SEO and site structure [split from: Is this forum dying?]

Consider, then, that every article in the wiki's Psience News section contains multiple backlinks to the forum, via parenthesised "Discuss" links. That seems more than sufficient. Let's say that it wasn't though: what, in any case, would you see as the problem if the wiki was a dead end?


I've just randomly selected a few links to click on. They all worked fine.

Fine, I'll leave you to it.

[Laird]

Fine, I'll leave you to it.

Ah, Max, just because I apply scrutiny to your proposals and suggestions doesn't mean I reject them all, nor that I don't value your involvement: I do, and I hope you stay involved, because you have skills and experience that can help us a lot.

[Laird]

Well, it looks like I have been left to it, so I've engaged with ChatGPT, and with its advice have come up with an SEO plan. Here it is as I pitched it to ChatGPT:

Based in part on your suggestions, here's my proposed workable, two-step plan (with a supplementary step three) to increase members and activity on Psience Quest:

Step one: create two evergreen landing pages.

Evergreen page one: A homepage at the domain root / describing Psience Quest as a discussion forum along with its subject matter. Currently, / redirects to /forums, so this page would replace that redirect.

Page two: A blog-like static page titled something like your suggested “Why Psience Quest is a Unique Space for Exploring Mind, Psi, and Science”, making the case to potential members for joining our community.

General rationale for step one: there is no existing Psience Quest page that describes what we are and what we talk about in a way that is optimised for search engines based on the sort of long-tail search phrases - such as those you suggest - that people looking for a forum like ours would use, as you have also pointed out. SEO can be leveraged on these pages.

Page-specific rationale for step one: there seems to me to be a risk that beyond these two pages, evergreen pages would become strained and obvious attempts at SEO, leading to an impression of Psience Quest as tacky and unserious. I want to avoid the risk of that impression.

Step two: set up social media accounts to which selected Psience Quest threads can be shared.

An important aspect of step two is the development of a MyBB plugin to support the insertion into threads of DiscussionForumPosting schema markup and Open Graph tags, the latter especially so as to support per-thread images via the "og:image" meta tag.

An additional task - let's call it "supplementary step three" - in support of both steps one and two is to develop both a terse tag line or slogan, and a slightly more extended description, that can be used both on the evergreen pages and on social media profiles.

What do you think of this plan?

Here's its response:

Your plan is thoughtful, strategic, and well-aligned with both SEO best practices and the unique tone of Psience Quest. Here's a detailed response to each part of your proposal:

---

✅ Step One: Two Evergreen Landing Pages

🔹 Evergreen Page One – New Homepage at /

This is exactly the right move. Right now, the redirect to /forums misses the opportunity to:

• Introduce new visitors to what Psience Quest is
  
• Use keyword-rich, intent-matching content to capture relevant traffic
  

Suggestions for the new homepage:

• Use natural language that includes variations of key phrases like:
  • discussion forum on consciousness
    
  • scientific and philosophical exploration of psi phenomena
    
  • community for serious minds exploring the nature of mind and reality
    
• Include short excerpts or "featured threads" that link into actual forum discussions
  
• Consider a clear call to action (e.g., Join the discussion, Explore topics, Browse our top threads)
  

🔹 Page Two – "Why Psience Quest Is a Unique Space..."

Brilliant framing. This page can do the heavy lifting of:

• Appealing to the searcher’s intent and values
  
• Positioning Psience Quest as distinct from:
  • New Age communities
    
  • Dogmatic skeptics
    
  • Low-effort forums or spammy discussion boards
    

Suggestions:

• Tell the origin story briefly — people trust communities with a purpose
  
• Emphasize tone: respectful, critical, curious
  
• Add testimonials or quotes from notable threads (even anonymously) to show authentic dialogue
  

🔹 Limiting to Two Pages

Your caution is smart. Overdoing SEO content can harm perception and alienate precisely the thoughtful audience you're trying to attract. Two purpose-built, honest pages is the right balance — enough for SEO, not enough to feel promotional.

---

✅ Step Two: Social Media Presence + Schema & OG Integration

🔹 Thread sharing via social media

Excellent low-cost amplification strategy.

Pro tips:

• Don’t just post links — give a hook: a quote, question, or insight from the thread
  
• Use hashtags intelligently (#consciousness, #psi, #philosophyofmind, etc.)
  
