Value beyond mod-rewrites

Actually, to keep vBulletin from having multiple URLs pointing to the same content, you will want to keep that option turned on no matter what. However, you can use a URL format that looks like the default vBulletin URLs (ie, without keywords) if you choose.

It's not mod_rewrite that is important. That's just the *technology* that allows us to help you achieve:

Link consistency and consensus

The link consistency and consensus is where the real advantages are found.

Basically - you want to remove all redundant/duplicate content pages, by eliminating duplicate *paths* to the same pages. This consolidates PageRank and your backlinks across your entire forum.

Everyone talks about the importance of getting links back to your content. Well, link consistency and consensus improves that process dramatically.

However - there are additional vBSEO features, not directly related to the optimization of your URL structure that you can benefit from:

• A fully configurable and moderated Linkback system handling pingbacks, trackbacks and vBSEO's own refbacks. A complex topic. More here: http://www.vbseo.com/linkbacks/
• Social bookmarking integration (Digg, technorati, etc)
• Relevant Replacements system, allowing relevant phrases to boost onpage relevancy of your top keywords on a page by page basis, dynamically generated. (Configured within the control panel with flexible template integration)
• Automatically use page title for links within a post (for links to internal or external pages), for more accurate anchor text.
• Logging of Spider Activity (integration with our sitemap required)
• Automated Google Analytics integration
• Google AdSense targeting for boosted ad revenue
• Turn the vBulletin archive into a sitemap
• Stopword filtering, acronym expansion, homepage aliasing, HTML code cleanup (content to code ratio boost)
• rel=nofollow whitelisting and blacklisting
• Footer archive links, direct category links, guest only enhancements
• Image size attributes (dynamic application)

To mention just a few.

Originally Posted by Fireproof

I hear a lot of the justification of vbSEO cost based on mod_rewrites. But the necessity or value of rewrites is heavily debated.

I would like to hear your opinions on the value vbSEO ads to our forum if we did NOT turn on the mod_rewrites (I am assuming we can leave this feature off).

Mod_rewrite (in Apache) itself is NOT THE VALUE, but the mechanism that allows vBSEO to CREATE THE VALUE.

Apart from making URLs look "fancy" or keyword-rich, mod_rewrite allows vBSEO to consolidate *core* and *alternate* versions of EACH vBulletin resource: thread page, member profile page, forum display page, etc. to produce a unique URL per each unique resource. We call this link consensus.

Link consensus removes the guesswork as to which is the core resource URL for any given piece of information in your forums, be it a thread, a member profile, or a forumdisplay page. This works two ways to optimize your content for improved SEO:

1. It gives search engines a *definitive* URL to receive relevancy scoring from incoming links.
2. It gives search engines a *definitive* URL to receive relevancy scoring from other, non-link related algos (text-matching, keyword density, etc.)

From http://www.google.com/technology/:

In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B.

Pay close attention, it says:

a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B

and NOT

a link from page A to page B, page C and page D as a vote, by page A, for page B

With link consensus, page C and page D are *consolidated* into the *core* page B allowing for increased relevancy.

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

Everyone talks about the importance of getting links back to your content. Well, link consistency and consensus improves that process dramatically.

THAT is the key concept. If it seems obscure to you, see the image below :

Related read: Why are my Google ranks so awful?

Another important point is that vBSEO ads unique meta keyword and description tags to each and every thread.

This was the biggest cause of my previous forums getting dupe content problems.

If they dont have the software, move hosts.

I've never heard of any other host not wanting to install the free version of ISAPI_Rewrite. Not sure why they wouldn't....

Related read: Google Duplicate Duplicate Content | Threadwatch.org

Originally Posted by Mikkel deMib Svendsen

Duplicate content can very well become a problem and the last thing on earth you want to do is let the engines decide what to do about it. In my experience, the engines far too often make the wrong decision.

This is not at all about "penalty" - whoever said that? It is about making a good an relevant index - and you just don't do that by filling it up with duplicate content. None of the engies currently do perfect duplicate filtering but they do get better and one day you may loose everything because you let the engines decide how to deal with your crap. Thats not a good long-term strategy!

Another problem is link structures. If there are multiple URL's to the same content some people will link to one version and other people to another version.

and this post:

Originally Posted by Brian Turner

Originally Posted by joeychgo

But what he pointed out is not a problem in regards to duplicate content.

Yes it is a problem, though - and while I may have pointed out the archive issue, let's point out just a few of the duplicate pages you can get listed in SERPs for *the same page content* of your main thread page:
- showthread (normal)
- archive
- printthread
- &mode=threaded
- &mode=linear
- mode=hybrid&t=
- &mode=threaded
- &goto=nextoldest
- &goto=nextnewest
- goto=newpost&t=
- goto=lastpost&t=

Let me underline it: vbulletin does have a problem with duplicating content.

Now, while you can sit back and allow the search engines to try and work out which is the most important page, the fact remains that Google especially can have real problems with it and end up listing your less favourable URLs. I've seen this happen especially with the BigDaddy migrations.

Added to that, the way the threaded options are set up means that even if you disable the DHTML menu for that option in the vb admin panel, (until very recently at least) these options were still displayed to non-Javascripted enabled browsers - such as Googlebot.

Overall, vbulletin has bad issues with duplicated content, and this duplicating of content can cause problems because at the end of the day, you want visitors clicking through from the SERPs to find your main thread directly, instead of being shunted off into a different page format for the same content.

Simply redesigning the archive may go some way to addressing this - but in doing so you are simply dressing up duplicated content to try and not look like duplicated content while you are doing so - which is sort of missing the point.

And so far as I'm aware, you can't use a different template for the last/next/previous/threaded view posts because they are all runing from the main template.

I'm not trying to knock you, joeychicago - but I am trying to point out that since the first vb3 beta release, duplicated content has been an issue and continues to be an issue, and this doesn't seem to be something you're taking into consideration.

No, there isn't a direct penalty, and for most webmasters - they couldn't care less - especially as a vb forum bulked up with duplicate content it can stroke the webmaster's ego on the site:command to see tens of thousands of pages indexed.

But the duplicate content issue isn't an optimal position for any webmaster who wants to get more aggressive on SEO/traffic targeting.