How do we increase KFN's exposure

[Snowhog]

I'm looking for assistance/help on how to increase our (KFN's) exposure on the 'Net.

I know we aren't getting the exposure I'd like, because if I do a Google search on Kubuntu Linux, we (KFN) aren't any where near the top of the results. If we can't be found via 'Net searches, we are at a disadvantage.

[chimak111]

One possibility is to get people here to sign up at Ask Ubuntu, and comment or answer Kubuntu questions while including in their comment or answer a useful link to KFN

Example: https://askubuntu.com/a/945773

[whatthefunk]

Maybe this is beyond the capabilities of vBulliten but ideally this

kubuntuforums.net/showthread.php?t=72265

Should be this

kubuntuforums.net/thread/how-do-we-increase-kfns-exposure

URLs are one of the most important things in SEO. To Google, a resource id is useless so when it sees 't=72265' it basically just ignores it. However, if it sees 'how-do-we-increase-kfns-exposure' then it gains meaningful information about the page and uses that to increase that pages rank in search results. Increased rank for individual pages means increased rank for the site as a whole.

Have you submitted sitemaps to the major search engines? Looking at the page source it doesnt seem like you are using any analytics software. Things like New Relic and Google Analytics can give you quite a lot of information about who is visiting and how they got here. Plus they are free (New Relic only at a basic level).

[whatthefunk]

One more thing I just noticed: when visiting the root domain kubuntuforums.net a user is sent a 303 redirect to kubuntuforums.net/content.php. 303 redirects are generally considered bad because, apparently, they do not transfer domain authority. So by a) not having a visible top level kubuntuforums.net page and b) redirecting all traffic to kubuntuforums.net/content.php via a 303 redirect the domain authority is basically being slaughtered.

[Snowhog]

Okay, that's helpful. I have just changed to using Advanced Friendly URL's (showthread.php/1234-Thread-Title) and rebuilt Thread Information. So, now this thread shows as:

https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...KFN-s-exposure

We'll see how this affects things.

[whatthefunk]

That should help, but it will take quite a while to know for sure.

The more I think about it, the fact that the top level domain is actually a redirect seems really bad for SEO. In an ideal situation, when somebody searches for 'kubuntu' in Google, what page do you hope comes up? I would think that kubuntuforums.net would be best, but that page doesn't actually exist.

[Snowhog]

...kubuntuforums.net would be best, but that page doesn't actually exist.

What do you mean by this? Explain please?

[oshunluvr]

That should help, but it will take quite a while to know for sure.

The more I think about it, the fact that the top level domain is actually a redirect seems really bad for SEO. In an ideal situation, when somebody searches for 'kubuntu' in Google, what page do you hope comes up? I would think that kubuntuforums.net would be best, but that page doesn't actually exist.

If you search for "kubuntu", we don't come up at all. If you search for "kubuntu forum" we're the top several hits.

For whatever it's worth, I often link to the forum on G+ and a couple of other places...

[whatthefunk]

What do you mean by this? Explain please?

Go here: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/
You are redirected via a 303 to here: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/content.php

The top level page is a redirect, and not the correct one either. This article is alright: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141...ects-who-cares

If you want to redirect the home page, use a 301. Even better, move the content.php page to the root domain (kubuntuforums.net) and avoid the redirect all together.

Nobody really knows what algorithms Google uses to determine page rank so all this is based on various studies and clues that Google spoon feeds us. A while ago a rumor went around saying that now 301 and 302 redirect do not cause any domain authority loss, but who knows what is true and what is not. So best practice is to avoid 303 redirects for this kind of redirect.

All this being said, I kind of agree with oshunluvr. Forum sites are usually not in the first page results when searching for a technology. Another forum I frequent has great SEO but when searching for the technology name the forum is for, its on page 2.

[woodsmoke]

The problem here is that "Linux" exists in a bubble of "WE ARE LINUX".

NOBODY "on the street" even knows that Linux exists.

AND GUESS WHAT...THE STATED POSITION of "the people who make Linux" is...that they DO NOT CARE...

woodsmoke

[wizard10000]

When I do a search for "kde forum" KFN is the fourth hit. The official KDE forums have the first two, then Mint then KFN.

[whatthefunk]

The problem here is that "Linux" exists in a bubble of "WE ARE LINUX".

NOBODY "on the street" even knows that Linux exists.

AND GUESS WHAT...THE STATED POSITION of "the people who make Linux" is...that they DO NOT CARE...

woodsmoke

Thats irrelevant. People knowing about Linux wont increase the page rank of this website.

[GreyGeek]

Rising tides raise ALL boats, and the tide is rising for Linux, and so it will rise for Kubuntu and Neon as well.

Today's tide report:

The number of Linux users, including personal, corporate and governmental, continues to grow. 99.6% of NEW smartphones run Android, which is based on Linux. I just purchased a Buffalo wifi router with DD-WRT pre-installed. I recently purchased an ODBII wifi tool and use the free Car Doctor iPhone app to control it.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It has Linux built in.

