MyBB Community Forums

Hi there,

I would like to suggest the use of URL rewriting with thread/forum titles for MyBB 2.0

I have read past threads here at MyBB where the topic of URL rewriting had its fans and detractors. However, many of us are using Google SEO to rewrite our threads and it's simply way too risky to depend on a plugin for something as critical as a forum's URL structure/architecture. If the plugin doesn't work, our forum tanks on search engine traffic.

Other forum scripts have this type of thread/forum title URL rewriting as a core function. Xenforo, IP boards, vBulletin. I know they're paid, but it shows there is a demand for URLs having words (i.e. title of threads/forums). Even the Google SEO plugin here at MyBB is one of the most popular plugins, if not the most. I've met some MyBB webmasters who agree with this and who fear upgrading to 1.8 and beyond in case Google SEO doesn't work (I've just seen a couple of threads right now on this forum of things going wrong with Google SEO and 1.8.3).

I know that in terms of SEO, it makes no difference. But I have personally tested URLs with words vs. the default URLs (or the SE friendly in the core options), and the URLs with words in it have a higher click through. Wordpress also offers the option to have the URL of a page with the title of the page/post. Many people simply prefer this.

I'd like to ask you folks what are the odds of having page/forum title URL rewriting (as per the Google SEO plugin) as an actual core option in MyBB 2.0. Even more interesting would be adopting some of the extra features of the Google SEO plugin such as URL canonicalization, 404 pages with Google widget and meta description.

What do you guys think? Is it possible? plausible? realistic? being considered already or rejected already?

Thanks all for any answers, my fellow MyBB webmasters.

The default schema of thread_id.html is a lot less expensive than having an extra database hit with each request.

I'm curious about this too...

I'd rather not use a plugin though I know other forum software out there I think has this built in with no plugin needed could be wrong.

MyBB Blog Wrote:“Pretty” URLs are available out of the box, taking the form “/topic/me-thread.1″, along with several other useful tools aimed at enhancing the search engine optimisation of the software such as relevant meta tags and canonical links.

http://blog.mybb.com/2015/03/09/2-0-dev-post-1/

Ah! Awesome, should have read through earlier.

Thanks!

not possible more use old scheme?
thread-166381.html like?

Will the MyBB 2.0 SEO urls be configurable? I would think that most forum owners who are actively working on SEO would want to keep the same url scheme - and that most often would mean urls like those created by the GoogleSEO plugin.

(2015-03-14, 07:05 AM)Leefish Wrote: [ -> ]Will the MyBB 2.0 SEO urls be configurable? I would think that most forum owners who are actively working on SEO would want to keep the same url scheme - and that most often would mean urls like those created by the GoogleSEO plugin.

Yes, they are configurable, with a change to a single PHP file being required.

(2015-03-14, 07:05 AM)Leefish Wrote: [ -> ]I would think that most forum owners who are actively working on SEO would want to keep the same url scheme - and that most often would mean urls like those created by the GoogleSEO plugin.

It's better to have a different scheme _and_ proper redirects from old to new, than trying to stick to the same scheme (but breaking stuff anyway since the software itself is different) and no redirects whatsoever since it's not possible/feasible to do within the same scheme.

That's also true when switching one brand of forum software to another, those who force to stick to their "old" software's URLs will be in a world of broken URLs for a while...

With SEO functionality built in, there won't be a Google SEO in MyBB 2, so you'll just have to accept some changes.

We will support redirects from old URLs (any URLS with an ID in them, so the stock MyBB or the stock MyBB "friendly" URLs). We can't possibly support 3rd party URL schemes as frostschutz said.