The latest articles on DEV Community by Hugo Larsson (@hugomsl). https://dev.to/hugomsl https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4001085%2Fe0e07814-ad74-46c3-a327-46b9a8e56aa1.png https://dev.to/hugomsl en Hugo Larsson Wed, 24 Jun 2026 18:34:08 +0000 https://dev.to/hugomsl/how-i-built-a-minecraft-server-list-that-ranks-by-real-player-votes-not-bots-fcm https://dev.to/hugomsl/how-i-built-a-minecraft-server-list-that-ranks-by-real-player-votes-not-bots-fcm <p>Hi, I'm Hugo. I built MinecraftServers-List.com — a Minecraft server directory that ranks servers by genuine player votes and uptime.</p> <h2> Why I built it </h2> <p>Most existing Minecraft server lists have the same problem: the rankings are easily gamed. Server owners run scripts to inflate their vote counts, and players searching for a good server end up with a list that reflects who has the best bots, not which servers are actually worth playing on.<br> I wanted to fix that.</p> <h2> What makes it different </h2> <p><strong>Vote integrity</strong> — votes are tied to real player sessions and IP validation, making bot voting significantly harder<br> <strong>Uptime monitoring</strong> — servers that go offline lose ranking visibility automatically<br> <strong>Player reviews</strong> — verified players can leave reviews with star ratings, giving prospective players real signal<br> Java &amp; Bedrock — both editions listed and filterable by gamemode, version, and country</p> <h2> The tech stack </h2> <p>Built with TanStack Start (React SSR), Supabase for the database, and deployed on Cloudflare Workers. The SSR approach was important for SEO — server listing pages need to be fully rendered for Googlebot to index individual server pages properly.</p> <h2> What I've learned so far </h2> <p>Getting a new directory site indexed by Google is genuinely hard. The challenge isn't technical — it's convincing Google that hundreds of server listing pages are individually worth indexing when they all share a similar template structure.<br> The solution has been enriching each server page with structured data (VideoGame schema with AggregateRating), genuine user reviews, and making sure every page has a meaningfully unique meta description generated from real server data — version, gamemode, player count, country.<br> Still a work in progress but the site is live, servers are actively listed, and players are voting daily.</p> <h2> Try it </h2> <p>If you run a Minecraft server, you can list it free at <a href="https://minecraftservers-list.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://minecraftservers-list.com</a><br> If you're looking for a server to join, the SMP list and survival list are good starting points.<br> Happy to answer questions about the build in the comments.</p> minecraft gamedev webdev startup