Implemented Please provide the Standard URL option

[AndyB]

I hope there will be an option in the admin cp to choose Standard URLs. I really dislike Friendly URLs and hope we are not forced to use them on our own forums.

Perhaps Kier or Mike could provide and example of what the Standard URL would look like to display the following:

1) a forum
2) a thread
3) a post within a thread
4) an attachment

Thank you.

 

[Chromaniac]

Also... the title tag of this thread is:

[Implemented] Please provide the Standard URL option | Page 2 | XenForo Community

I had like to have an option to replace the Board name here with the specific forum's name!

Implemented/Resolved Suggestions in this particular case...

 

[AndyB]

If you want short URLs why not use:
http://xenforo.com/community/forums/5/
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/2333

Perhaps I don't understand. Does the following URL require any sort of .htaccess file?

http://xenforo.com/community/forums/5/

 

[James]

I believe it is all done using the MVC framework, hence why it is possible to have 3 variations:
http://xenforo.com/community/forums/xenforo-discussions-questions.5/
http://xenforo.com/community/forums/5/
http://xenforo.com/community/index.php?forums/5/

No .htaccess file is required for any of them... as far as I am aware!
Also, you can see there which the shortest URL format is

 

[AndyB]

I believe it is all done using the MVC framework, hence why it is possible to have 3 variations:
http://xenforo.com/community/forums/xenforo-discussions-questions.5/
http://xenforo.com/community/forums/5/
http://xenforo.com/community/index.php?forums/5/

No .htaccess file is required for any of them... as far as I am aware!
Also, you can see there which the shortest URL format is

Awesome James.

It's good to know that .htaccess isn't required as MVC framework is used. I prefer using the following URL format.

http://xenforo.com/community/forums/5/

Now I need to figure out what MVC framework is as it is completely new to me.

 

[Chromaniac]

http://xenforo.com/community/forums/xenforo-discussions-questions.5/

would be cool if admin can set the max number of words in the URL...

 

[James]

I believe (though please don't take my word as final) that it uses Zend MVC Framework. Again, I could be mistaken and a .htaccess is required but AFAIK it is all done using the framework and no .htaccess file is required.

Clarification from Kier/Mike would clear up any doubts I am sure.

I do know for definite that the format (http://xenforo.com/community/forums/5/) is an admincp option as Kier posted a screenshot of it.

 

[dutchbb]

There are plenty of very experienced forum owners with highly successful forums that will argue that friendly URLs have absolutely zero benefit. In addition some forum owners like myself would prefer to have short consistent URLs as opposed to long ugly URLs that have the thread title crammed in there.

A lot of successful forums get their traffic in other ways than high ranking on SE. Some are just very well known for their domain name, others do not have that advantage and need to focus on SEO.

We already had a successful forum running long before using friendly URLs, but there was a considerable traffic increase with the introduction of the static URLs. The biggest difference we saw, was in the ranking of pages. We got strikingly higher in the SERPs, and more pages got indexed when they transformed from dynamic to static.

I'm not saying it did wonders, but it was definitely better than before. Much more guests, more registrations also. On top of that, our members love the friendly URLs, let's not forget they are, well... more user friendly.

SEO'd URLs do not have to contain long thread titles though. You can have a thread URL like http://xenforo.com/community/threads/2333/page-2 and it will still have a pretty good ranking. I'm just saying that it's best to stop using things like "?" "index.php" or "name.php?ID=796887&sort=260807" because most SE don't like this, and SEO is still an important aspect of creating traffic.

Jesus christ, no it doesn't.

Google will get ANY URL, rewriting them does -nothing-. Its a myth, so quit spreading it.

It's not about "getting" the URL, it's how they treat it afterwards. Dynamic URLs are not treated the same as static. This is not something that is made up, it is clearly stated by Google itself. You would know that, if you would have researched this a bit more.

 

[Kier]

I believe it is all done using the MVC framework, hence why it is possible to have 3 variations:
http://xenforo.com/community/forums/xenforo-discussions-questions.5/
http://xenforo.com/community/forums/5/
http://xenforo.com/community/index.php?forums/5/

No .htaccess file is required for any of them... as far as I am aware!
Also, you can see there which the shortest URL format is

There are some basic principles of forum participation, one of which is don't reply if you don't know. Posts that say "I don't know" serve no useful purpose. What is far, far worse though, is posting a response that sound like you do know when in fact you don't.