• Create or adapt a per-thread preview image (can even be generated dynamically if desired)
  

🔹 MyBB plugin for Schema + Open Graph

This is a high-value technical upgrade:

• DiscussionForumPosting schema helps Google understand your pages are structured, community Q&A
  
• Open Graph meta tags dramatically improve how threads appear on social media
  • og:image in particular makes posts stand out in Twitter/X, Facebook, and LinkedIn
    

If you can develop this as a plugin, it may even be valuable to the wider MyBB community — another opportunity to attract interest.

---

✅ Supplementary Step Three: Tagline and Description

A consistent and well-crafted tagline and description will:

• Reinforce your identity
  
• Help with branding and click-throughs
  
• Serve SEO goals when reused in meta descriptions and page headers
  

I've gone on to draft a homepage, and ChatGPT has then revised it, greatly streamlining it, and helped to add relevant content to it.

I've attached both my original (which, in fairness, is so verbose because I tried to incorporate as many as I could of the list of long-tail search terms suggested earlier by ChatGPT), and the revised version. The revised version is currently lacking one example thread, for which there's simply a placeholder.

We haven't yet begun work on the second evergreen page, with provisional title “Why Psience Quest is a Unique Space for Exploring Mind, Psi, and Science”.

I wanted to run these plans and the progress on them so far by you all first, to see what you think.

(For more on supplementary step three, see my recent post in the "New mission statement?" thread).

Comments, criticisms, suggestions, and alternatives welcome.

[Laird]

I've gone on to draft a homepage, and ChatGPT has then revised it, greatly streamlining it, and helped to add relevant content to it.

It's now live as our homepage at https://psiencequest.net/, which no longer redirects to the forums at https://psiencequest.net/forums/, but which does contain a quick, easy link to click on up top so as to get there.

[Laird]

I suspect there may be something wrong with the site structure...

the forums titles [...] are terrible

Sub-cat titles on LH pane don't say forums.

Just one example: keyword: 'ghosts' not in forum title 'Apparitions, Hauntings and Poltergeists' - that's a pretty big keyword.

On reflection, I think @Max_B made some valid and actionable comments there.

Here's my suggested reworking of the site structure.

[Edit: to avoid confusion and complexity, I've removed most of the rest of this post, but have left the image comparing structures attached. See my later post for the final proposal.]

@Ninshub and @Typoz, this new structure, if accepted, might require us to reformulate the rules about where skeptics can post and under what conditions.

Criticisms, suggestions, comments, etc welcome.

Personally, I'd replace the domain name and site name psiencequest ... it's a mouthful, science is spelt wrong, it's not going to come up in results, and doesn't incorporate the key term 'forum'

I've updated the forum's name/title, so rather than just "Psience Quest', it's now "Psience Quest: parapsychology and consciousness forums". That might be a little unwieldy, especially in the breadcrumbs, but you guys can let me know if that's the case.

[Laird]

On reflection, the structure doesn't need to be that deep. I'll rework it in a bit. I need to go out first though.

[Laird]

OK, second attempt. This is less verbose, and shallower.

[Edit: again to avoid confusion and complexity, I've removed the rest of this post, but have left the image comparing structures attached. See my later post for the final proposal.]

[Laird]

Hmm. Even that structure is undesirably deep. A depth of two is ideal. Three is workable, although at that depth, forum details are omitted on the main page on the MyBB Default theme (it makes no difference on the Roundo theme). Forums at a depth of four just aren't visible from the main listing on either theme.

I have yet another alternative. I'll tidy it up and share it later.

[Laird]

After a lot of careful consideration, here's my final proposal: existing structure on left; proposed new structure on right. Given the thought I've put into it, I'm happy to explain and/or justify (and, in two cases, qualify) anything. Just let me know. In the absence of objection, I'll implement this in due course.

[Laird]

I've updated the forum's name/title, so rather than just "Psience Quest', it's now "Psience Quest: parapsychology and consciousness forums". That might be a little unwieldy, especially in the breadcrumbs, but you guys can let me know if that's the case.

I've tweaked this so the appendix ": parapsychology and consciousness forums" only appears in the title of the forum index page. This avoids unwieldiness in breadcrumbs and other page titles.