: Using the XML backup system to store a copy of your settings is still advised, but will not be necessary during a vBSEO upgrade.

Your current settings will be stored in a database & will be automatically retrieved and added to the vBSEO configuration options each time vBSEO is upgraded.

I just upgraded without downloading the settings and now all my settings are gone. My custom rewrite rules, everything.

This feature works once 2.4.0 has been installed (upgrades from 2.4.0 onwards), not when upgrading from a previous version to the current one. Hopefully you have a backup of your XML file...

I'll edit the release announcement to make this more clear.

Oh no :(

I do not have a back of my settings anymore :(