The only URL format there which does not require a rewrite rule (either through .htaccess or another server configuration method) is the one that includes index.php. It really has very little to do with the MVC framework, and even less to do with Zend.

 

[Forsaken]

A lot of successful forums get their traffic in other ways than high ranking on SE. Some are just very well known for their domain name, others do not have that advantage and need to focus on SEO.

We already had a successful forum running long before using friendly URLs, but there was a considerable traffic increase with the introduction of the static URLs. The biggest difference we saw, was in the ranking of pages. We got strikingly higher in the SERPs, and more pages got indexed when they transformed from dynamic to static.

I'm not saying it did wonders, but it was definitely better than before. Much more guests, more registrations also. On top of that, our members love the friendly URLs, let's not forget they are, well... more user friendly.

SEO'd URLs do not have to contain long thread titles though. You can have a thread URL like http://xenforo.com/community/threads/2333/page-2 and it will still have a pretty good ranking. I'm just saying that it's best to stop using things like "?" "index.php" or "name.php?ID=796887&sort=260807" because most SE don't like this, and SEO is still an important aspect of creating traffic.


It's not about "getting" the URL, it's how they treat it afterwards. Dynamic URLs are not treated the same as static. This is not something that is made up, it is clearly stated by Google itself. You would know that, if you would have researched this a bit more.

I was going to write a long response, but really, theres no point.

After this post, I'm done with the thread, as its already served its actual use, and this was just going off-topic.

Friendly URL's are for organic traffic, and Google will adjust to that; The links posted before also state -user- repeatedly; Never does it say theres a preference by search engines for one URL structure, only that the recommended for USERS is friendly URL's.

If just using friendly URL's was enough to game the system (Which was done in the past), getting high pagerank would be easy, and there wouldn't be a need for all the SEO specialists.

Enjoy arguing if you like, but I'm done now. 

 

 

[SneakyDave]

On a similar note (but not SEO), doesn't there need to be a standard URL format available by default in a forum package in order for any rewrite (.htaccess, nginx, whatever) to work?

 

[Mez]

Put simply - it's not the wording of the URL that counts - it's the structure

Lets assume I had some site that generated content about people and places

example.com/stuff/Mez​

example.com/stuff/FooBar​

​

Would be an example of bad SEO.

Replace those with something like

example.com/people/mez​

example.com/bars/FooBar​

​

gives context to the content, allowing for a search engine to better understand your content.

For example, the URL of this page, at the moment, is

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/implemented-please-provide-the-standard-url-option.2333/page-2

From this, you can see that there is some sort of implied structure

Website -> Community -> Threads -> <thread name> -> Page 2

More context for a search engine doesn't neccesarily mean a "higher" ranking... but it does mean a higher relevancy for more specific search terms.

In short, URL structure can improve things for the long tail searches - making it easier to find specific content... but I doubt that it gives anything in the way of an overall keyword search - that's all down to the magic pixies deciding pagerank

 

[Mez]

For example, the URL of this page, at the moment, is

http://xenforo.com/community/thread...l-option.2333/page-2

Darn URL shortening - just look at the address bar.

 

[James]

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/implemented-please-provide-the-standard-url-option.2333/page-2

That works:
| Website
-| Community
--| Threads
---| Title
----| Page

 

[Mez]

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/implemented-please-provide-the-standard-url-option.2333/page-2

show off.

 

[Kier]

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/implemented-please-provide-the-standard-url-option.2333/page-2

That works:
| Website
-| Community
--| Threads
---| Title
----| Page

So it does, Mike and I hadn't considered that before we designed the URL scheme

 

[James]

'That works' was because I was experimenting with the use of plain on the URL because it shortens after X characters It wasn't part of the breakdown of the URL, the breakdown was to enforce Mez's point (#51)

Bad structuring on my part.

 

[Mez]

So it does, Mike and I hadn't considered that before we designed the URL scheme

See Kier, you're even ninja when you're not paying attention.

 

[Kier]

For those who may have missed the sarcasm, of course we were paying attention, and the URL scheme is very carefully designed to present a logical hierarchy.

 

[Mez]

For those who may have missed the sarcasm, of course we were paying attention, and the URL scheme is very carefully designed to present a logical hierarchy.

I think doing something awesome by accident is cooler

 

[Kier]

Rarely happens.