IPB seo, is it that good?

[majdi]

I read many comments praising IPB seo before i converted to it, it was one of the main reasons that made me change from woltlab burning board -which is an excellent script- to IPB
since i converted i lost traffic, my average visits went from 2200/day to 1200/day and traffic coming from search engine went from 1400/day to 500/day :(
is this normal?

[Wolfie]

From what I understand, it's expected.

http://community.invisionpower.com/topic/314858-communityseo-closes-its-doors/

Read in there, I think it's mentioned that when you change the SEO format, you will take a hit, but only until the search engines figure everything out again, then you're back to where you used to be.

[majdi]

does it say how long it takes?
my old urls are being forwarded to the new one generated by IPB, i dont understand why there is a hit?

[AlexJ]

Install sitemap generator. It does gives your amazing results. Don't underestimate power of sitemap generator or neglect it. :)

My forum is being indexed much more faster then it was before after installing site map generator.

[majdi]

already did it (dan's sitemap) and i submitted it to google webmastertools + i set the indexing speed to its fastest since day 2 (one day after i converted)
still the same, nothing has changed

[AlexJ]

already did it (dan's sitemap) and i submitted it to google webmastertools + i set the indexing speed to its fastest since day 2 (one day after i converted)

still the same, nothing has changed

You can't reach the world in 2 days. Wait for few days and see.

Also, I hope Dan will add support for Blogs, Gallery and Nexus store links in his future versions. :)

[majdi]

You can't reach the world in 2 days. Wait for few days and see.

Also, I hope Dan will add support for Blogs, Gallery and Nexus store links in his future versions. :)

i didn't say it has been 2 days, i said since day 2 after conversion which is 13 days ago. isnt it enough?
still non one answered my question, if my old furls are being redirected correctly, why has my traffic dropped?

[Axel Wers]

Also, I hope Dan will add support for Blogs, Gallery and Nexus store links in his future versions. :)

It would be VERY good.

[bfarber]

When you convert, it takes time for search engines to reindex all of your links. Even when you 301 redirect to the new urls, the search engines still need to go through them and update their indexes.

Generally, I would say you should give 1-2 months after converting to accurately judge traffic on a new setup vs your old setup. That said, in the mean time you might want to investigate other reasons your traffic might have stopped. Did you have a popular link that is no longer valid? Are members perhaps confused about the software change and thus they stopped visiting? Look at other areas besides just the urls, if you are sure the urls are 301 redirecting correctly.

[majdi]

I am positive that my old urls are redirecting and its not my members leaving my community because direct traffic is stable. its only search engine traffic that has dropped.
Do I need to submit a support ticket for investigation

[ukresident]

I am positive that my old urls are redirecting and its not my members leaving my community because direct traffic is stable. its only search engine traffic that has dropped.

Do I need to submit a support ticket for investigation

When did you notice the traffic drop? It could be related to Google's May Day update which has affected forums. I know mine got hit!!

[majdi]

When did you notice the traffic drop? It could be related to Google's [url="http://searchengineland.com/google-confirms-mayday-update-impacts-long-tail-traffic-43054"]May Day update[/url] which has affected forums. I know mine got hit!!

it was on June 29th

[bfarber]

I am positive that my old urls are redirecting and its not my members leaving my community because direct traffic is stable. its only search engine traffic that has dropped.

Do I need to submit a support ticket for investigation

I don't really think a ticket is appropriate - we don't run Google after all, so it's not like we can "fix" your search engine traffic directly.

Do you use Google Webmaster Tools or Google Analytics? Perhaps trawling through the data Google makes available to you will give you some insight as to why search engine traffic has dropped? As has already been said, however, really you need to give it a month or two after you convert to new URL structure because it takes time to get everything moved over completely.

[majdi]

i have both webmastertools and analytics + getclicky
anyways i don't undersand why it dropped, i though IPB have a great SEO
anyways ill wait 2 month and update you on the situation

[majdi]

its definetely SERP, after more than a month my SERP hasn't gone up :(

[Jυra]

I'm not a SEO expert, but a sudden return back doesn't seem right. I would simply be more aggressive with whatever you did to make the site popular.

[BritmovieUk]

i have both webmastertools and analytics + getclicky

anyways i don't undersand why it dropped, i though IPB have a great SEO

anyways ill wait 2 month and update you on the situation

Keep a weekly count on the amount of indexed url's - there should be a slight increase every 7 days. The analytics should also steadily rise. Personally I think 4 months is a more realistic figure to monitor the turnaroud. Check your robots.txt is minimalising duplicate urls.

[majdi]

I don't really think a ticket is appropriate - we don't run Google after all, so it's not like we can "fix" your search engine traffic directly.

