What does auto fix do? How does it do it -- meaning, does it add a change to the rendering on the fly? does it update the database in some fashion? does it change templates?
What service does it use to determine scores? is there an api key needed?
Auto-fix covers three things: missing JSON-LD structured data, missing meta descriptions, and missing OG image tags.
It doesn't touch the database or edit any templates. It's all done on the fly at render time. There's a template modification on PAGE_CONTAINER that hooks in callbacks before </head>. When a page loads, it figures out what kind of page it is (forum, category, page, homepage), checks what's missing, and injects the right tags into the HTML output. It's all in memory, nothing gets saved anywhere. If you turn off an option in AdminCP it stops immediately, turn it back on and it's back. No rebuilds or cache clearing needed.
Breaking it down:
- JSON-LD - adds schema.org structured data so Google can do rich results, breadcrumbs, etc. You can toggle it per page type.
- Meta descriptions - if a forum or page doesn't have a description set, it generates one. Forums get something like "Browse [Forum Title] - [X] discussions on [Site Name]". Pages get the first ~160 chars of their content.
- OG image - if there's no og:image tag already, it drops in your site logo so links shared on Discord/Facebook/Twitter don't show a blank preview.
For scoring, no external service, no API key, nothing like that. It just queries your own XenForo database, checks your content against a set of SEO rules, and flags issues. The score itself is pretty straightforward: you start at 100 and lose 10 points per critical issue, 3 per warning, 1 per info. It's basically a way to track whether things are getting better or worse over time, not some kind of Google ranking predictor.
All of this is still relevant, JSON-LD has honestly gotten more important with Google leaning into it for AI overviews and rich results. Meta descriptions still drive click-through rates in search results. OG images are table stakes for social sharing. None of it has been deprecated or made obsolete.
As far as what it actually does for you in practice, it's not going to transform your rankings. What it does is bring your forum up to baseline. Without these tags, your pages are missing standard stuff that Google and social platforms expect to find. The JSON-LD won't magically boost you, but it makes you eligible for rich results and enhanced listings, without it you're just not in the running for those. Meta descriptions don't directly affect ranking (Google has said this), but they affect whether someone clicks your result versus the one above or below it, a real description vs whatever Google auto-generates from your page can make a noticeable difference in click-through rate. The OG image has zero effect on search rankings, but it's the difference between your links looking legitimate or looking like spam when shared on Discord or social media.
So it helps, but in a "fixing what's broken" way, not a "secret SEO weapon" way. Most XenForo sites are shipping pages with none of this filled in, this just makes sure yours aren't.
