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Welcome to my SEO comparison article for free and open source forum software. In this article we take a closer look to MyBB, phpBB, SimpleMachinesForum and Flarum.

When selecting the right forum software for your online community, one crucial factor to consider is its ability to optimize your forum’s visibility on popular search engines.


MyBB​

MyBB is a widely used open source PHP/MySQL forum script known for its user-friendly features and ease of setup. However, out of the box, it doesn’t provide the most optimal SEO capabilities.

  1. Clean URL Structure: MyBB offers user-friendly URLs out of the box, which can improve both user experience and search engine indexing.
  2. Meta Tags: You can customize meta tags for individual forum sections and threads, allowing for some degree of SEO optimization.
  3. XML Sitemap: While not generated automatically, you can find plugins and third-party tools to create XML sitemaps for MyBB, which can aid search engine indexing.
  4. Robots.txt: MyBB allows you to create and customize your robots.txt file to control which parts of your forum are accessible to search engine crawlers.

SEO 3rd Party Plugins For MyBB​


In this section, we will explore some additional tips and plugins to further enhance SEO for your MyBB forum.

Google SEO Plugin: One of the most valuable tools for improving MyBB’s SEO is the Google SEO plugin. This plugin offers essential features such as Google SEO titles, 404 error handling, redirects, and sitemap generation. The sitemap generated by this plugin helps search engines discover and index your forum pages more efficiently.

Meta Tags for Social Media Visibility

In today’s social media-driven world, it’s essential to optimize your forum for social media crawlers. You can enhance your forum’s visibility on platforms like Twitter and Facebook by adding meta tags to your forum’s templates. Include the following code within your headerinclude template to improve social media visibility:

HTML: 
<meta name="twitter:card" value="summary"> <meta property="og:title" content="Your Forum Title" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <meta property="og:url" content="{$mybb->settings['url']}" /> <meta property="og:image" content="{$mybb->settings['url']}/path/to/picture.jpg" /> <meta property="og:description" content="Description of your forum" />
Make sure to replace “path/to/picture.jpg” with the URL of your forum’s image and customize the meta tags accordingly.

Robots.txt for Blocking Unwanted Pages

Search engines respect the directives in a robots.txt file, which can be used to block access to specific pages on your forum. This helps in preventing search engines from indexing or crawling pages that you wish to keep private or unindexed. Below is a sample robots.txt file that you can modify to suit your preferences:
Code: 
User-agent: * Disallow: /captcha.php Disallow: /editpost.php Disallow: /modcp.php Disallow: /moderation.php Disallow: /newreply.php Disallow: /newthread.php Disallow: /printthread.php Disallow: /private.php Disallow: /ratethread.php Disallow: /report.php Disallow: /sendthread.php Disallow: /task.php Disallow: /usercp.php Disallow: /usercp2.php Disallow: /archive Disallow: /online.php Disallow: /calendar.php Disallow: /reputation.php Disallow: /search.php Disallow: /*nextoldest* Disallow: /*nextnewest* Disallow: /*datecut* Disallow: /*lastpost* Disallow: /*markread*
Customize this file to suit your forum’s structure and needs, and ensure that it’s placed in your forum’s root directory.

Spam Prevention

Addressing spam is crucial for both user experience and SEO. Spam content can negatively impact your forum’s reputation and search engine rankings. Implement robust spam prevention measures, including IP bans, CAPTCHA systems, and user moderation, to maintain a spam-free forum environment. An article for Spam Prevention is coming up soon!

Page Speed Optimization

Page speed is a significant factor in search engine rankings. A faster-loading forum can lead to higher search engine rankings. Consider using a SEO-friendly theme, and regularly check your website’s performance using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights. Optimize your images and scripts to ensure that your forum loads quickly and efficiently for both users and search engine crawlers.

By following these additional SEO tips and utilizing the Google SEO plugin, you can significantly improve the search engine visibility of your MyBB forum, attract more organic traffic, and provide a better user experience for your community members. Remember to make these changes on a test environment or backup before implementing them on your live forum. Once applied, monitor your forum’s performance in Google Search Console and enjoy the potential boost in traffic and rankings.

phpBB​

phpBB is another widely-used open source forum software that offers several SEO-friendly features

phpBB3, by default, comes equipped with robust Search Engine Optimization (SEO) features that enhance its search engine friendliness. It efficiently manages BOT sessions and takes steps to exclude irrelevant content from search engine indexing, such as forms, profile links, or inaccessible links (referred to as “dead links”). However, these features mainly focus on improving spider indexing performance and optimizing page load times by eliminating unnecessary content. Nevertheless, there is a range of advanced techniques to further optimize phpBB3 for superior search engine capability, many of which may still be unfamiliar to users.

  1. User-Friendly URLs: phpBB provides clean URLs, making it easier for search engines to understand and users to navigate.
  2. Meta Tags: You can customize meta descriptions and keywords for individual forums and topics.
  3. XML Sitemap: phpBB allows you to create XML sitemaps manually or with the help of third-party extensions.
  4. Robots.txt: Like MyBB, phpBB enables you to configure your robots.txt file to control crawler access.

