Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
How to increase traffic to forum?
-
Hi all. I help run the forum at www.bearsfansonline.com and really want to see if there any ways to increase traffic. We started with a core group of posters in 2009 and since then have only added one active user. I'm worried if we don't bring in some fresh faces, my core users will start to leave.
That being said, does anyone have ideas how to go about doing this? We've tried holding contests but they haven't resulted in any new sign-ups. Don't really know what else we can do. I'd greatly appreciate any tips, suggestions, etc. Thanks in advance.
-
There is a basic SEO rule: content should only be available via a single URL on your website. There are some legitimate reasons to break that rule. If that happens, you need to take additional action such as use the canonical tag to identify the primary page.
Your home page situation is NOT a legitimate reason to break that rule. It's poor web design. It needs to be fixed. OSE is doing its job correctly. OSE is calling your attention to a SEO issue which requires your attention.
SOLUTION: Remove all references to the /index.php page on your site and replace them with the / page. Also add a 301 redirect from the index.php page to the / page so anyone who bookmarked or linked to the /index.php page is seamlessly taken to your home page.
-
Well, I've posted on a variety of forums on how to address this issue yet haven't gotten any responses. I'm not sure why OSE shows two different results as /index.php is the landing page for both URL's. /phpBB3/index.php is the absolute path and www.bearsfansonline.com forwards to that page as well.
-
You have a duplicate URL issue.
Your home page and the /phpBB3/index.php offer the same content. This is an SEO issue which needs to be fixed.
In order to implement best SEO practices into your site, it begins with solid website architecture. I have not used phpBB in a long time. I would suggest to check their official site for an add-on or extension which takes care of SEO issues.
-
Thanks the quick reply. We have a tumblr and twitter account which we link to on our forum main page (we deleted our facebook account). Regarding competing sites, I'll be sure to see if they're actively doing to attract members.
One question on a little tangent though. My current campaign is for "www.bearsfansonline.com" but when I went to OSE I saw that the page "http://www.bearsfansonline.com/phpBB3/index.php" got a much higher score (it's the landing page). Should I be making a campaign for the page instead? I'm not really sure what to do with this information.
-
I like the idea of finding fans of other local teams. I am a San Diego Padres fan. I like sports so when baseball is not in season, football is. I think the chances of a sports fan liking more than one sport is quite high.
-
There are tons of ideas you can implement. A few suggestions:
-
visit similar sites for other teams and see what they are doing to attract members. Copy the good things, leave the bad.
-
visit other Chicago Bear sites and look for ideas the same as above.
-
network with other Chicago sites such as other sports teams (Bulls, WhiteSox, etc)
-
start conversations which people would find interesting. "Should the Bears fire their head coach?", "2012 Chicago Bears draft choices", etc.
-
interact with others who talk about the bears on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other sources. Let the world know your site exists.
-
add social networking to your site. Allow users to log in with their social accounts.
These ideas are just a start. There are dozens of ideas.
Of course, it would help if this was football season. It would also help if the Bears had a better season
-
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
AdultBlock scam? Is there a downside to doing this instead....?
So our IT guy just sent me an email from our domain registrar, encouraging us to sign up for an annual 'adultblock' service. For those that aren't sure what this is... Adultblock represents a straightforward mechanism that enables qualifying organizations to block the registration of any domain that falls under their trademark. This includes unlimited variants based on the holder's labels. Instead of worrying about registering and managing many different adult related TLDs, it is possible to block trademarked domains under all four TLDs for up to ten years through just one action. Unfortunately, this service is not cheap, and I'm starting to wonder about the 'downside' of NOT doing it. Does anyone know if just purchasing the adult related TLDs for our domain, and then just sitting on them, would have any sort of negative effect on our SEO? Alternatively, could we just set an alert for when / if those domains ever get purchased and then just disavow those sites in search console? Thanks!!
Branding | | av-seo0 -
Can we use Youtube Videos of google webmaster on blog post?
Is it okay to embed YouTube videos of channel which we don't own? For example, I have written a blog on enabling event search in Google Analytics and Google Webmasters YouTube channel has a video based on those steps. I am looking to add that video in my blog.
Branding | | Ravi_Rana0 -
Why not just use an alias if the only change is a different domain Name?
We are rebranding our store with a new name. We have purchased a NewDomainName. Can I just make the "Old Domain Name" an alias for the "NewDomainName"? The site will not change in any other way than having a new logo. This is an e-commerce site with over 100 categories of artisan made products. So once we move the site, the old domain will be empty. Thank you Stephen
Branding | | stephenfishman1 -
How does the background on my product photos impact SEO - step and repeat vs. plain background
I have a new e-commerce site and I'm focused on optimizing it for SEO. If I am taking product photos, will having a step-and-repeat (background with our logo repeated) in the background of the product impact how the images are scanned by Google? In other words, would I benefit from having a plain background behind my item shots vs. a backdrop with our logos all across it? I don't want Google to think I'm spamming my logo across all our items, but also want our photos to be recognized as ours. I want to gain SEO from my effort and definitely not hurt it! Thanks!
Branding | | A_Wo0 -
Organic Brand Clicks/Traffic Drop - Why?
Hi Moz Community, I've been reviewing Search Console and have been noticing that there has been a consistent drop in brand clicks. The overall number of keywords (especially for the top 2 pages) have been increasing, according to SEMRUSH, however, traffic and sales are still in decline. There are no algorithmic and manual penalties, in addition, paid search activity has been increasing in the leadup to Christmas. Has anyone experienced this and potentially advise how to diagnose and resolve this issue?
Branding | | rec1230 -
Do you have to pay Yext at this point?
Over the past several months it seems more and more local listing sites are now using Yext for their listing information. Some of these include Local.com, American Towns, Hot Frog, etc. I'm not even seeing a way to claim listings anymore with these sites without going through Yext. If Yext has the wrong information, is there any way to correct these listings without paying Yext? I used to be able to claim listings with the actual listing sites. It was more labor intensive, but I didn't have to pay Yext $500/year. I could pay an assistant a lot less and they could do it. It seems that option is going away. Do any of you know of another way of correcting listings without using Yext (or at least without paying Yext)? If not, do you know if Yext has an enterprise solution for SEOs so we don't have to pay the $500 for every client? Thanks. Kurt Steinbrueck
Branding | | Kurt_Steinbrueck1 -
1 Website, 2 Business Names, 2 Locations
I took on a dentist office as an SEO client. They have 1 website, 2 business names and 2 locations. Each location has it's own business name. They are both within the same city as well. I'm not exactly sure where to start with them since they have 2 different business names. If it were 1 name with multiple locations I would just create a Contact Us page for each one, but is that the best thing to do when the location names are different? Should I create a different website for each location or is that smart because then they are competing against each other? Any help from the community on the direction I should take would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Branding | | SilhouetteBS0 -
Organic Traffic from irrelevant keywords in GA?
Hi, I am doing SEO for a website that deals in 4-wheeler tyres. While reviewing the organic traffic in Google Analytics, i noticed some keywords that are completely irrelevant to the theme of the website. Some are porn related terms while some are like google, yahoo, laptops, youtube etc. It seems someone is doing negative SEO for my website, as a result of which a decent number of searches are coming from these irrelevant terms. What should i do to block traffic from such terms as this may harm my website's performance in search engines. Please suggest a solution as soon as possible.
Branding | | PFX1110
