XF 1.3 A few questions that might be SEO related

[ge66]

I am soon to convert my vb3.8 forum to xenforo and seek some advice.

1. Today I am not using any sort of fancy URL. Should I go for any type of friendly URL:s? Right now I am planning not to. I have som special characters in my language that would not look that good in friendly URL:s I think.

2. Today I am using a sitemap, but I am not planning on using one in xenforo, should I?

3. When I import I will retain imported ID:s. Should I archive the logged import data and use the redirect-script or could I just use .htaccess for redirecting?

Would like the pros and cons with each choice, thank you for helping!

 

[Jake Bunce]

1) Several options regarding URLs:

Admin CP -> Home -> Options -> Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) -> Use Full Friendly URLs

Admin CP -> Home -> Options -> Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) -> Include Content Title in URLs

Admin CP -> Home -> Options -> Basic Board Information -> Romanize Titles in URLs

I suggest enabling all 3 options.

2) I don't think a sitemap matters.

3) If you retain the IDs then you can use pure .htaccess for redirects.

 

[AndyB]

Full Friendly URLs eliminate the index.php part of the URL, this is good.

As for "Include Title in URLs, I chose not to do that.

Regarding redirects, I wrote a few small scripts that redirect the old URL to the new URL, it's great that all the important IDs are retained.

The only small issue I had was dealing with emails that were not unique. make sure all emails are unique before converting to XenForo.

 

[ge66]

3) If you retain the IDs then you can use pure .htaccess for redirects.

I have tested with the following in my .htaccess and it seemes to be working:
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|\?)t=([0-9]+)($|&)
RewriteRule ^showthread\.php$ /foro/threads/%2/? [R=301,L]

If I have 20 post/page on both vb and xf, how to make it redirect to say page 3 of a thread?

I am wondering if it is a good idea to redirect other pages than threads and how to do it? Like archive and nodes, any other?

http://www.example.se/f/forumdisplay.php?forumid=64
http://www.example.se/foro/forums/64/

http://www.example.se/f/archive/index.php/t-501364.html
http://www.example.se/foro/threads/501364/

 

[ge66]

Full Friendly URLs eliminate the index.php part of the URL, this is good.
As for "Include Title in URLs, I chose not to do that.

Why is it good to eliminate the index.php part?
I will probably not include the title, I guess it makes it harder for a user to see where a link takes them. Why dont you use them. Pros and cons?

 

[ge66]

Thank you both for your answers!
I have another related question about URL:s

4. Is it good or bad to change the route? I guess I could change the route to forums/threads/pages either to translate them to my language and or shorten them. Is changing routes going to impact performace in any way? I guess it could complicate things a little compared to leaving it?

 

[AndyB]

Why is it good to eliminate the index.php part?
I will probably not include the title, I guess it makes it harder for a user to see where a link takes them. Why dont you use them. Pros and cons?

The index.php part is good to eliminate because it's not needed. It's better to have short URLs. Also some add-ons will not work unless you use Full Friendly URLs.

I prefer not to have the title be part of the URL for the following two reasons:

1) If the thread title is changed, there can be confusion with links pointing to old titles in the URL.

2) Forces users to describe the link in the post which often provides better information than relying on a thread titles in the URL.

 

[ge66]

It was pointed out to me that the header actually is placed at the end of the page to not be in the way of content.

5. How much trouble do you think a 36 words/links menu placed before the header would cause with SEO?

My menu i fluid in height so I have trouble placing it in the xf header that is fixed in height?

 

[Jake Bunce]

It was pointed out to me that the header actually is placed at the end of the page to not be in the way of content.

5. How much trouble do you think a 36 words/links menu placed before the header would cause with SEO?

I don't think it matters.

My menu i fluid in height so I have trouble placing it in the xf header that is fixed in height?

I have seen style problems caused by fluid height headers. I'm sure it's fixable, but I suggest keeping a fixed height.

 

[Jake Bunce]

I have tested with the following in my .htaccess and it seemes to be working:
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (^|\?)t=([0-9]+)($|&)
RewriteRule ^showthread\.php$ /foro/threads/%2/? [R=301,L]

If I have 20 post/page on both vb and xf, how to make it redirect to say page 3 of a thread?

I am wondering if it is a good idea to redirect other pages than threads and how to do it? Like archive and nodes, any other?

http://www.example.se/f/forumdisplay.php?forumid=64
http://www.example.se/foro/forums/64/

http://www.example.se/f/archive/index.php/t-501364.html
http://www.example.se/foro/threads/501364/

You are using the standard URLs in vB so you might consider just using these scripts:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/redirection-scripts-for-vbulletin-3-x.264/

That covers everything (threads, forums, attachments, members, etc). It also does page links.