vBulletin Hack - Tip. Search Engine Secrets With Google.

vBulletin Hack - Tips. Search Engine Secrets with Google.
By Steve Shubitz

If you sent me to a desert island and I could only take a single Hack for vBulletin, I would choose Last XX Posts on a non-vB page
by the prolific and talented "tubedogg". Actually, this modification is not really a "Hack" but 3 .php files you configure to insert your vB data in a .html page on another site or the same site which hosts your vB. Click here to open one of this sites pages in a new window for an example. This page contains the Last 25 Threads from our geek/talk Forums @ GeekVillage.com. Note that our Forums are located on a different server.

Set me up and tweak me till I drop:

We assume you wish to insert your vB data on another site which does not host your Forums. This is the most challenging but also the most rewarding.

1. Create a .php file (last25-local-site.php) for the site you wish to insert the Last XX Posts into which contains the following code:

<html><head><title>Include vBulletint</title></head>
<body>
<center>
<?php echo join ('', file ('https://www.domain-where-vb-installed.com/last25-vb-site-inside-page.php')); ?>
</center>
</body></html>

2. FTP this file to your server in ASCII format.

3. Insert the following code in the .html pages that you wish to display your Last XX Posts:

4. You have 2 files left which have default names in the archive of last10.php and last10config.php. Both need to be edited and uploaded to the site which hosts your vBulletin. Please note, this is not the site which you wish to insert your Last XX Posts into. We will rename and edit the 2 files from the .zip archive.

5. Rename the last10.php file from the .zip archive to last25-vb-site-inside-page.php and edit the following line in this file:

// let's get connected
require("last25-vb-site-inside-page-config.php");

If you wish your Topic Links to open in a new window change this line:

echo("<a href=\"$url/showthread.php?threadid=$threads[threadid]&goto=newpost\" style=\"color: $lc;\" title=\"$threads[title]\">$title</a></nobr></td>\n");

To:
echo("<a href=\"$url/showthread.php?threadid=$threads[threadid]&goto=newpost\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color: $lc;\" title=\"$threads[title]\">$title</a></nobr></td>\n");

6. Rename last10config.php from the archive to last25-vb-site-inside-page-config.php and edit this file with the options you want.

7. FTP these 2 files we just edited to the site which hosts your vBulletin using ASCII format.

8. Create a test.html page for your site (not the site which hosts your vBulletin) and insert the following in the page:



9. FTP this file to your site using ASCII and then open this page in your browser to test.

10. I like to use custom names for each of the 3 files. This prevents confusion when you have numerous sites displaying your vB data. I also assume that you wish to display this data on another site and not the same site which contains your vBulletin Forums.

11. Congradulations, your done.

Search Engine Secrets with Google and others:

Your .html pages which contain the last xx Posts from vBulletin are indexed/spidered by Google and other major Search Engines. The spider "sees" .html and text on your site. Given that this data is always changing, this procedure provides "fresh spider food" and will definetly help your listings for a given keyword. You can optamize this procedure by insuring that your Forum's Topic Titles are descriptive. For example, change the topic title of "Lost" to "Help with Unix Commands".

If you need more secrets and tips for vBulletin, click here.