SEO 3rd Party Extensions For phpBB​

  1. Sitemap Extension:
    • This extension generates sitemaps specifically designed for search engines, supporting both the default phpBB and the installed Ultimate SEO URL Extension.
    • It automatically detects whether Ultimate SEO is installed and enabled, providing seamless support when it’s found.
    • This extension is a port of the phpBB3 SEO Sitemap MOD from phpBB 3.0.x.
    • SEO Meta is an extension that dynamically generates meta tags and microdata (Open Graph, Twitter Cards, and JSON-LD) for your forum topics and content.
    • Key features include dynamically generated Open Graph, Twitter Cards meta tags, and JSON-LD microdata based on your forum data and the current page.
    • It allows customization of the default image for Open Graph and JSON-LD, as well as options to control how descriptions are generated.
    • In the Admin Control Panel (ACP), you can enable/disable Open Graph, Twitter Cards, and JSON-LD support, ensuring compatibility with social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Vkontakte.
These third-party extensions and optimizes your phpBB3 forum’s SEO settings, you can further enhance its search engine visibility, making it more attractive to both users and search engine crawlers. These extensions provide valuable tools to help you fine-tune your forum’s meta information, sitemaps, and social media integration. Be sure to explore these options in the Admin Control Panel to make the most of phpBB3’s SEO capabilities and elevate your forum’s online presence.

Simple Machines Forum (SMF)​

SMF is another open source forum software that provides decent SEO features:

  1. XML Sitemap: While not generated automatically, you can find third-party tools and mods to create XML sitemaps for SMF.
  2. Canonical Tags: An important way for Google to recognize duplicate content.
  3. Robots.txt: SMF allows you to configure your robots.txt file for better control over search engine crawling.

SEO 3rd Party Plugins For SMF​

  1. Optimus:
    • Optimus is a robust SMF extension designed to refine the SEO aspects of your forum.
    • It allows you to manage titles and descriptions for the main forum page, along with description meta-tags for boards and topics.
    • Optimus also supports Open Graph meta-tags and Twitter Cards.
    • Additionally, it provides the convenience of specifying verification codes when adding your site to search engines like Google, Yandex, and Bing via Webmaster Tools.
    • You can incorporate custom meta-tags and counters without the need for template editing.
    • Furthermore, Optimus simplifies the configuration of robots.txt and .htaccess files directly from the extension’s settings page.
    • PrettyUrls SEO Pro is a comprehensive SEO enhancement package for SMF that aims to improve search engine rankings.
    • It offers SEO-friendly URLs for various forum elements, including boards, topics, profiles, and actions.
    • The extension includes a built-in sitemap system, which benefits search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
    • Other features comprise an .htaccess editor, a custom 404 page editor, and robots.txt management.
    • Users can take advantage of an SEO checklist to assist in optimizing their forums.
    • PrettyUrls SEO Pro is compatible with SMF 2.1.x (MySQL) and SMF 2.0.x (MySQL).
    • This is a paid mod. A simpler and free mod is located here: Pretty URLs
These third-party modifications offer SMF users powerful tools to optimize their forums for search engines, enrich the user experience, and increase web traffic. With these you can take your SMF forum’s SEO to the next level, ensuring that it ranks well in search engine results and attracts a larger audience. Which is definitely required since SMF does not offer well Search Engine Optimization from the core software.

Flarum​

Flarum is a newer open source forum software that focuses on simplicity and modern design. While it doesn’t offer as many SEO features out of the box, it’s worth considering for its active development community and potential for future SEO improvements.

SEO 3rd Party Extensions for​


Flarum, a modern forum software, benefits from third-party extensions to enhance its SEO capabilities. One of the most popular SEO extensions for Flarum is the “Flarum SEO” extension by V17 Development.

Key Features:

  1. Fully Fledged SEO Tags:
    • Once you install the Flarum SEO extension, your forum is well on its way to improved SEO. Discussions receive the appropriate SEO tags, and your forum’s homepage benefits from enhanced SEO as well.
    • This extension is fully open source, allowing you to customize it to your specific requirements. You can also contribute to the project, making it better for everyone in the Flarum community. You can check out the source code on GitHub.
The “Flarum SEO” extension by V17 Development has proven to be a valuable addition for Flarum communities looking to enhance their forum’s SEO performance. With its open-source nature and compatibility with other Flarum extensions, it provides a comprehensive solution for improving your forum’s visibility on the web and social media platforms.

Conclusion​

The choice of forum software impacts your site’s SEO capabilities. While MyBB, phpBB, and SMF offer some SEO features, they require manual setup or third-party extensions for advanced optimization. Flarum, although newer and with fewer built-in features, benefits from third-party extensions like “Flarum SEO” to enhance SEO capabilities, making it a viable option for those looking to invest in future SEO improvements. But is different from the traditional forum use. The choice ultimately depends on your community’s needs and your willingness to utilize third-party extensions to optimize SEO.


Compared to paid forum software, you’ll need to do a lot more work to be better noticed by Google. Keep that in mind when considering free above paid software.


The selection of forum software and the use of third-party SEO tools can undoubtedly enhance your forum’s search engine presence. However, it’s essential to remember that while these tools are valuable, they serve as complements to the real key to impressive SEO results: high-quality content.

No amount of optimization can fully compensate for content that doesn’t provide value to your audience. Search engines reward forums that consistently offer relevant, informative, and engaging content. Therefore, as you explore various SEO strategies and tools for your forum, always prioritize the creation of unique and exceptional content. When you strike the right balance between technical optimization and compelling content, you’ll be well on your way to achieving outstanding SEO outcomes and thus creating a thriving online community.


Which forum software do you currently use, and what are your experiences with its SEO capabilities?