Forum in root or /forum?

ekkanh

Member
Hello,

I am thinking about maybe changing my vbulletin 4 forum to xenforo, I have some questions:

What is best?

1. Have my forum and blog/cms on the same URL (forum in subfolder?).

2. Have forum and blog on two separate domains, like: www.domain.com (for blog) and www.domainforums.com for the forum.


3. Have forum and blog on the same domain and both in the root, (installing a blog plugin for xenforo).

Is it better if I start with only a forum to have it in the domain root, I have not yet decided if I want a blog/cms, but I want the possibility to be there if it happens in the future.
 
Should I install XenForo in the web root or a directory?
This is personal preference and depends how you intend to structure your site. If you plan to install additional software in the root such as a CMS or have a home page, then it may make more sense to install the software in a directory.
Note that you can not have two files with the same name in the same directory, for example index.php.

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/frequently-asked-questions.5183/#post-180455
 
Ok thanks for the Answers! I know from a seo point of view that subdomains aren't recommended. I Am thinking of putting it in a subfolder and redirect the root to the folder. Although it's more recommended for seo to have the forum in root.
 
You might want to name the folder something other than "/forum" like "/community" because xenforo automatically add another "/forums" after that while viewing subforums and "/forum/forums/" looks crazy. ;)
 
Ok, why is that? It would be much better with /forums/f1 , where f1 = forum 1 , f2 = forum 2 and so on. :) I like the word forum more than community!

It is just how xenforo works, subforums have "/forums" in the URL, threads are have"/threads" in the URL, and members have "/members" in the URL.

If you look at this site as an example....

http://xenforo.com/community/forums/xenforo-pre-sales-questions.5/

The xenforo.com forum is located in the "/community" folder and "/forums/" is after it in the url when you are viewing subforums. If it was in the /forum folder, you would see this...

http://xenforo.com/forum/forums/xenforo-pre-sales-questions.5/
 
Is it better to use a subdomain or a folder for SEO reasons?
Read this, it explains subdomains and subfolders quite well: http://www.seoptimise.com/blog/2011...trategy-domains-subdomains-or-subfolders.html

It is just how xenforo works, subforums have "/forums" in the URL, threads are have"/threads" in the URL, and members have "/members" in the URL.

If you look at this site as an example....

http://xenforo.com/community/forums/xenforo-pre-sales-questions.5/

The xenforo.com forum is located in the "/community" folder and "/forums/" is after it in the url when you are viewing subforums. If it was in the /forum folder, you would see this...

http://xenforo.com/forum/forums/xenforo-pre-sales-questions.5/
Ok, so I must use the word community then?
 
The thing is that I currently have my vbulletin forum with vbseo located in the root, but I realize that having it all in a subfolder is better for future development, is there a way to move everything to from root to a subfolder, if upgrading to xenforo without completely ruin all traffic and links etc?
 
The thing is that I currently have my vbulletin forum with vbseo located in the root, but I realize that having it all in a subfolder is better for future development, is there a way to move everything to from root to a subfolder, if upgrading to xenforo without completely ruin all traffic and links etc?

You can redirect the old URLs to the new ones.

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/redirection-scripts-for-vbulletin-3-x.5030/
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/redirects-for-vbseod-urls.5098/
 
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