Does XenForo need an SEO addon?

[Milen]

In reality, currently any page, whether on a thread or in a forum/category, has a title and meta description, without any additional add-ons. If an addon is used, what for? For a custom title and description? Wouldn't it be better to change the original title and description instead of replacing them with copies? Or is the SEO addon not so much for SEO as changing the thread title without changing the URL? So, the Google bot visits the page that used to be called "I'm a noob" and used to have one content, and now it's called "I'm a very big noob" and has the same content. So, what's the point of all this tinkering? Otherwise, I agree about code optimization like HTML minification.

 

[bzcomputers]

I don't know where to start here...

I guess first by answering your question. Does XenForo need an SEO add-on? No, but there are benefits to be gained from one. There are many places that XenForo could be further optimized to increase indexing and page rankings of existing content.

SEO is a lot more than just titles and descriptions.

So, what's the point of all this tinkering?

Ranking first versus second on Google for a single search term can be the difference in thousands of daily visits to your site. That difference in ranking can come from a simple missing heading tag, the keywords in a title being rearranged, or some other very simple SEO optimization.

There is a reason there are so many SEO companies out there, and so many SEO emails in your inbox. SEO can make or break a business/website. As search engines change so does SEO. What worked a year or two ago does not work as well today. SEO is not a goal that is reached, but and ever moving and changing environment.

As much as you think you know, there is always more to learn and even the honest SEO "experts" will agree to that...

• Google's SEO Starter Guide
• Moz's Beginner's Guide to SEO
• Ahrefs’ SEO Guide
• Backlinko's Definitive Guide to SEO
• Search Engine Journal's SEO Guide

 

[Milen]

Yes, that's right, there's always something to learn, as an acquaintance used to say, "By the time you learn PHP 5, there's already PHP 8." I'm aware that SEO is constantly changing and it's difficult to meet all the requirements of search engines. But from the addons I've seen for XenForo and for WordPress, in my opinion they do nothing more than change the title and description for a given forum or thread. I have to say that I'm not complaining, and if I'm wrong, I apologize.

 

[Deleted member 184953]

The real question is: do forums need good content to exist on Google? And the answer is a great YES. After, indeed, technically there may be things to improve with XenForo but we should only think about it if we already have rich and sought-after content, otherwise it's like pissing in a violin...

 

[philmckrackon]

I know people hate the term "back links" but the more sites that link to your site are helpful.

 

[Milen]

it's like pissing in a violin

Yea And yes, forums need quality and sought-after content. Personally, I still can't find the right niche for myself, but I'm not giving up

I know people hate the term "back links"

I am one of those people All my friends who have websites and forums have told me that backlinks are an important part of SEO. But... I haven't really sat down to seriously work on them, I still have time, I want to have at least 1000 threads in my forum, and then I can think about backlinks, reviews for my forum, and so on.

 

[Milen]

Something I thought of, and I did years ago

 

[Alpha1]

I'd love a Yoast for Xenforo .

 

[Milen]

Many people praise Yoast, and apparently for good reason. It's not a bad idea, but let's not have as many comments in its code as in the WordPress version RankMath has also improved quite a bit according to some statistics, although it's not quite as good. If you can take the best of both and make one for XenForo..... that would be good.

 

[Alpha1]

I use Rankmath as I prefer it to Yoast . But Rankmath only works on the WordPress platform while Yoast works on multiple platforms. Getting Yoast to work on / integrated with Xenforo would be amazing .

 

[Milen]

I agree, I'm reading now - https://developer.yoast.com/development/integrating/

And it seems interesting to me. I'll try it these days and see what happens

 

[Milen]

The interesting thing about Yoast's code is that in places it's almost like XenForo But only in places, it will take me personally months just trying to integrate, because I'm not that familiar with XenForo and Yoast in general. If the official XenForo developers decide, I think they will manage (if there are no other obstacles of course). But as for sport and pleasure, I can try

 

[Mr Lucky]

has a title and meta description, without any additional add-ons.

But does a thread have a meta description beyond something that in many cases be totally useless, ie the opening paragraph?

The thread description for this thread is

In reality, currently any page, whether on a thread or in a forum/category, has a title and meta description, without any additional add-ons. If an addon is...

And the meta title tag is the same as the thread title.

Wouldn't it be better to change the original title and description instead of replacing them with copies?

This would mean moderating users' threads by changing the title and the first few words. many users would not like that.

I'd love a Yoast for Xenforo

apart from the meta title and description, which is already covered by existing addons, I think the main thing about Yoast is the text analysis tool, ie gets you to write good content.

Sort from articles in xenForo I don’t see that as relevant for UGC, most users just want to write a post, not mess with the stuff Yoast nags you about ie sentence length, structure, heading hierarchy etc. not too relevant to forum posts.