Archive For April, 2006

Apache Configuration is Too Complex (including Mod_Rewrite) – Matt Cutts Wants Simplification…

In this recent blog, Matt Cutts is encouraging developers to create solutions that will simplify Apache web server configurations for webmasters. He notes that while Apache is the world’s leading web server, it can be tricky to configure and set-up redirects, mod_rewrite, and .htaccess, etc.

Google and Matt Would Like vBSEO’s CRRs!

A few of us were talking about this at Google. … Maybe a tool to take a list of desired redirects or rewrites, then output the correct syntax that you could cut and paste into a web server config file?

vBSEO’s Custom Rewrite Rules (CRR) takes this a step further.

We recognize that the average forum admin is not going to be an expert at manipulating the intricacies of mod_rewrite, .htaccess, or http.conf – that’s for certain.
While vBSEO fully converts vBulletin into a 1-URL-Per-Resource SEO powerhouse, the number of vBulletin custom hacks that are available now (and will be in the future) make a system to extend our users ability to convert all of their URLs to static an absolute necessity.
Thus, we created CRRs to address that need. And, it seems that we’re one step ahead of the gang at Google in this context:

We do not require the cut-and-paste! Unless of course, you’re sharing a CRR contribution provided by our members in the Custom Rewrite Rules forum.Notes on vBSEO

CRR stands for “Custom Rewrite Rule”. vBSEO’s admin control panel (vbseocp.php) allows users to specify simplified regular expression codes that will convert other common vBulletin hacks from dynamic to static URLs.

With some tweaking, anything that is plugged into your vBulletin forum can be rewritten… But the real power in CRR rewriting is not just changing a .php for it’s equivalent, but unifying multiple (complex) URLs into leading to the same content… into a single URL!Let’s take vBA Links Directory as an example. The default URLs allow access to the same record via 6 different URLs:

/links/showlink.php?do=showdetails&l=ABC
/links/showlink.php?do=showdetails&l=ABC&catid=newlinks
/links/showlink.php?do=showdetails&l=ABC&catid=poplinks&orderby=views
/links/showlink.php?do=showdetails&l=ABC&catid=poplinks&orderby=rating
/links/showlink.php?do=showdetails&l=ABC&catid=poplinks&orderby=posts
/links/showlink.php?do=showdetails&l=ABC&catid=searchresults&searchid=1

A SINGLE CRR rule will create ONE URL for all of the above URL variations, replacing them wherever they occur on your forum with:

/links/link-ABC.html

This brings you even closer to 1-URL-Per-Resource link consensus.

Does Google prefer static URLs to dynamics?

Although Google itself says statics are preferred, some people still debate the necessity.

However, this is no doubt that providing a single, unified URL for each unique page on your forum is the absolute best scenario for SEO purposes!

For Discussion

Prior to vBSEO, the complexity of configuring .htaccess, mod_rewrite, etc. made free mod_rewrite based hacks prone to error – and too difficult to support for non-dedicated teams.
As the vBSEO community grows larger everyday, should vB hack developers now seek to format their dynamic URLs in a way that facilitates more advanced CRRs?Source:
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO » Simplifying Apache configuration?

vBSEO’s Custom Rewrite Rule Interface:

http://www.vbseo.com/images/vbseo-crrs.gif

This release of vBulletin fixes an unpleasant cross-site scripting flaw in the 3.0.x branch. We recommend all customers running previous versions of…

This post outlines the steps required to update your IPB 2.0.x or IPB 2.1.x for this security update.
If you’ve downloaded IPB 2.1.5 since the time of this post, there is no need to update your installation as the main download has been updated.

It has come to our attention that Invision Power Board 2.0.x and Invision Power Board 2.1.x contains potential vulnerabilities:

• A bug in Internet Explorer 5.0+ which allows a JPEG image to be uploaded with a GIF header containing malicious HTML / javascript code. (IPB 2.1.x only)
• Potential SQL injection (limited to 32 characters)
• Potential arbitrary PHP code execution

The attached files below contain the required files to update your installation to protect against these vulnerabilities. Simply download the relevant security update ZIP package and upload the files over the ones in your IPB installation effectively overwriting the files on your server.

