Hi there,

I've got a forum which is quite new (http://www.the-biomatrix.net/forum/index.php) and I want to SEO it so that thread titles appear as words in the browser and any other decent SEO fixes.

I'm not sure what route to go down, bearing in mind that I don't really know what I'm doing. Am I best off installing a new forum (SEO Premod), and is there a way of transferring the posts in my old forum across to this new one?

Or, alternatively, is it best that I just install a mod on my current forum?

Any idea what the easiest route would be?


Thanks for any advice

You should be able to keep all your content, as that is stored in your database. I would recommend that you download the premoded version, and install it on a different path.. example site.com/version2/

Ah okay thanks.

So if I install it at say site.com/version2/ would I need to export all my data from the database and then import it back on the new forum?

Also would it help with SEO if instead of naming it /forum/ or /version2/ I used one of my keywords? So the forum would be located at www.site.com/keyword/ ?


Thanks again

First of all, before you change anything on your live board, read this thread: How to set up a local server using xampp. Back to your question, you may want to export/import the database, but technically that's not necessary. The forum root directory is recorded in the database (in the config table), so you could simply reinstall to another directory, update the config table, and you're off to the races. That said, I think the export/import approach is more appealing if you don't have a clear understanding of how the phpBB database and install relate to each other because you won't "destroy" your existing setup while you work on the new one.

Thanks HB, was the link to the xampp page just so I can read about backing up my forum?

Also, are there any nooob step-by-step instructions for setting up the forum?


Thanks again

I suggested XAMPP because you can test your site on your local computer before mucking with the live site. As for newbie instructions... the premod makes it fairly straightforward, assuming a modest level of experience with website development. Or, to put it another way, installing phpBB-seo is only slightly more difficult than phpBB itself, primarily because of the work for .htaccess / URL rewriting. If you're looking for paint-by-numbers level of instruction, then phpBB-seo may not be a good idea.

Not sure if they are "newbie" enough, but a good set of instructions: Install the phpBB SEO premod on phpBB. I recommend copying your live board to a local test computer and trying it out.

Thanks for the help, I've got the forum installed now.

The old forum is still live, but before I delete it I was wondering if its possible to redirect each thread of the forum to the newly created forum?

Also if the forum was located at site.com/forum/ and its now at http://www.site.com/forum2/ would it be possible to redirect people who go to the old URL straight to the new one?


Thanks again

You could use redirects, but unless you've got a good reason for doing so, I suggest renaming the "new" to the "old" and updating the config table entry in the database for the script location. Remember to purge the forums/cache directory.

Well I named the new forum "bodybuilding" because this was a relevant keyword, but does this not really have any SEO benefit?

Otherwise I'll just rename it back to "forum". Thanks for the advice again.

Do you still think I should rename it back to forum to overwrite the existing, old version?

Thanks