Do your ShowPost Pages Get Search Hits?

In my recent article, I provided info on [B][URL="http://www.vbseo.com/f2/how-replace-showpost-links-permalinks-max-out-search-engine-crawling-efficiency-31454/"]how to remove showpost pages from your forum[/URL][/B] to dramatically increase crawling efficiency.

[B][COLOR=Blue]However, before you do so, you should first find out if you are getting any search traffic to your showpost pages and (if so) how much.[/COLOR][/B]

[B]We can do this with Google Analytics[/B]. If you do not use Google Analytics, then you may be able to find an equivalent method in your stats software.

[LIST][*]Login to Google Analytics.[*]Select your forum's stats.[*]Select "Traffic Sources".[*]Then click "Keywords".[*]Use the date range selector to see stats for the previous 30 days.[*]Find the "Dimension" label at the top of the keyword list.[*]Select "Landing Page" from the dropdown.[/LIST]
Now you are viewing all of the pages of your forum that received hits from search engine searches. [B]Our goal is to find out which of these pages are showpost pages.[/B]

[LIST][*]Scroll to the bottom of the list and find the "Find Landing Page:" label.[*]Keep "Containing" selected.[*]Now enter "showpost.php" into the text box and hit "Go".[/LIST]
[B]The page will redisplay and will show any showpost pages that received search hits in the last 30 days[/B]. If you have been vBSEO enabled for a while, this list will most likely be empty. This is because showpost.php will only match the old vBulletin formats, not the newly vBSEO rewritten formats.

Depending on what rewriting format you used for your showpost pages, we can still usually find them in the stats. In the default formats, we often use the thread title + "[B]-post[/B]" in order to distinguish showpost pages from the actual thread page. So you can search for this as well.

[LIST][*]Now enter "-post" into the text box and hit "Go".[/LIST]
If you still have your showpost pages enabled, you may find some search hits to these pages (provided the format you are using includes "-post").

[LIST][*]Now take a look at the list.[/LIST]
[B]How many different showpost pages are still getting hits? Is the traffic significant?[/B]

If the traffic is a lot, you have various options. However, [U]you should not proceed with disabling showpost pages immediately until you have decided on a strategy[/U]. If this is the case for you, please create a thread at vbseo.com to discuss it with the vBSEO Total Support Team.

[B][COLOR=Blue]If you are not getting much or any traffic to the showpost pages, then why keep them?[/COLOR][/B]

You can dramatically increase your crawling efficiency and gain other SEO advantages by removing them. Since they are not yielding traffic, it's an easy decision in that case. :)