Prognosticators prognostications:
http://linuxgizmos.com/linux-to-be-t...20-says-study/

https://www.quora.com/Is-Linux-growi...ing-popularity

Linux gaming is growing, exponentially:
https://www.pcper.com/news/General-T...ing-Growing-Us

Windows centric firms say Windows is the desktop market leader
https://www.statista.com/statistics/...-of-windows-7/

Linux centric analyses disagree, giving Linux 50% to Window's 40%
http://distrowatch.com/awstats/awsta....osdetail.html

Besides, Microsoft keeps track of unit sales, which are restricted to one machine and its owner, while no one can count the total number of Linux downloads, much less how many times a single download is installed on more than one machine.

China will move to Linux by 2020:
https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer...ifying-process
and its move will move the world wide desktop market share Linux, unless Microsoft want's to restrict market share figures to the US only. And, in a typical puff piece Microsoft explains why Win10 hasn't reached Win7's adoption figures at the same mile marker, ignoring the fact that Microsoft FORCED Win8 users to upgrade to Win10, unless they had technical skills to avoid the upgrade.
https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer...nother-rebound

And, people are actually moving away from Win10 to Linux!
https://www.pcper.com/news/General-T...-least-Windows

The adverse public response to Vista, Win8 and Win10 has caused a steadily increasing migration to Linux. But, computer news website pay their bills with advertising revenue from the likes of Microsoft, so don't expect an honest report from them on either Windows or Linux. There is always a Maureen O'Hara willing to plant an MS written Windows puff or Linux attack piece in exchange for Silver. And let us not forget Laura DiDio, the traffic reporter who became a computer "expert" using her "Amityville Horror" experience and making Windows Server 2000 videos while smacking talking Linux.

I was attracted to SuSE in Sept of 1998 because its 5.1 release featured KDE 1.0 beta, which allowed me to switch between Win95 and Linux (SuSE) without cognitive dissonance. I've stayed with distros that feature KDE every since because, IMO and experience, KDE is the most powerful and flexible desktop made. I moved from Mandriva to Kubuntu in January of 2009 because Kubuntu 9.04 featured Plasma4 and Mandriava wasn't going to switch to it until 2010. After 6.5 years with Kubuntu, the most I've ever spent with any distro, I switched to Neon because it is a boiling cauldron of state of the art KDE development.

So far this year KFN has had about 800 different people posting. This number can be divided into two groups: admins and regulars like me, and folks with Kubuntu, other distro or Windows problems, probably 98% of the participants. For most hardware that is less than 6-8 years old, Kubuntu installs and runs without problems. I'd guess that less than 5% have problems they can't solve and come here for help. That computes to about 25,000 to 30,000 Kubuntu users.

Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distro but it accounts for only 2.2% of all Linux users. The other distros do not even rise above 0.5%. Even Debian, the next most popular, is below 0.5%. Most Linux users are categorized as "Unknown" on Distrowatch.

Why doesn't KFN grow? There isn't a nicer, more friendly Linux help site on the Internet so we aren't driving away users with "RTFM" responses. Simply it is because of lack of advertising. The best and most affordable way to "advertise" is to include lots of Linux and KDE terms in the HTML keywords section so that bots can pick them up and link them to this site. Next would be to purchase ad space on popular Linux websites.

[chimak111]

One possibility is to get people here to sign up at Ask Ubuntu, and comment or answer Kubuntu questions while including in their comment or answer a useful link to KFN

Example: https://askubuntu.com/a/945773

While SEO and advertising may all be very good, what's the harm in answering questions or at least informing people there about KFN? BTW, I'm immune to advertising and ad spends didn't do too much in a historic event about ten months ago.

KFN veterans may recognize that a question currently unanswered at AU has essentially been asked and answered over here and be able to provide a link to the solution at KFN.

Another example: https://askubuntu.com/questions/9491...-kubuntu-16-04. At the time of my writing this post, that question has all of eight views and no answer.

And this other question, https://askubuntu.com/questions/9490...-doesnt-appear, posted ~11 h ago has 15 views.

So do try to visit https://askubuntu.com/questions/tagged/kubuntu and "advertise" KFN by showing its actual usefulness

[woodsmoke]

how MANY times have I read this self serving kind of stuff in SO MANY forums..

When "Linux" SPENDS SOME MONEY to "raise awareness" or whaaatevvvverrrr... is when "the people" will actively seek out Linux...

and guess what...hate him or not... Shuttleworth has spent the bucks and ...zip.

woodDIDMANDRAKEINSTALLS(forthosepeoplewithnomemory manDRAKEgaverisetomanDRIVAinstallsandManDRAKEpeopl ebasicallytoldme

to@#$%^&**smoke