XF 2.0 Removing Old RSS Threads

[kingjavo]

Does anyone know if RSS feeds hurt my site's SEO rankings? I've been super lazy and just use articles from the #1 site called "Operation Sports" to use as the main articles on my homepage.

I'm familiar with backlinks and I know I'm helping them more than myself. I also know that "unique content" and a lot of it is what really counts and having RSS content all over my site sounds like a big NO, NO. I was thinking about deleting these RSS threads and starting to create my own custom content, but was a little hesitant to not hurt any little site rankings I receive on Google and other Search Engines.

I know that 404 errors are not the best for your site's rankings and redirects can be a possible solution as long as the redirected link is related to the original link.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how best to handle this issue?

 

[Mr Lucky]

Bit of a double edged sword. If that RSS feed means people like your site, and link to your home page becuase of it, then that's a good thing having those inbound links. However you are also offering free publicity and outbound links to a direct competitor.

However any back link you have due to people liking that feed will probably not be romved if you take the feed down, so my gut feeling is to do that and have your own content that people like.

I don't understand what you mean by the 404 errors though, why would changing the homepage create 404s?

 

[kingjavo]

I don't understand what you mean by the 404 errors though, why would changing the homepage create 404s?

Thanks for the information. What I mean by 404 errors is if I delete those RSS pages, then any indexed url on Google will receive a 404 error because they were deleted.

 

[Mr Lucky]

You said it was the home page that has an RSS feed, so you won't be deleting any pages, just the feed on your home page and replacing with other content.

If you do delete several actual pages, then I don't think a few 404s will harm, however I think the best practice is to list them in your htaccess with 410. However if there are relevant pages to make a 301 to, then that is a good thing.

 

[kingjavo]

You said it was the home page that has an RSS feed, so you won't be deleting any pages, just the feed on your home page and replacing with other content.

Sorry for the confusion. The RSS feeds route into the below Node and then I promote them using an addon to become an article on the homepage. I don't mind deleted everything, but the majority of my content is probably those RSS feeds. I don't really care if I lose them because my site has never really been my main focus until now so I plan to add unique content going forward, I'm just not sure how Google will react if I tear down my pages like that.

https://www.simheads.com/forums/sports-gaming-news/

 

[Mr Lucky]

So either take down that page and give it a 410 or keep it there and have a few feeds on it, so it’s still a news page but more than than just one feed to one other site.

As it is now that is more or less duplicate content of your home page so not good.

Then make your home page more unique custom content, e.g what’s happening on your site - latest posts, featured posts, resources gallery whatever

 

[AndyB]

I would be more concerned about how visitors to your site perceive the RSS feed threads. I would think a bunch of threads with zero replies would make the forum look dead.

 

[kingjavo]

I would be more concerned about how visitors to your site perceive the RSS feed threads. I would think a bunch of threads with zero replies would make the forum look dead.

Yea, there aren't any replies to those threads. I was thinking more along the lines of Google and hurting any little bit of search ranking I might have with them.

 

[Mr Lucky]

Just looked at the site, yes, what Andy said.

Plus if you are concerened about 404s, hardly any of the links in the footer arte valid (maybe they are if logged in, but that's not how Google sees them)

Site looks good though but I think the feed probably ins't helping apart from getting people to click away to the other site.

 

[kingjavo]

Just looked at the site, yes, what Andy said.

Plus if you are concerened about 404s, hardly any of the links in the footer arte valid (maybe they are if logged in, but that's not how Google sees them)

Site looks good though but I think the feed probably ins't helping apart from getting people to click away to the other site.

Makes perfect sense. Yeah those links are dead because I never did anything with them. So I think I'm just going to DELETE all of those threads.

Any quick way to do this in XF2?

 

[AndyB]

I was thinking more along the lines of Google and hurting any little bit of search ranking I might have with them.

Because these RSS feeds are not unique content, they're unlikely to show on the first page of a Google search, so I would think they don't help your forum.

 

[AndyB]

Any quick way to do this in XF2?

Deleteing the forum node will delete all threads contained in that forum node.

 

[kingjavo]

Sounds good. Do you know if the sitemap will need to be regenerated and/or submitted again afterwards?

 

[Mr Lucky]

Sitemap should regenerate, never any harm in resubmitting.

Unless there are external (inbound) links Google will just re-adjust. If there are inbound links I'd recommend a 301 to make the most of them.

 

[AndyB]

Do you know if the sitemap...

I never use sitemap as I don't think it's at all needed. Robots will re-index your forum without any intervention.