Invision Power Board 2.1.x Update Package
http://forums.invisionpower.com/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=9981

Invision Power Board 2.0.x Update Package
http://forums.invisionpower.com/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=9980

“Crawl Caching Proxy” (BigDaddy Update) Discussed by Matt Cutts

Matt Cutts talks about the “Crawl Caching Proxy” Google has introduced with the BigDaddy update. With this new caching proxy, they will reduce bandwidth consumption (for both themselves and site owners).

How does it work?

Google has multiple independent bots that will crawl your site (Main index, AdSense, News Search, Blog Search, etc).
By using a “crawl caching proxy”, pages crawled by any one of these bots can be shared with the other services, without having to hit the website again (and, thereby, naturally consuming less bandwidth).Conspiracy theorists should note that Matt emphasizes:

Just as always, participating in AdSense or being in our blogsearch doesn’t get you any “extra” crawling (or ranking) in our web index whatsoever.

FYI - Having a page get stored in the crawl caching proxy will not help it to be prioritized for crawling by the other Google crawl services. Apparently, they will still determine their crawling list independently.

Quick Notes

robots.txt directives for each bot type will still be respected even if the page is pulled from the caching proxy instead of directly from the site.
The caching proxy is not to be confused with Google’s “Cached” links in the SERPs.Notes on vBSEO

vBSEO also focuses on reducing bandwidth consumption for faster and more efficient indexing.
vBSEO includes a HTML comment stripping feature that helps to reduce bandwidth consumption by a significant amount.
vBSEO includes gzip compression compatibility.
vBSEO works similar to the Google caching proxy. Our focus on 1-URL-Per-Resource helps to eliminate redundant URLs to the same content therefore also eliminating duplicate content. In addition to its other SEO advantages, this is a major bandwidth saver.If Google agreed to crawl 100 of your pages per day, would you prefer:

(a) it crawled 100 unique content pages, or
(b) it crawled 100 pages with a significant level of redundant/duplicate content?

The answer is obvious: With vBSEO Option (a) is a reality. Without vBSEO, a vBulletin forum is loaded with redundant URLs to the same content.

For Discussion

Why didn’t they have such a mechanism in place a long time ago?
No specific mention of how the freshness of crawled content will be affected when pulled from the caching proxy or how long a page will be stored there.
One might hope that they would also try (in addition to saving bandwidth) to also eliminate processing redundancy for the multiple crawling services.Source:
Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO » Crawl caching proxy

Hi Everyone,

The next beta version of the NBSdesignz Multi-Forums phpBB script has been released.

The only major changes are the Ajax Access Name Check feature and a few bug fixes. We plan to add multiple skin support to the script itself, as well as have the templates be separate from the php…

Please be aware that when the shop re-opens and GARS 2.0 hits RC, there will be a price increase to £19.95 for new purchases.

Furthermore I will be…

I’ve released the vRocking Flash banner… simply have a look at our vRocking skin and you will see it.

IPB Fixed: http://www.transversestyles.com/ipb/?skinid=88
IPB Fluid: http://www.transversestyles.com/ipb/?skinid=89

vBulletin Fixed: http://www.transversestyles.com/vB/?styleid=83
vBulletin Fluid: http://www.transversestyles.com/vB/?styleid=84

Please read the full thread before replying to it, please use our site feedback for any private questions and please understand that there’s a risk…

As of today vBhackers.com will not be supporting FXP related hacks anymore. This change has been something the staff and myself have been talking about for quite some time, and we feel that this change will help the community grow stronger, attract new users, and even new coders. Remember, new…

As I was working through the forums trying to identify bugs to be fixed, it suddenly struck me that I needed a quick and decent bug tracker - and…