Real vbSEO results thread (especially for med-larger forums)

[FlyBoy73]

I posted this over at vbSEO but the only person that responded thus far is Rex (thanks Rex). I thought maybe I could get more input here from those that are already using it as well as those who might start in the future.

I also realize there are a few other vbSEO threads running here; however I thought it would be a good idea to have one that tracks the actual results of this add-on specifically.

Please do not use this thread to discuss whether or not you would or would not use or pay for this add-on..

My post over at vbSEO's forums with a few slight modifications

Quote:

I think it would be nice to hear from anyone with a larger forum/community that has around or above 500k post and a significant number of links in Google / Yahoo. I've been searching but so far I am seeing mainly people with newer forums or not a very large amount of threads/posts and links in Google report. I was contacted about being a Beta tester for vBSEO, and while I really would have liked to be a part of that, I do not want to risk the revenue that my largest site produces via adsense should I lose the rankings & links that I have now. Sure, in time I would see them again and maybe better, but what about until that time... (Major losses) Here are some of my own forum stats for my larger community Over 13,000 unique visitors a day 1.6 million posts and growing 60,000+ members Between 100,000-350,000 page views per day My links/refs in Google flux from between 750,000 to 1.2 million currently. That is a lot of links and I actually do a lot of Adsense business in my "stock" archives so I am not even sure I want to get rid of them. They have never been a problem for me up to this point and I don't feel I have been penalized for having duplicate content. (Actually triplicate if you consider the printthread areas that Yahoo likes) If this forum was newer or smaller, I wouldn't flinch, and I may very well use it / test it out on a few of my less than 500k post count forums, but at one point in the past when I went to vbulletin 3.0 (moving from one archive structure to another) I lost a huge amount of links that took me literally 6-9 months to recover and get back to where I was before the upgrade. I've read a lot about the re-direct system vbSEO employs but I am not sure I want to gamble on it just yet. I do firmly believe that the URL's and other features that vbSEO offers are very beneficial when it comes to rank but it is the risk of losing a lot of adsense $$ that concerns me... And for how long.. Please post your statistical experiences here with regards to links lost/gained, traffic changes, and how long it may have taken you to get back to where you were with indexed links.. Especially if you have a larger forum and adsense. Thanks, David

[rex_b]

Hey again.

So far I have:

Gained 300 pages in MSN
Stayed the same on Yahoo!
Lost 200,000 pages in Google

Traffic is the same, Revenue is the same.

Been running the program for some 2-3 weeks.

[DChapman]

I think vbSEO does some things very well. I also think some of their options could significantly hurt a forum's earning potential.

As a larger forum, make very sure your server is going to be able to handle the mod_rewrite and redirects.

[Ted S]

Keep in mind that SEO is measured in months (and rarely just one or two of them), not weeks. While I'm no vbSEO user I don't want to see people avoid the program because of incorrect results. Pages indexed are a great indicator or spider access but ultimately what really matters is traffic, traffic quality, registrations and for some, revenue. Hopefully we can find some long term experiences for those of us not running the software to get a real feel for it.

[s2kinteg916]

I believe the answer your looking for is one that wouldnt really be beneficial in you decision to purchase the program or not.

Different sites will have different outcomes based on many factors.

For example having a site with 20,000 post between 50 members and no quality backlinks isnt going to get you many visitors.

Depends on your niche and keywords that your site targets maybe you are in a market where theres not much traffic in general.

I understand we want concrete results quick and fast but as far and giving vbseo a review after 1-3 months your not gonna get a review that is helpful at all.

I think it takes at least 6-12 months to see the effect of vbseo on rankings...

Like everything else in the SEO World it just takes time...

[FlyBoy73]

What will be beneficial in my decision making process is knowing how well the re-directs they are imposing work as well as a number of other features. vBSEO is claiming, unless I am mistaken, that the 301 (?) redirects will keep Google (etc) from dumping all your old links and then re-indexing them in a delayed fashion. That they will just update them. Thus, I won't go from a million links down to almost zero and have to wait 6-9+ months to get back into the game.

I understand that there are a lot of factors at play here and SEO is often a wait and see game, but it gets back to the question of how well vBSEO handles things with larger forums with a lot of links.. Will you have the same traffic in the next three months as you have had the past three? Will it improve or will it take you 6 or more months to realize any gains from this.

I think a thread that contains this type of information is beneficial.. Sure there are going to be a lot of variables but I think the end results will speak clearly if enough statistical data is included.

I'm going to go for it with my 250k post forum and we'll see how things evolve. Once we get the upgrade finished I will post all the forum & site traffic stats here each month, along with Google & Yahoo links.

[FlyBoy73]

Thanks Rex.

At your site stats has Google traffic dropped as well or just the link count?

With regards to MSN & Yahoo, are the links showing up there your old ones or the new format?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rex_b Hey again. So far I have: Gained 300 pages in MSN Stayed the same on Yahoo! Lost 200,000 pages in Google Traffic is the same, Revenue is the same. Been running the program for some 2-3 weeks.

[PacMan]

Thanks for sharing Rajun

[Aharon]

About a week ago I moved my big-boards sized forums, TampaForums.com over to vBseo. I will keep you guys updated.

[GeorgeB.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rex_b Lost 200,000 pages in Google

Me no likey that...

Hopefully that is a temporary condition and will be rectify itself. Google does tend to flake out on sites for no reason sometimes so this could actually be unrelated.

[cgchris99]

Any new updates on the forums that are testing this?

[Marc Smith]

I'd love to see some facts / statistics over several months.

[BrandonSheley]

maybe I should post my review too
it's a smaller site but great results...

[PacMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loco.M maybe I should post my review too it's a smaller site but great results...

Please do!