This is a very quick 'n' simple vBulletin SEO hack. It's easy to apply and it's the one I have been using here on DaniWeb for the past couple of months. I was going to wait until we went vB 3.5 to release it but I might as well do so now ... Disclaimer: This is for vBulletin 3.0.x. It should not be too complicated to port to 3.5 with their hooks system, but I have no experience with 3.5 and therefore don't want to say one way or another. If you use this hack, please link to DaniWeb in your footer. This is a free hack, and it can make or break the traffic to your site. I don't know of any other freely available hacks like this one. Please help us out in exchange for releasing this!
STEP 1: Create an .htaccess file in your forum directory and put the following into it:
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^getdaily.html$ search.php?do=getdaily [L]
RewriteRule ^getdaily([0-9]+).html$ search.php?do=getdaily&f=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^unanswered.html$ search.php?do=process&replyless=1&replylimit=0&dontcache=1 [L]
RewriteRule ^unanswered([0-9]+).html$ search.php?do=process&replyless=1&replylimit=0&dontcache=1&forumchoice=$1&childforums=1 [L]
RewriteRule ^forum([0-9]+).html$ forumdisplay.php?f=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^forum([0-9]+)-([0-9]+)-([a-z]+)-(.*)-([0-9]+)-(.*).html$ forumdisplay.php?f=$1&page=$2&sort=$3&order=$4&pp=$5&daysprune=$6 [L]
RewriteRule ^forum([0-9]+)-(.*)-([a-z]+)-([a-z]+).html$ forumdisplay.php?f=$1&daysprune=$2&order=$3&sort=$4 [L]
RewriteRule ^announcement([0-9]+).html$ announcement.php?f=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^announcement([0-9]+)-([0-9]+).html$ announcement.php?f=$1&announcementid=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^thread([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?t=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^thread([0-9]+)-([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?t=$1&page=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^getnew.html$ search.php?do=getnew [L]
RewriteRule ^getnew([0-9]+).html$ search.php?do=getnew&f=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^printthread([0-9]+).html$ printthread.php?t=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^sendthread([0-9]+).html$ sendmessage.php?do=sendtofriend&t=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^referthread([0-9]+)-([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?t=$1&referrerid=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^lastpostinthread([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?goto=lastpost&t=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^newpostinthread([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^nextnewesttothread([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?t=$1&goto=nextnewest [L]
RewriteRule ^nextoldesttothread([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?t=$1&goto=nextoldest [L]
RewriteRule ^post([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?p=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^post([0-9]+)-([0-9]+).html$ showpost.php?p=$1&postcount=$2 [L]
RewriteRule ^post([0-9]+)-([0-9]+)-([0-9]+).html$ showthread.php?p=$1&page=$2&pp=$3 [L]
RewriteRule ^thread([0-9]+)-([a-z]+).html$ showthread.php?mode=$2&t=$1 [L]
RewriteRule ^post([0-9]+)-([a-z]+).html$ showthread.php?p=$1&mode=$2 [L]
STEP 2:
In the includes/functions.php file, below
function print_output($vartext, $sendheader = 1)
{
global $pagestarttime, $query_count, $querytime, $DB_site, $bbuserinfo;
global $vbphrase, $vboptions, $stylevar, $_REQUEST;
in 3.0.7 (in another version of 3.0.x, just put the code below the global declarations in the print_output
function) add:
// do Dani's SEO optimization
global $session;
$search_array = array(
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&page=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&sort=") . '([a-z]*)' . preg_quote("&order="). '([a-z]*)' . preg_quote("&pp=") . '([0-9]*)' . preg_quote("&daysprune="). '([^"]*)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&daysprune=") . '([^"]*)' . preg_quote("&order=") . '([a-z]*)' . preg_quote("&sort=") . '([a-z]*)' . preg_quote("&pp=") . '([0-9]*)' . preg_quote("&page=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&daysprune=") . '([^"^&]*)' . preg_quote("&order=") . '([a-z]*)' . preg_quote("&sort=") . '([a-z]*)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&daysprune="). '([^"^&]*)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&page=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"forumdisplay.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&page=") . '([0-9]*)' . preg_quote("&pp=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&page=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]goto=lastpost&t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]goto=newpost&t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"printthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"sendmessage.php?$session[sessionurl]do=sendtofriend&t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]t=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&goto=next"). '([a-z]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]p=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]p=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&page=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&pp=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showpost.php?$session[sessionurl]p=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&postcount=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]mode=") . '([a-z]+)' . preg_quote("&t=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"showthread.php?$session[sessionurl]p=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&mode=") . '([a-z]+)\##',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"announcement.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&announcementid=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"announcement.php?$session[sessionurl]f=") . '([0-9]+)"#',
// sanitizing
'#<a ([^>]*)href\=\"([^"]*)&page=([^"]*).html"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href\=\"([^"]*)&highlight=([^"]*).html"#',
// other
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getdaily&f=") . '([0-9]*)"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=getdaily") . '"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=process&replyless=1&replylimit=0&dontcache=1&forumchoice=&childforums=1") . '"#',
'#<a ([^>]*)href' . preg_quote("=\"search.php?$session[sessionurl]do=process&replyless=1&replylimit=0&dontcache=1&forumchoice=") . '([0-9]+)' . preg_quote("&childforums=1") . '"#'
);
$replace_array = array(
'<a \1href="forum\2-\3-\4-\5-\6-\7.html"',
'<a \1href="forum\2-\7-\5-\4-\6-\3.html"',
'<a \1href="forum\2-\3-\4-\5.html"',
'<a \1href="forum\2-\3.html"',
'<a \1href="forum\2-\3.html"',
'<a \1href="forum\2.html"',
'<a \1href="thread\2-\3.html"',
'<a \1href="thread\2-\3.html"',
'<a \1href="thread\2.html"',
'<a \1href="lastpostinthread\2.html"',
'<a \1href="newpostinthread\2.html"',
'<a \1href="printthread\2.html"',
'<a \1href="sendthread\2.html"',
'<a \1href="next\3tothread\2.html"',
'<a \1href="post\2.html"',
'<a \1href="post\2-\3-\4.html"',
'<a \1href="post\2-\3.html"',
'<a \1href="thread\3-\2.html"',
'<a \1href="post\2-\3.html#',
'<a \1href="announcement\2-\3.html"',
'<a \1href="announcement\2.html"',
// sanitizing
'<a \1href="\2-\3.html"',
'<a \1href="\2-\3.html"',
// other
'<a \1href="getdaily\2.html"',
'<a \1href="getdaily.html"',
'<a \1href="unanswered.html"',
'<a \1href="unanswered\2.html"'
);
$vartext = preg_replace($search_array, $replace_array, $vartext);
Please do not duplicate all or part of this code elsewhere. Thanks should go out to Xenon for suggesting to me that I can rewrite URLs from within this function. Thanks!! ... And, please, give credit where credit is due - if you use this hack, please link back.