Are Forum Owners doing SEO for their forum?

[bomb]

1. Are forums dying?
2. Why is my forum not ranked on Google?
3. I cannot see my nice threads indexed on google, even when i submit to google search console.
4. My competitors are getting more members daily, why not me?
I am sure you have asked yourself at least one if not all the questions above!
What is ailing our forums nowadays?

My observations

• Most forums are developed by people passionate about the subject, not SEO gurus.
• Forum owners use the money to pay for Adwords, hoping that people will click and sign up.
• Discussions suddenly become so general, or out of topic.
• We expect members to generate fresh content like they used to do 10 years ago!

My 2 cents:

• Forum owners need to generate content that will attract new members. Just like bloggers.
• Keyword research /competitor research /Content Optimization/ SEO/ SEM - All these should be used for forums, just eh same as they are used on WordPress based websites.
• Inbuilt SEO tools/Schema on forum CMS require some additional boost to rank.

I have started research specifically on forum SEO. Join me, if you think it is an issue that requires special attention.
Am currently doing a test on a board that I acquire recently, just to see how it goes. So far so good.

 

[Dotgician]

I do not think forums are dying... they're just a website like any other website... are website dying? Its all about marketing... seo.. what you can provide to the users.

Definitely something I am working on and learning at the same.

Am currently doing a test on a board that I acquire recently, just to see how it goes. So far so good.

Are you currently posting your progression and results somewhere, for us to follow or still in the works?

 

[bomb]

I do not think forums are dying... they're just a website like any other website... are website dying? Its all about marketing... seo.. what you can provide to the users.

Definitely something I am working on and learning at the same.



Are you currently posting your progression and results somewhere, for us to follow or still in the works?

It is still in the works. I will start posting early next month. We should share notes. There is a need for forum-specific SEO skills/tips/tricks/hacks whatever the name should be.

 

[Page]

I agree, even bayside SEO is bad and isn't ranked on google. Yes, it's part of me and slack of doing it, put main reasons is I'm not that good with SEO and or can't get enough hours in every day to work o boosting it.

Can be hard and takes far far allot of time

 

[bomb]

I agree, even bayside SEO is bad and isn't ranked on google. Yes, it's part of me and slack of doing it, put main reasons is I'm not that good with SEO and or can't get enough hours in every day to work o boosting it.

Can be hard and takes far far allot of time

Sure, i will research more on this and come up with a plug n' play solution for board owners. It's a tall order, but i will be doing it for my boards. If it works, i will rinse & repeat en share! Especially for the hundreds of game boards out there. Keyword research is necessary. You cannot ignore SEO. Even the basic one.

 

[Joshua Farrell]

I know most forum owners don't do much in terms of SEO development. Most of the new forums I have seen, rarely have anything else other than the standard default keywords built in, let alone any search engine submission work done. A number of my forums I have submitted to Google last year, have been pretty good with SEO, because of keyword specifics I put into it, combined with active search engine submissions and monitoring of searches from places like google.

I agree that in order to get the best out of search engine submissions and seo work, you need to also be engaged in content creation.

 

[Page]

Sure, i will research more on this and come up with a plug n' play solution for board owners. It's a tall order, but i will be doing it for my boards. If it works, i will rinse & repeat en share! Especially for the hundreds of game boards out there. Keyword research is necessary. You cannot ignore SEO. Even the basic one.

SOunds good and do a full thread/blog on it 🙂

Gaming and even Genual boards are so much of them around

 

[Abizaga]

I won't lie, my writers pretty much do any of that. I would have no idea what I'm doing lol

 

[Nomad]

Quora and Reddit are forums. Reddit has a huge username and Quora posts rank on search engines. You need to implement the strategies used by these sites.

 

[AltairX]

My 2 cents:

• Forum owners need to generate content that will attract new members. Just like bloggers.
• Keyword research /competitor research /Content Optimization/ SEO/ SEM - All these should be used for forums, just eh same as they are used on WordPress based websites.
• Inbuilt SEO tools/Schema on forum CMS require some additional boost to rank.

I have started research specifically on forum SEO. Join me, if you think it is an issue that requires special attention.
Am currently doing a test on a board that I acquire recently, just to see how it goes. So far so good.

I would not have thought of a test board. Interesting idea.
I agree that SEO on forums is a problem.
--
I've been researching keywords for social hideouts and plan to use them before the forum reopens.

 

[Gizmo]

I've got Yoast SEO on my blog site and have a sitemap, robots file and a few other SEO things on my Xenforo forum.

 

[Carlos X]

I won't lie, my writers pretty much do any of that. I would have no idea what I'm doing lol

There's your issue. Stop doing that. Google HATES in-organic writing. You're paying to game Google.

You need to do the work, put in the work. You need to fall in love with the work you're doing. Fall in love with marketing.

 

[Carlos X]

1. Are forums dying?

No.

2. Why is my forum not ranked on Google?

Because YOU'RE not doing the content. You can't just set up a forum and expect them "to come."

3. I cannot see my nice threads indexed on google, even when i submit to google search console.

You need to do more than submitting to Google. You need to market your site somewhere.
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, off-site linking on sites related to the niche without getting banned for spamming. That kind of thing.

4. My competitors are getting more members daily, why not me?

Because they put in the work. They didn't just make a forum and expect members to come.

I am sure you have asked yourself at least one if not all the questions above!

Not anymore, no, because I put in the work.

What is ailing our forums nowadays?

Nothing. They are like regular websites, blogs or other styles of websites. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get your ass out there. (Figuratively.)

My observations

• Most forums are developed by people passionate about the subject, not SEO gurus.

That's why forums are successful.

• Forum owners use the money to pay for Adwords, hoping that people will click and sign up.

Yes, and no. You don't need Adwords to get members. You CAN use Adwords, but its not REQUIRED. I would use adwords IN ADDITION to the content on the site.

• Discussions suddenly become so general, or out of topic.

Avoid this for the short term. Focus on one niche and get good at it, THEN go general.

• We expect members to generate fresh content like they used to do 10 years ago!

That's your biggest issue. DON'T expect them to come!

My 2 cents:

• Forum owners need to generate content that will attract new members. Just like bloggers.

Yes.

• Keyword research /competitor research /Content Optimization/ SEO/ SEM - All these should be used for forums, just eh same as they are used on WordPress based websites.

Yes, but you need to do more than that, I explained it above.

• Inbuilt SEO tools/Schema on forum CMS require some additional boost to rank.

Yes. It doesn't hurt.

I have started research specifically on forum SEO. Join me, if you think it is an issue that requires special attention.

No it doesn't.

Am currently doing a test on a board that I acquire recently, just to see how it goes. So far so good.

It should be ranking by now.