Two file edits to help SEO

As I gain more experience with using IPB, I am discovering some file and template changes to help with SEO.

A familiar trick many of us used in vBulletin was to remove the forum name from the forumdisplay and showthread templates. And these changes can also be accomplished for IPB, only it will require you to edit a couple of PHP files, instead.

The first file you will want to edit is /admin/applications/forums/modules_public/forums/forums.php

Find the following -

Code:

$this->registry->getClass('output')->setTitle( $this->settings['board_name'] . ' -> ' . $this->forum['name'] );

Change it to -

Code:

$this->registry->getClass('output')->setTitle( $this->forum['name'] );

The second change is an edit to /admin/applications/modules_public/forums/topics.php

Find the following -

Code:

$this->registry->output->setTitle( $this->topic['title'] . ' - ' . $this->settings['board_name']);

Change it to -

Code:

$this->registry->output->setTitle( $this->topic['title'] );

These two edits will eliminate your board name from those two pages, displaying just the forum title and thread titles.

i hope these changes will help you optimize your own IPB sites!

 

Mike, you are THE man!

Thanks for sharing these tips. It's going to help those of us just getting started with IPB tremendously!

 

I'm afraid I usually make it a mission to learn as much about new things as possible. So when I come across something that I think others might be able to benefit from, I will be more than happy to share the information.

And I encourage all of you to do the same. Our collective learning will only benefit us all.

 

I agree Mike. That's why when I find something as simple as common mods used on vBulletin that I'm finding on IPB's site, I'm sharing it.

 

As for myself, I'm quite liking the fact that some of the features that were add-ons for vB are native to IPB.

 

Mike, I'm really diggin' the IPB software. Lots of features, as you mentioned, that are built-in.

 

Great tips, Mike -- thread stickied!

 

I made these changes as well, and I think I requested it also :p
I thought this post that I quoted was funny, saying this would hurt your rankings more then help..lol

I don't think the IPB ppl are much into SEO'ing their forums (yet)

 

I agree with you, Brandon. The majority of IPB users don't seem too fussed about SEO at all.

(What is the kanji in your usertitle, if you don't mind me asking)

 

It's Japanese, inspired by cheet-masters post
It did say something about kittens, but I changed it again :p

 

Thanks for the tips Mike!

 

If any of you are using these file edits and are upgrading to IP.Board 3.1.1, you need to make a slightly different change in one of the listed files.

And please note - this is for IP.Board 3.1.1 only. Previous versions use the edits as shown in the original post.

The new file edit is in /admin/applications/forums/modules_public/forums/forums.php

Look for this line -

Code:

$this->registry->getClass('output')->setTitle(  strip_tags($this->forum['name']) . ' - ' .  ipsRegistry::$settings['board_name'] );

And change it to -

Code:

$this->registry->getClass('output')->setTitle(  strip_tags($this->forum['name']));

 

Thank you for this.. Much appreciated.