Improving SEO to compete with older forum competitor

[ArtG]

Anyone with SEO experience that is current to today's search engines, specifically Google?

I am competing in a market that has very old forums that have all migrated to Xenforo. Most of these forums are 15+ years old. Their organic keyword numbers are in the thousands compared to my hundreds.

Other than waiting 15+ years to let Google marinate on my site and members to add thousands of posts, any suggestions on improving SEO and indexing of pages?

I'm specifically asking about on page SEO improvements and things I can do technically. I do realize that putting up great content that people want to read is the best formula. I'm working on that. Asking for other things to tweak.

I appreciate it!

 

[Forsaken]

Content is the only way you're going to compete with SEO, anything else is going to be minor or result in diminishing returns. There is no silver bullet to growing your community.

You are better off looking at organic growth, and giving people reasons to use your site over the existing communities. This could be content, this could be a better community feel, this could be topic-specific tools or features.

Without knowing specifics of your community, what you've done, or the other forum you're viewing as a competitor there is little advice that can be given.

 

[ArtG]

I appreciate the comments @Forsaken and you're free to look at my site (scapecrunch.com) and the hobby is freshwater planted aquariums. I quick Google search gives you the largest forums.

While of course you're right, I have been frustrated by Google's reluctance to index many of our pages. My question is tied to seeing if there are on page tweaks that would make it more likely for Google to index a page. For example, adding meta data with keywords, etc.

 

[Mr Lucky]

For example, adding meta data with keywords, etc.

Not since maybe 20 years. You cannot game Google.

 

[philmckrackon]

One of the best and important ways to build your search listing importance is back links. The more other sites link to yours will build your rep score on Google.

 

[ArtG]

Well, if experts tell me that Google can read our Xenforo pages just fine and can properly index our content, then I am OK with that. At the moment, it appears that Google thinks that about 70% of my pages are not worth indexing.

Perhaps that makes sense. I will go back to focusing on creating content and not worry about it. I do appreciate your inputs.

 

[Mr Lucky]

At the moment, it appears that Google thinks that about 70% of my pages are not worth indexing.

That happens with forums, a lot of user generated content actually isn’t worth indexing. I noindex certain forums and threads that I know are useless.

 

[Forsaken]

Not SEO advice, but general advice:

Your welcome block is huge, and takes up 50% of the screen on the most common resolutions. I personally do not feel welcome blocks add much user retention, but that varies audience to audience. You could get by with something smaller, or a block in the sidebar.

The trending content widget in the sidebar should focus on newer content, really no older than 6 months. If you have evergreen content, push that through discussions.

The featured content should also focus on newer content or evergreen content. I would focus on tank showcases, or articles; if you can afford it look at getting Showcase or something else as you can then build a better showcase for users to show off their tanks, and provide information.

Move media slider up; this does push down content, however it will also attract attention to see examples of what your users have done, and potentially drive discussions. I would also recommend using the add-on I asked @Ozzy47 to make (https://xenforo.com/community/resources/ozzmodz-xfmg-attachment-mirroring-album.8604/) as it will allow your users to automatically create albums for the tank they're showcasing and it also cross-links the album to the content.

I would consolidate your trade forums as well; there isn't much point in having two separate selling forums when you do not have the activity to really demand it. You may possibly need to separate them later, but for now you can get by with utilizing prefixes. Try not to have empty forums, and try to have at least some activity. I would consider removing the user feedback forum, and consider an add-on instead (there is only XenCentral's, but maybe if @Ozzy47 and his team have bandwidth he may be able to make an alternative).

 

[ArtG]

@Forsaken THANK YOU. You didn't have to look at my site and give me your valuable advice. I truly appreciate it, man.

 

[Old Nick]

Your welcome block is huge, and takes up 50% of the screen on the most common resolutions. I personally do not feel welcome blocks add much user retention, but that varies audience to audience. You could get by with something smaller, or a block in the sidebar.

At least don't display it in all pages. It is very huge !

Move media slider up;

 

[ArtG]

Maybe it annoys people into registering to get rid of it???

 

[Old Nick]

In any case if you have read it once you don't want to see it appear on each page you visit... Display it on the home page of your forum, create another one more concise for the resource and gallery home pages and delete it everywhere else. Finally create another one mobile-friendly, currently you have to scroll a lot to reach the first content on smartphone.

 

[Forsaken]

At least don't display it in all pages. It is very huge !

Showing it on all pages doesn't matter, the issue is the size and the fact that it really does not have much purpose other than to say "we're different from Facebook".

Maybe it annoys people into registering to get rid of it???

You have a very small window of turning a guest into an active user, and any annoyance or difficulty will usually ruin that chance entirely. If your welcome block was half the size, it would likely be more useful.

You can remove basically everything about the differences between you and Facebook, and slim down the whole section to 2-3 smaller sections. An introduction to what your community is, or what your aim for the community feel is, what the community offers, and an outro encouraging people to join. Even that is still more than you need, but if you're going to have a welcome block make it short and succinct and as compact as possible.

If you feel the need to break down what your site offers, make a landing page that you link to and use for advertisements . It's still not ideal, but it is better than pushing your content down.

 

[Old Nick]

Showing it on all pages doesn't matter

It's too repetitive, especially if you've already read it.

I can understand that displaying it on all pages ensures that any entry link to the forum will allow you to read this notice but in any case if a visitor is interested in your forum he will sooner or later end up on your home page. If the visitor enters your site and leaves so soon this notice will not have been of much use anyway. It's a choice, but I'm not a fan of these blocks, regardless of their content, which is systematically displayed on each page you visit.

 

[ArtG]

Guys, you sold me. Made the edit to just three sentences. I appreciate your experienced advice.

I do use @Ozzy47's mirroring add-on to create albums based on what people post into certain forums. I will move the media slider up as people love eye candy.

I am a subscriber to @AndyB's site but had not seen Showcase. He has so many addons it is hard to see them all. I love the idea of the Showcase as I think it will help to showcase the beautiful aquariums people have. Will implement. Another thank you to you.

 

[ArtG]

It's too repetitive, especially if you've already read it.

I can understand that displaying it on all pages ensures that any entry link to the forum will allow you to read this notice but in any case if a visitor is interested in your forum he will sooner or later end up on your home page. If the visitor enters your site and leaves so soon this notice will not have been of much use anyway. It's a choice, but I'm not a fan of these blocks, regardless of their content, which is systematically displayed on each page you visit.

It's a notice. Is there a way to only show it on the homepage?

 

[Old Nick]

Notice >> Page criteria

 

[Forsaken]

Guys, you sold me. Made the edit to just three sentences. I appreciate your experienced advice.

I do use @Ozzy47's mirroring add-on to create albums based on what people post into certain forums. I will move the media slider up as people love eye candy.

I am a subscriber to @AndyB's site but had not seen Showcase. He has so many addons it is hard to see them all. I love the idea of the Showcase as I think it will help to showcase the beautiful aquariums people have. Will implement. Another thank you to you.

The add-on I am talking about is by @Bob and not AndyB; I personally do not use his add-ons as there are usually better-quality ones available, or I can do the same myself.

 

[ArtG]

Oops. Sorry.

 

[ArtG]

I've looked at @Bob's Showcase one before and it seemed to be overkill for showcasing an aquarium. I can certainly see it as the "garage" that the sites use. I tried doing something similar with Xenforo's Media add-on but didn't really work well.