BOT Style

All style (template, theme and imageset) related questions for the new release; advice, feedback here please.
BondGamer
Registered User
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 8:20 pm
Contact:

BOT Style

Post by BondGamer »

Has anyone begun work on a style just for BOTs? I am going to create one for my forum now that Olympus supports it. It would be nice to see what others have created thus far in regards to that.

Adric
Registered User
Posts: 40
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 10:15 pm

Re: BOT Style

Post by Adric »

And im going to ask why you would waste time doing that as no one will see it... Ever...

Case
Registered User
Posts: 60
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2006 9:44 am
Contact:

Re: BOT Style

Post by Case »

I assume they mean a style optimised for search engine bots. Kind of like vB's (or is it IPB's) Lo-Fi option? Something like that?

I actually find those stripped styles useful when wasting time on the internet at work. ;)

User avatar
espenhh
Registered User
Posts: 189
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2002 8:27 pm
Location: Norway ;)
Contact:

Re: BOT Style

Post by espenhh »

Adric wrote: And im going to ask why you would waste time doing that as no one will see it... Ever...
Never tried Google Cache? ;)
Espen

(Huge thanks to the phpBB-developers!!!)

Need Norwegian support????
Image

BondGamer
Registered User
Posts: 113
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2003 8:20 pm
Contact:

Re: BOT Style

Post by BondGamer »

Adric wrote: And im going to ask why you would waste time doing that as no one will see it... Ever...

Creating a style for search engine bots allow for the bot to see more content and less useless information. For example, the BOT does not need to see the website, private message, ICQ, etc. for every user in a topic. It also doesn't need to see your registration date, reply buttons, and other stuff.

Ectoman
Registered User
Posts: 192
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2001 3:53 pm
Location: Denver CO
Contact:

Re: BOT Style

Post by Ectoman »

I have a bot style applied for my site (on the actual site, not the forums yet) using phpBBv3. It basically strips down all the graphics and tables, and makes it most information possible, with as little to get in the way.. so far I have noticed good results with Google.. it has thousands of my pages indexed now.

Daworm
Registered User
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2007 4:51 am

Re: BOT Style

Post by Daworm »

Ectoman wrote: it has thousands of my pages indexed now.

How big is your site ??

User avatar
Highway of Life
Registered User
Posts: 1399
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:18 pm
Location: I'd love to change the World, but they won't give me the Source Code
Contact:

Re: BOT Style

Post by Highway of Life »

I've had my eye on creating one of these styles, but have not had the chance to yet... some people don't recognize the value of SEO.

Has anybody actually created the style for phpBB3 yet?... Ecto?
Image

User avatar
DoubleJ
Registered User
Posts: 105
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2005 4:19 pm
Location: The Netherlands
Contact:

Re: BOT Style

Post by DoubleJ »

Highway of Life wrote: I've had my eye on creating one of these styles, but have not had the chance to yet... some people don't recognize the value of SEO.

Has anybody actually created the style for phpBB3 yet?... Ecto?

Wouldn't it just be easier, to just make a compliant style, apply stylesheet for your users, and then remove the stylesheet for the bots(for example give them a print page look, with no images)....
DoubleJ - Blah

User avatar
Highway of Life
Registered User
Posts: 1399
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 10:18 pm
Location: I'd love to change the World, but they won't give me the Source Code
Contact:

Re: BOT Style

Post by Highway of Life »

In a sense, yes... but the goal is not to get rid of the extra images and formatting...
Formatting and images make only little difference in SEO.
The really big issues come in with an abundance of extra useless links and text.
the goal is to get rid of the extra links, you know, the new topic, post reply, quote, PM, profile, etc...
There is no reason for a Bot to see those links, they are useless... and the amount of time it would take to add:
<!-- IF S_BOT -->
You could just create a new style, remove all the extra stuff, and just use it for the Bots.
Image

Post Reply