Pretty permalink URL thingies (SEO)

[Viper007Bond]

I might have brought this up before -- I can't remember.


I'm considering installing a vB plugin that will switch the dynamic URLs currently used on the forums (example: /showthread.php?t=22697) to static ones (example: /the-forums/the-thread-title-here-22697.html or something along those lines). Google really doesn't like URLs with a question mark in them, plus notice that you can access this thread via both these different URLs, plus countless other URLs:

http://forums.finalgear.com/the-forums/pretty-permalink-url-thingies-seo-24656/
http://forums.finalgear.com/showthre...929#post608929

This plugin would make it all the same URL.


The purpose of it would be to increase the rankings on Google, Yahoo, etc. (more visitors to the forums) as well as make the URLs better (albeit longer) and more clear as to what they are when posted on other forums, here, etc.

An example in action: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/

Note that the URL structure is 100% configurable. I can set the format, the max length, etc. etc.


So, I'm looking for constructive input/feedback, especially from SEO-aware people, but all is welcome.

[Adunaphel]

I'm all for! I don't really care avout the pagerank stuff, but when someone posts a link on IRC for instance, it's easier to see what you're clicking, especially with threads that have borderline SFW stuff in there, you can decide easier whether it's safe to click or not. And the address bar will look a bit nicer, i always prefer seeing something that makes sense there instead of dosomething.php?id=verylargenumber.

[MXM]

Yeah, fine for me as long as it wont be way too long and ugly.

[chaos386]

They're nicer when you're looking through your browsing history, so I say go ahead.

Would a /the-forums/ subdirectory be needed since the links are all forums.finalgear.com anyway?

[Viper007Bond]

They're nicer when you're looking through your browsing history, so I say go ahead.

Would a /the-forums/ subdirectory be needed since the links are all forums.finalgear.com anyway?

That'd just be this section, or I could leave that out altogether too.

Some more made-up examples of URL formats we could pick from:

http://forums.finalgear.com/the-shows/top-gear/nbc-to-make-us-version-of-top-gear-called-gear-24603.html
http://forums.finalgear.com/top-gear/nbc-to-make-us-version-of-top-gear-called-gear-24603.html
http://forums.finalgear.com/nbc-to-make-us-version-of-top-gear-called-gear-24603.html

I could opt to have it cut off some of that post title if we feel it's too long.

[argatoga]

It looks much better, and is clearer as well; it gets my support.

[Viper007Bond]

Oh, and the thing is $150 (I don't mind investing in it since it'll probably be made back in Adsense), but I just don't want to buy and install it and then have you guys hate it, hence the thread.

[IceBone]

For it. I prefer knowing what i'm about to click, especially if it's a psdf link.

How does it work for a direct post link or a page link?

[Viper007Bond]

How does it work for a direct post link or a page link?

Post: http://forums.finalgear.com/top-gear/nbc-to-make-us-version-of-top-gear-called-gear-24603.html#post123456

Page: http://forums.finalgear.com/top-gear/nbc-to-make-us-version-of-top-gear-called-gear-24603-2.html

[MXM]

Omit the sections part I say, thread title is probably enough.

[Viper007Bond]

Omit the sections part I say, thread title is probably enough.

I personally like the single section it's posted in (not the full depth, just the single) as it helps determine where the thread is posted, plus it probably helps with SEO by having like "Top Gear" in the URL.

[MXM]

I personally like the single section it's posted in (not the full depth, just the single) as it helps determine where the thread is posted, plus it probably helps with SEO by having like "Top Gear" in the URL.

For SEO yeah, but for users this isn't important information I think. Titles are pretty descriptive. Ok, "Top Gear" doesn't pollute the url much, but something like "TG Specific Episode Discussions" does.
I for example don't even know what threads are in what section currently, I just click new posts and read it as a list

[IceBone]

Post: http://forums.finalgear.com/top-gear/nbc-to-make-us-version-of-top-gear-called-gear-24603.html#post123456

Page: http://forums.finalgear.com/top-gear/nbc-to-make-us-version-of-top-gear-called-gear-24603-2.html

Post: if the post is on another page, just the #xxxxxxx part won't work. And if it's on a specific page, you can't just point to that, since not everyone uses same post-per-page count. Unless the software parses the url and sends you to the right page?

[Viper007Bond]

Post: if the post is on another page, just the #xxxxxxx part won't work. And if it's on a specific page, you can't just point to that, since not everyone uses same post-per-page count. Unless the software parses the url and sends you to the right page?

Good points, but the software is smart enough to figure out what page the post would show up on for you. However, if it shows up on page 1 for you and page 2 for me, then that is indeed a problem.

I'll probably end up leaving the post permalink showthread.php?p=XXX (and telling Google not to follow those permalinks) or forcing all users to use the default posts/page or something.

[Redliner]

I agree with others, it is better to have a slight idea of where the link leads us.
As long as it doesn't make it harder for the admins, I'm all for it.

[Clegko]

I'll probably end up leaving the post permalink showthread.php?p=XXX (and telling Google not to follow those permalinks) or forcing all users to use the default posts/page or something.

I'd be all for it, unless you did that.

[TechZ]

IT's worth the investment I think. I always wondered how vB forums had seo-friendly urls when I googled...

[Adunaphel]

Post: if the post is on another page, just the #xxxxxxx part won't work. And if it's on a specific page, you can't just point to that, since not everyone uses same post-per-page count. Unless the software parses the url and sends you to the right page?

Good points, but the software is smart enough to figure out what page the post would show up on for you. However, if it shows up on page 1 for you and page 2 for me, then that is indeed a problem.

It is something of a problem, but the users who have set a different number of posts per page have the exact same problems now aswell. When you see the permalink for page x of a thread now, it's [FONT="Courier New"]http://forums.finalgear.com/showthread.php?t=<threadid>&page=<pagenr>[FONT], with the pagenumber counted from the default number of posts-per-thread. So before everyone with different settings starts screaming how bad it will be, it'll be just as bad (or good, your choice) as it is now.

[Viper007Bond]

It is something of a problem, but the users who have set a different number of posts per page have the exact same problems now aswell. When you see the permalink for page x of a thread now, it's [FONT="Courier New"]http://forums.finalgear.com/showthread.php?t=<threadid>&page=<pagenr>[FONT], with the pagenumber counted from the default number of posts-per-thread. So before everyone with different settings starts screaming how bad it will be, it'll be just as bad (or good, your choice) as it is now.

Yeah, when viewing new posts, but if you click on like the number in the upper-right of a post (like #18 ), it's currently formatted like this (no page number involved):

http://forums.finalgear.com/showthread.php?p=609668#post609668

That'd switch to be /thread-title-12345-2.html#post609668 or whatever.

[Viper007Bond]

Okay, it's on, but I'm in the process of fine tuning the default configuration. No complaints quite yet please.