A few basic SEO improvements

Mr Lucky · Sep 1, 2022

We have had a few SEO improvements lately (e.g. noindexing of forums) but the main things in this regard that I would like to see now are:

Custom meta description for threads
Custom meta title for threads
no index for individual threads

The Google search results otherwise just show the users's title and the description may be the first sentence or some random text from the thread. having control means you can make the search results look more attractive, useful and clickable.

Noindexing threads is useful to stop a thread from being indexed that you still might want on the forum, but is just not so useful as search result. Also Google may only index a certain number of threads, so you want it to concentrate on what you consider the best ones to attract traffic.

Obviously there could be a lot more, for me custom external rel = canonical would be good, but I'm just mentioning a very few in the hope there is more chance of implementation if we aren't too demanding.

I hope others can also see the need for these simple features and upvote, thank you!

(You have to vote now as opposed just like to give a suggestion the best chance)

Deleted member 232995 · Sep 1, 2022

Additionally: Change the thread title without changing the URL. (optional)

phucvandinh · Sep 1, 2022

Also og:image using attachment or custom URL.

Lee · Sep 3, 2022

Mr Lucky said:
We have had a few SEO improvements lately (e.g. noindexing of forums) but the main things in this regard that I would like to see now are:

Custom meta description for threads

Custom meta title for threads

no index for individual threads

The Google search results otherwise just show the users's title and the description may be the first sentence or some random text from the thread. having control means you can make the search results look more attractive, useful and clickable.

Noindexing threads is useful to stop a thread from being indexed that you still might want on the forum, but is just not so useful as search result. Also Google may only index a certain number of threads, so you want it to concentrate on what you consider the best ones to attract traffic.

Obviously there could be a lot more, for me custom external rel = canonical would be good, but I'm just mentioning a very few in the hope there is more chance of implementation if we aren't too demanding.

I hope others can also see the need for these simple features and upvote, thank you!

(You have to vote now as opposed just like to give a suggestion the best chance)

You can do that with custom thread fields in the interim. Requires a template edit though.

Mr Lucky · Sep 3, 2022

Lee said:
You can do that with custom thread fields in the interim. Requires a template edit though.

Thanks, can you explain how?

Lee · Sep 3, 2022

Mr Lucky said:
Thanks, can you explain how?

If I get chance in the coming days I shall do a guide

Mendalla · Sep 3, 2022

I might take a look at that, too, @Lee if you get around to it. Might be useful for a new project.

Lee · Sep 3, 2022

I have got this setup now, I will hopefully have a spare bit of time in the morning to write up the guide.

Lee · Sep 3, 2022

There is a small issue in using custom thread fields.

They show up in the body of the message - so we need to hide them using CSS. This is fine, but unfortunately, it doesn't seem possible to target individual custom thread fields with styling - so I have to hide them ALL.

If you use thread fields anywhere else, this will not work well for you.

Mr Lucky · Jan 30, 2023

Lee said:
There is a small issue in using custom thread fields.

Yes. Thanks for the suggestion but I've done some testing and I have found"

Yes you can hide a field easily enough with CSS. Text is hidden from the page but visible in the source code. I worry that Google may view this as a black hat SEO technique, cloaking.

But also it does not address the original point of custom meta tags.

I am more and more finding how useful it could be to do some of the tried and tested techniques available to WP users with the Yoast SEO plugin.

Noindexing specific threads that deliver little value to Google (e.g. they may have lots of OT random jokes and yet the users find them fun and engaging. Or a very short post that is seen as "thin content" and possibly penalised by Google, yet you still want it on a forum whose other threads should be indexed)

Or threads that are close to duplicate content that should maybe benefit from a rel=canonical.

Robert9 · Mar 18, 2023

I put in on my list. But maybe my version will be very "basic" because I need only title, description and a counter for both.
Perhaps plus the follow, nofollow stuff. That's all, I guess.

avalanch · Dec 5, 2023

so I asked chatgpt to come up with something and this is what it came up with for custom meta description & titles. Thoughts?

ChatGPT

A conversational AI system that listens, learns, and challenges

chat.openai.com

M@rc · Dec 13, 2023

I don't mind these improvements, but I just hope user group permissions are implemented for them too.

It's going to be hard to moderate meta descriptions and sometimes even the titles, but at least the title shows in the browser tab. People can abuse meta descriptions with a lot of spam since it's UGC and you may never know unless you put in the effort to check each one.

Mr Lucky · Dec 13, 2023

M@rc said:
It's going to be hard to moderate meta descriptions and sometimes even the titles, but at least the title shows in the browser tab. People can abuse meta descriptions with a lot of spam

I missed saying that SEO should always be the domain of admins, so I see these things as admin only hence permissions aren’t relevant.

CedricV · Dec 20, 2023

[Xen-Soluce] SEO Optimization

This add-on allows you to decide which content is indexed from the search engine and more.

xen-soluce.com

A few basic SEO improvements

Mr Lucky

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phucvandinh

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Lee

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Mr Lucky

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Lee

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Mr Lucky

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[Xen-Soluce] SEO Optimization

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