Adsense and forum software

Need feedback on Invision, vBulletin, phpbb

[xbase234]

Before I go to the trouble to promote my next mega-forum community, I was wondering if anyone is running Adsense on Invision Board, vBulletin, or phpbb. I've viewed Adsense code running on various vBulletin communities, and it appears that ads are not targeted to the context of the page.

Any feedback on the benefits and drawbacks of running Adsense on these boards is appreciated.

[Jenstar]

phpbb ads are targeted if you remove session IDs and/or use the googlebot hack and add the mediabot to it as well.

Anything with session IDs that has not been modified for spiders will have problems showing targeted ads.

[xbase234]

So what would be the best method for shutting off cookies in these boards, while retaining overall functionality?

Maybe I should just stick with ASP Playground.

thanks

[trillianjedi]

So what would be the best method for shutting off cookies in these boards

Why would you want to do that?

If you meant session ID's phpBB I'm sure has an option to use cookies instead. Not sure about the otheres.

TJ

[Jenstar]

You will need cookies so members could log in. It is session IDs that are the problem. With session ids, the adsense bot believes every individual SID is an individual page, rather than the same page with a session ID apphended.

If you cannot tell what a session id looks like on a URL - [example.com...] is a variation of what one looks like.

That s=7443300880d2bacb38235b9f81d63861 is the session id, and it will be a different string of characters for each visitor, and it will change to a new string when they return for another visit.

As long as your board uses session ids, you will not be able to show content targeted ads, unless it eventually starts showing site themed ads.

[georgeek]

Maybe I should just stick with ASP Playground.

What is it that makes you want to move from ASPPlayground? I have seen very good integration of AdSense on their forums.

[CPCretirement]

vBulletin 3.0 works great with adsense.

[figment88]

As I understand it the default installation of phpBB nolonger has session id's on the url string except for admins.

[dvduval]

I have about 10 phpbb forums and not a single one uses session ids except when you login as admin. Also, I did not need to apply the google hack. It is working fine without it.

[Jenstar]

Yes, I haven't tested out the latest phpbb 2.0.7 and 2.0.8 versions, but earlier versions do have the session IDs.

[xbase234]

whoops - meant to refer to "session ID's". Thanks for the feedback -

ASP Playground has the "search-firendly" version of the url string.

After reading these comments, I will experiment with the different boards. phpbb is sounding really good with the updated version.

[CPCretirement]

If you haven't checked out vB 3.0 you really should look at it. The latest version has a ton of new of new end user features and admin features.

[loanuniverse]

I would like to cast my vote for [bestbbs.com...] "Bestbbs"

On the other hand, I don't know how robust the administration side of it is. But it certainly is spider friendly :)

[shortz]

If you haven't checked out vB 3.0 you really should look at it. The latest version has a ton of new of new end user features and admin features.

I run VB3 with Adsense and one day in a message, which was totally off topic to the theme of the site and board, I mentioned that I was having problems with my power steering on my 4x4.. literally, within a few minutes, an ad appeared on the page for power steering parts and service..

I'd say the little bots work well with Vb3... In fact, there are usually at least one or two instances of the bugger on the board "what's happening" list all the time.. sometimes WAY more (maybe too many at one time)

I neglected to put the code on the board as a channel so I can't speak to what the ctr is there.. I've also got the ads showing in a very non-contrasting style on the board... Probably not a good idea, since I changed the layout of the front page of the site from the small horizontal banner with two ads showing to the 120x wide tower, the ctr for that channel has shot through the roof..

Actually saved me from the "Black Thursday" syndrome!

Shortz

[trillianjedi]

I would like to cast my vote for [bestbbs.com...] "Bestbbs"

More vapour in that one than in MSN search!

TJ

[pcpp]

I run Adsense on my Invision Board. It serves relevantish ads - I get webhosting related ads, and my forum is mostly about website development and webhosting.

[universetoday]

I'm running Invision as well. I've got the same feedback. It runs appropriate ads most of the time, but then totally misses the boat other times. It's often trying to sell programming services, or forum software. Well, maybe that is targeted. :-)

[expert_21]

invision board works well for me.

[xbase234]

Georgeek -

ASP Playground is definitely my preference, but it is more expensive to run than Invision and phpbb (between licenses and hosting).

Just looking for a search-friendly and Adsense friendly alternative.

[TonysDesigns]

We run vbulletin 3.0 on many of our sites. This is the holy grail of all message boards. There isn't another forum/board software package that can touch it as we have tried phpBB2, Invision, Yabb, InfoPOP, etc. The only downside to vB is that you have ot BUY it. We feel that it's well worth the $160 you have to shell out for it.

I would show you our sites with Adsense/vB, but the webmasterworld gods get all uppity if we post urls to our sites. If you wanna see it, you can email me [e-mail]

[Dan_Norder]

I run PHPBB 2.6. There is the occasional session ID, but then my default ad kicks in, giving a bit of a mix. It's kind of a cheap ad rotation service. Thanks to channels I now know that the forums hardly get me any money at all and getting the default might be a good thing. On some pages I do get really good ads pop up though. The trick is getting people reading the boards to even notice the ads.

Of course if you didn't have anything that earned you money to put as a default and had good clickthrough, then you'd probably want one without session IDs.