Creating your own relevant replacements in vBulletin

[Michael]

In vbseo you get relevant replacements, but unfortunately sometimes you cant afford vbseo for all your sites. Would anyone recommend replicating them using template conditionals on forumdisplay per forum and using h2 etc within them instead of forking out for vbseo?

The only problem I can see is if you rename a forum maybe, but if you dont do that and theyre set in stone surely this would be fine

What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks.

[Nick]

Yes, this is a highly recommended tip to, recommended to users who want to optimize their vBulletin installation without vBSEO. On my new parrot forum, I just set this up a few days ago. It looks no different than the default text, but it is now using h1 and h2 tags. The one thing I cannot get is the little bit of text to show up in the relevant replacement (the thread preview), but that's okay.

Anyways, if you want to set it up how I have it, first check it out: here and here. (See the green box above the thread and above the thread listing).

Here's the code needed to display this: Try it on a test style first! - In the navbar template, find:

<!-- / breadcrumb, login, pm info -->

add below it: (there is most likely a portion of this code already there; replace it with this)

<br />
<if condition="$show['forumdesc']">
    <table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
    <tr>
        <td class="alt1" width="100%">

<if condition="THIS_SCRIPT != 'showthread'">
<if condition="THIS_SCRIPT != 'forumdisplay'">
<strong>$foruminfo[title]</strong> <span class="smallfont">$foruminfo[description]</span>
</if></if>

<if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'showthread'">Discuss <h1 class="myh1">$thread[title]</h1> in the <h2 class="myh2">$foruminfo[title_clean]</h2> section at TalkParrots.
</if>

<if condition="THIS_SCRIPT == 'forumdisplay'">
<h1 class="smallfont"><strong>$foruminfo[title_clean]</strong></h1>
<h2 class="smallfont">$foruminfo[description]</h2>
</if>

</td>
    </tr>
    </table>
    <br />
</if>

H tag CSS Definitions:
By default, h-tags are large and force a line break. This will make your custom descriptions/titles look rather awkward. To override this natural behavior, add the following to the Additional CSS Definitions box in the style manager:

/* ***** H1 Tags ***** */
h1.myh1 {font: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;
color: #000000; font-weight: bold;}

h2.myh2 {font: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;
color: #000000; font-weight: bold;}

h2.myh3 {font: verdana, geneva, lucida, 'lucida grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;
color: #000000; font-weight: none;}


h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {display:inline;}

You can customize the definitions to your liking (font, size, color, etc.)

[Michael]

This is awesome Nick! So you can use the variables like: $foruminfo[title_clean] without vbseo? I was thinking I would only be able to do these manually lol I am glad this is possible

Thank you!

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Michael

This is awesome Nick! So you can use the variables like: $foruminfo[title_clean] without vbseo? I was thinking I would only be able to do these manually lol I am glad this is possible

Thank you!

Seeing as these are in the default templates and are used by default, yes you can use them.

[Michael]

Excellent, this has made my day, I was actually going to do this by typing in each forum name manually as well as the description! I might actually just use the title to pull that automatically and write up my own descriptions for each one so that it isnt the same as the description on the index, but then again it would be easier doing it your way so im not sure now

[Nick]

Oh, one thing I forgot to include was the CSS definitions so that the h1 and h2 tags are not gigantic. I've updated my former post.

[Michael]

Thank you Nick We have decided to do the descriptions manually so it isnt the same text as from the homepage so I will be sat here almost all day now doing it lol

[Nick]

Also, I've stuck this thread and moved it to the vBulletin forum.

[Michael]

It should be an article really Nick You done a good job

[Michael]

Just tried [first_post_20_words]... and it doesnt work on showthread Anyone know how to get that to work?

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Michael

Just tried [first_post_20_words]... and it doesnt work on showthread Anyone know how to get that to work?

I'm pretty sure that's not a standard variable. Where did you see this?

[Michael]

Its used in vbseo to pull the first x words of the thread to use in your RR's, it doesnt seem to be a standard variable unfortunately lol

[Michael]

We have just installed this mod:
Search Engine Optimized Keywords & Description per Forum - vBulletin.org Forum

But for some reason if you dont add your own custom description it will look like this:

<meta name="description" content=",Are you trying to get pregnant? Discuss getting pregnant including ovulation, fertility charting, infertility, sperm donors, In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and more." />

I am not sure if that nuisance comma at the beginning would make any difference considering SE's arent supposed to index special characters etc although with it being a comma I aint sure with this one

[Ak Worm]

Durr, tested it on Default style, don't work

[Michael]

Originally Posted by Ak Worm

Durr, tested it on Default style, don't work

It doesnt display anything?