I have a forum: http://www.cockatooforums.com it has been running now (completely functional) about 2-3 months. I have used Google's and Bing's webmaster tools to upload a sitemap. Does anyone know of a way to tell if it is successful in search engines or not? on Google when you search "cockatoo forum" it show up 6th. According to Google analytics i got 53 hits to the site from search engines, is that good for a 2-3 month old site. I followed quite a few guides on how to increase SE performance for a Simple Machines forum but does anyone else here have some tips?

Also I know that google has indexed 182 pages, is that good?

Thanks

Does anyone know of a way to tell if it is successful in search engines or not?

Successful for what? It is merely a means for SEs to discover URLs on your website that may be inaccessible or difficult to find. Other than that, it is of zero use.

Also I know that google has indexed 182 pages, is that good?

In no particular order;

Yes, No Maybe

I followed quite a few guides on how to increase SE performance for a Simple Machines forum but does anyone else here have some tips?

The method of delivering the content makes no difference to Search Engines.

Traffic and sales from SE referrals should be secondary and additional to traffic and sales direct marketing NOT your primary goal.

hey thanks for the reply,
so what your saying is I should not worry about SE's at all rather just focus on good content?

That's about it, build the content, promote the forum, let the SEs take care of themselves.

The success or failure of your forums depends on yourself. You you manage to built a fair number of members in your forum with lots of active threads, you can say that you are successful with your forums.

Alright thanks for the tips guys!

Hey! Here are some ways to promote your forums. Hope this list could help! (even this was published 3 years ago)

http://www.seorefugee.com/seoblog/20...ng-your-forum/