Forum features vs good SE results

features that help members but hurt rankings

[Kurgano]

Hello,

I'm confronted with a three part problem that I'm sure is NOT new to webmasters but I'd like to knock it out of the park once and for all.

I've taken great care in ensuring my forums are seo friendly (without mod-rewrite) and I've designed them to be more for the members than for the search engines. That being said good SEO IS for the members as it will lead to more visitors finding the site.

Problem #1 - Design for search engines vs members. Solved, members first but SE's not ignored when/if at all possible.
Problems #2 and #3 are interconnected and I need my plan of action evaluated for flaws and things I may be overlooking.
Making it easier for members to browse vs archiving good threads.

I have added a feature that offers readers up to 5 "related topics" links to other related topics in the forums. The feature sits at the bottom of every topic page and targets well. Members have enjoyed it. I also have a "library" page within each of the 5 forum indexes that I add links to for the best of the best threads. I've let google tell me which are the best by seeing which topics google indexes before adding them, I also only chose to add well written and on topic posts regardless of the index results.

Specificaly when a thread has fallen a few pages back in the index and google shows it was worthy for my site by listing it in the index I lock up the thread and link to it in the library. Its my understanding that if an indexed page changes it gets de-listed at least temporarily and I'm thinking the new "5 related topics" feature is going to do just that by changing the links on indexed pages even if they are locked up.

Again... for the members that doesn't matter but the last thing I want is a "flutterbug" effect going on with the indexed pages if they are being added and removed everytime the "top 5" feature finds a better link to add to the page.

A flutterbug effect is what i've taken to calling it, I don't know why, but it seems appropriate for pages doing the on again and off again dance with google. Am I right to worry about this and what the top 5 related topics feature might do?

Thanks.

[rogerd]

I'm not quite sure I'm following the flutterbug strategy. I think I'd focus on linking to be best quality content regardless of what Google happens to index at the moment. If it's quality content, others may link to it and it will find a home in the search engines. Even if the content only has internal links, having some good ones will ensure its long-term home in the SEs.

It sounds like you are doing some good things with the library and related topics.