Do you use Google Webmaster Tools or Google Analytics? Perhaps trawling through the data Google makes available to you will give you some insight as to why search engine traffic has dropped? As has already been said, however, really you need to give it a month or two after you convert to new URL structure because it takes time to get everything moved over completely.

its been 5 months now and my search traffic still didn't recover.
i think its safe to assume that IPB isn't the friendliest search engine forum script.

[bfarber]

its been 5 months now and my search traffic still didn't recover.

i think its safe to assume that IPB isn't the friendliest search engine forum script.

I would ask what makes you confident that "IPB isn't the friendliest search engine forum script"? If it's because your specific site has not regained it's previous position, that's a very subjective and unscientific basis to make such a broad statement upon. :)

We hear many mixed reports. Almost ALL of the reports that "IPB doesn't have the best SEO" come from users who have converted to our software, then fiddled with settings for 2 months and aren't happy that they're number 1 in Google yet. It's simply not how things work, no matter what software you use on your website.

Dan has personally offered to take a look at anyone's website who feels that IPB is hindering their site's search engine ranking. While we cannot provide personalized SEO services to our entire customer base of course, if you think IPB is the reason that your site isn't doing as well as you think it should, feel free to send him a PM.

[Guest]

Hello

I've just had a quick look at your site. Here's a few initial things I noticed:

• You do not appear to have a sitemap set up, as said earlier in the topic.
• You've got all your CSS inline, which means search engines have to parse over 4,700 lines of code before they reach even the very first bit of content.
• Because of the above, the file size of the board index alone is over 250KB.
• You have the following "followed" (i.e. not rel="nofollow") links - That probably should not be:

http://4sq.com/awaojZ

https://tunileaks.appspot.com/

http://bit.ly/elBaL0

http://bit.ly/efxPW3

http://www.ipbforumskins.com/

• Your PageRank is quite low (PR2), low PR and authority can have an impact on how willing Google will be to accept large changes on your site.
• Your server is US based, and your domain is non-specific, and thus unless you've manually told it to, Google likely won't be targetting your desired country.

With that all being said, Google does seem to have indexed a significant number of pages from your site. So I doubt that indexing is really the issue. What keywords do you want to rank for? What keywords did you previously rank for that you don't now? Can we see your Webmaster Tools impressions/clickthrough charts and Google Analytics search traffic charts, preferably dating from a short time before the switch until the present day?

[majdi]

You do not appear to have a sitemap set up, as said earlier in the topic.

I have, since the first month
http://img208.imageshack.us/f/screenshot20101130at115.png/

You've got all your CSS inline, which means search engines have to parse over 4,700 lines of code before they reach even the very first bit of content.

how to fix this?

You have the following "followed" (i.e. not rel="nofollow") links - That probably should not be:

Whats the harm?

Your PageRank is quite low (PR2), low PR and authority can have an impact on how willing Google will be to accept large changes on your site.

Thats a whole other story. i didnt want to complain about it.
for your information before the conversion my PR used to be 4
now that it have been mentionned, i would like to know: what might be the cause?

Your server is US based, and your domain is non-specific, and thus unless you've manually told it to, Google likely won't be targetting your desired country.

it have always been the case for years.
http://img691.imageshack.us/f/screenshot20101201at120.png/

With that all being said, Google does seem to have indexed a significant number of pages from your site. So I doubt that indexing is really the issue. What keywords do you want to rank for? What keywords did you previously rank for that you don't now? Can we see your Webmaster Tools impressions/clickthrough charts and Google Analytics search traffic charts, preferably dating from a short time before the switch until the present day?

http://img259.imageshack.us/f/screenshot20101201at120.png/

[AnthonyCea]

We are changing over the forum in my signature to this script as I post this, just follow the best practices you can learn from other members here and give Google some time, naturally they are going to look at any change in software or URL changes, so hang in there and don't make any rash moves (back to your old script).

We are done with vB for good.

[blandt]

Hello

I've just had a quick look at your site. Here's a few initial things I noticed:

• Your PageRank is quite low (PR2), low PR and authority can have an impact on how willing Google will be to accept large changes on your site.
• Your server is US based, and your domain is non-specific, and thus unless you've manually told it to, Google likely won't be targetting your desired country.

I remember his site being PR5 ... I don't know .. something is going horribly wrong .. I don't blame the script used .. but who knows

[Daren @ IT]

Just as an attempt to give a broader view, my site has been using IPB for almost three months and my SERPS are going up and my traffic is growing nicely...

JMTC.

and no, I am NOT affiliated with IPB...

(PS Dan, is your SM GEN Nexus/Content friendly yet ;-))

Regards
Daren

[majdi]

Just as an attempt to give a broader view, my site has been using IPB for almost three months and my SERPS are going up and my traffic is growing nicely...

how old is your forum? have you converted from another script?