Is there any standard robots.txt for 1.8.24 ? Where do we need to place it ? The root of the MyBB folder ?
I ask this because search console says " Viewport not set " for domain.com/archive/index.php
You need to place robots.txt at the FTP root, there is no standard pages that you need to add. That being said, you can use the robots.txt here (
https://wallbb.co.uk/important-seo-tips-...bb-forums/) in this tutorial and add your custom pages in the list.
In regards to archive pages, I don't think you should allow robots to access those pages. It serves no purpose in my apart from being duplicate content pages. So you need to take care of URL canonicalization either using Google SEO plugin or manually adding the rel=canonical tag on archive pages.
Regards
WallBB
Thanks @WallBB
I have no manually added any pages. So where should I add
rel=canonical ?
I will try the robots.txt. I did see it, was not sure it is ok for a new forum which is more or less default MyBB except the theme. Appreciate your guidance.
(2020-12-15, 10:17 AM)meetdilip Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks @WallBB
I have no manually added any pages. So where should I add rel=canonical ?
I will try the robots.txt. I did see it, was not sure it is ok for a new forum which is more or less default MyBB except the theme. Appreciate your guidance.
If you are using robots.txt, then you don't need to add the rel=canonical
I will suggest using Google SEO plugin for adding rel-canonical.
Manually you will have to edit in
./inc/functions_archive.php and add the rel=canonical in the HTML part of the function
function archive_header($title="", $fulltitle="", $fullurl=""). There is no direct template to edit that part.
Regards
WallBB
Search engines prefer to index the Archive version of MyBB because it's a stripped down version of your content minus the bloat of big pics etc that cause slow loading times.
Also if you do decide to use rel="canonical" on these pages, Google may not accept it as such. The canonical tag is a hint not a directive, and in many cases Google will not accept your choice of rel="canonical".
If you really don't want the Archive pages to appear in search results, rather place a meta noindex tag in the head section of the Archive pages.
If you remove the link to Archive in the footer, before publishing the site, then there's no need to do any of this. Google won't know there's an Archive version of your site.
Thanks @Ashley1, @WallBB
I wanted to get past this error of which I was warned
Quote:search console says " Viewport not set " for domain.com/archive/index.php
I am currently using
Quote:User-agent: *
Disallow: /captcha.php
Disallow: /editpost.php
Disallow: /modcp.php
Disallow: /moderation.php
Disallow: /newreply.php
Disallow: /newthread.php
Disallow: /printthread.php
Disallow: /private.php
Disallow: /ratethread.php
Disallow: /report.php
Disallow: /sendthread.php
Disallow: /task.php
Disallow: /usercp.php
Disallow: /usercp2.php
Disallow: /archive
Disallow: /online.php
Disallow: /calendar.php
Disallow: /reputation.php
Disallow: /search.php
Disallow: /*nextoldest*
Disallow: /*nextnewest*
Disallow: /*datecut*
Disallow: /*lastpost*
Disallow: /*markread*
Thanks to @WallBB's blog
What should I do to get past the viewport error ? If it is useful, I do not mind that Archive version stays. Shall I remove " disallow - archive " from robots.txt ?
Thanks for your effort.
Viewport is a tag that you use to define browser dimensions, an example of viewport is below. You can add it if you want, there is not need to add if you have added it archive to be disallowed in robots.txt
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
The best thing would be to remove the archive page if you don't want search engine to index it.
(2020-12-15, 01:09 PM)Ashley1 Wrote: [ -> ]Search engines prefer to index the Archive version of MyBB because it's a stripped down version of your content minus the bloat of big pics etc that cause slow loading times.
Also if you do decide to use rel="canonical" on these pages, Google may not accept it as such. The canonical tag is a hint not a directive, and in many cases Google will not accept your choice of rel="canonical".
If you really don't want the Archive pages to appear in search results, rather place a meta noindex tag in the head section of the Archive pages.
Partially disagree with Ashley1 on google search engine prefer archive page. Google crawler may decide to prefer it but there is no guarantee.
The rel canonical tag is just a way to tell that the original content page if the existing page is a duplicate. Google crawler may decide what is original or not itself.
Anyways it is up to meetdilip to decide what he wants to do.
Regards
WallBB
Thanks. If I am to add the viewport definition for archive page, which template should I use ?
You will need to add it to the core file. I think it was mentioned in WallBB's post before. Doing this will clear the error on Google search console. It won't however allow the page to scale on mobile devices, because there are still tables with fixed width definitions there. The archive version will be a lot easier to make mobile if anybody attempted to do so.
Thanks.
I am a bit afraid since Search Console mention about " no viewport " error. So I would like to get rid of it first, to be on a safer side. I have read about tables breaking the responsiveness. Not sure where or what to fix. I can invest my time and effort if someone can guide me.