My forum SEO!

[PremierPDS]

Hi all! I'm doing some work on my craft forum SEO tonight (link is in my signature) and although I would say I'm fairly confident in doing it there's a few things I've forgotten along the way as it's been so long since I've done anything SEO wise....so when entering keywords, is there a limit before it's seen as spammy?

i.e. I have several forums, one of which is soap making...I've researched the best keywords/phrases to go for to attract people and have 3 keywords/phrases which I want to go for but is this enough or is it too much? How many keywords or phrases can I enter without it appearing spammy to the search engines and does it matter how many time I mention the word 'soap' etc?

[webmojo]

I think the key to any sort of optimisation and keyword selection is, user Intent. What is your typical users looking for. Forums are a place to ask questions and find answers. So if I was doing the keyword research I would start with researching what sort of questions pop up around soap making.

As a rule of thumb I would target no more the two - three main keyword phrases per section and maybe a couple of sub phrases to help with the longtail searches. As users post more content most of your hits will be derived from the longtail searches.

one of my favourite saying is "if you try to be all things to all people you end up being nothing to no one" so SEO wise I would focus on a few phrases

[Indizine]

Nicky, it would be quicker for me to explain it than write it here, so if you want to talk it through give me a call some time and i'll try and help you.

[PremierPDS]

Thanks Sandra...only just signed in so it's way too late now at 1.40am! I'll try to call you tomorrow afternoon but I'll text you first to make sure it's okay and you're free to talk! Saved my bacon again eh lol!

[PremierPDS]

I think the key to any sort of optimisation and keyword selection is, user Intent. What is your typical users looking for. Forums are a place to ask questions and find answers. So if I was doing the keyword research I would start with researching what sort of questions pop up around soap making.

As a rule of thumb I would target no more the two - three main keyword phrases per section and maybe a couple of sub phrases to help with the longtail searches. As users post more content most of your hits will be derived from the longtail searches.

one of my favourite saying is "if you try to be all things to all people you end up being nothing to no one" so SEO wise I would focus on a few phrases

Yes, the keywords and phrases I've chosen are focused on the questions side of things such as 'how to make soap' and 'making soap' etc and I have 3 phrases per page. I just don't want to overdo things and 'be all things to all people' as you say! Hopefully Sandra will clear things up a bit more for me tomorrow...

[Indizine]

I'm out between 12 and 3pm today for a meeting so hopefully it will wrap up on time and i'll be free sometime after that.

[openmind]

1) Upgrade to vBulletin (v3 or v4)
2) Purchase vbSEO

I know this is commercial software but it has been proven over time to give outstanding result for both stability and SEO performance. e.g position 3 out of 360,000,000

[PremierPDS]

Thanks for the chat Sandra, great to speak to you at long last! Lots of work ahead then lol!

P.S. Do I sound scouse lol?

[Indizine]

yeah you do!

[PremierPDS]

Tut, so my posh voice didn't make any difference then...tut, I'll have to change my tactics next time lol!