SEO on WS3

  • Betroffene Version
    WoltLab Suite 3.0

    Morning all,

    Since I moved my forum from vb5 software to Woltlab, my forum has completely dropped off Google's rankings and I wonder if this is normal. The forum/thread structure is a little different on Woltlab, ie on vb5, my politics forum used this structure:

    https://www.forumbox.co.uk/forum/politics

    Whereas changing to Woltlab software, this is now the structure:

    https://www.forumbox.co.uk/forum/board/19-politics/

    Does that effect your rankings on Google and SEO?

    In ACP->Configuation->Options->Page

    I have put in the Page Description and Meta Description, although disabled Page Title as I did not want that showing on the landing page. Is that correct? I have meta keywords separated by a comma, is that correct?

    Is there anything else I should be doing with the software to improve SEO? On VB5 I could put in a meta description for each page of my site, including every forum, but I cannot do that on WOltlab, should I be concerned by this?

    I have gone into Bing Webmaster tools and Google Webmaster tools and they are giving me similar warning messages:

    The description is missing in the head section of the page. Add a description to the <head> section of the page source: <meta name="description" content="Descriptive, keyword-rich text that talks about the page content goes here.">.

    The page is missing meta language information. Use <meta http-equiv="content-language" content="ll-cc"> tag in the <head> section of your page, where "ll-cc" stands for the culture code of the language and country/region the content applies to. Alternatively use the lang="ll-cc" attribute on either the <html> or the <title> tag

    Is this something I should be concerned about?

    Does anyone have any tips on how I can improve SEO? My forum was just starting to appear on page 2 in Google's search results for the term "politics forum uk" now my forum appears nowhere....

    Many thanks!

    Jupiter

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

  • I don't know what 301 or 404 errors are, but I will look them up. Thanks.

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

  • Jupiter Have you read this guide GerWonder yet?

    I read it a month ago but as the guide was for vbulletin 3 or 4 and my old forum was vBulletin 5, I did not think that was relevant. Are you saying it is relevant? If it is, can the title of the guide be updated to reflect that please for new members coming to Woltlab from vbulletin5?

    If I have to add that text to my .htacess file, should I leave a blank line after existing information in that file before entering the text as outlined in that guide? I have never edited that file before.

    thanks.

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

    Einmal editiert, zuletzt von Jupiter (26. Juni 2017 um 18:37)

  • As it's now been a month since I changed over to the Woltlab software, would you still recommend I amend the .htaccess file as recommended in that guide?

    Note, vbulletin used the structure: https://www.forumbox.co.uk/forum/forum

    but I told them I wasn't happy with that and they changed it to:

    https://www.forumbox.co.uk/forum

    My forum was on page 2 of Google's rankings, but apart from an earlier version of my website, the forum has completely vanished from their site all except this thread which is showing in their rankings! Would it best to leave it now and let Google "rediscover" my site afresh?

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    Hi

    They never made any significant changes to the URLs, these links are still valid. Tim Düsterhus might know more

    Unfortunately I don't.

    As it's now been a month since I changed over to the Woltlab software, would you still recommend I amend the .htaccess file as recommended in that guide?

    If correctly done this cannot harm, you still might be able to lessen the impact of the migration. But you must make sure that the redirects are correct :!:

  • Thank you Tim.

    And I appreciated your vb5 converter plugin. Although I lost some data like member passwords and polls, most stuff was migrated to my new woltlab forum. Thank you!

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    Hi

    Although I lost some data like member passwords and polls, most stuff was migrated to my new woltlab forum. Thank you!

    I'm aware of some issue with the polls, but could not fix it yet, because I don't had a proper database export to reproduce the issue.

    Would you consider providing your source database of the vBulletin 5 if you still have it for me to fix the issues with the polls and passwords? While it would not provide you with a benefit after the the fact it would prevent others running into the same issues. If you're lucky I might even be able to provide you with a database query to fix the passwords.

  • I've reset all the passwords now, so don't worry about that.

    I think I've got a couple of backups, but the last backup dated 1st June may have been created after the conversion, but I have one from a few weeks earlier just in case.

    How do I get the files to you? I just tried to attach them to a conversation, but got a message saying the files were too big.

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

    • Offizieller Beitrag

    Hi

    How do I get the files to you? I just tried to attach them to a conversation, but got a message saying the files were too big.

    Depending on the size you can either mail it to me at duesterhus@woltlab.com or upload it on your webspace and send me the link. I'll inform you once I've downloaded it so you can delete it. And of course it will not be shared and will be deleted once I finished working with it.

  • OK, I've tried to send you emails via various methods, and the servers aren't allowing it, as the file sizes are too big.

    How do I upload onto my webspace for you to access?

    Sorry, I have the technical knowledge of a donkey.

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

  • Thank you throwholics.

    Never heard of we transfer, but even I could work out how to use that and without a manual.;)

    We transfer complete, I think.

    I am a Newbie Admin. Please be gentle, I don't understand technical things.
    (Please can we have a full manual for this software)

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