Simple Question re: vBulletin Conversion

[kilcher]

For now I just have a very simple question... Is it possible to convert from vBulletin to XenForo (I know that part is possible) and not have the url's change? I know there are redirection scripts but I'm not exactly sure how those work, especially from an SEO perspective.

Last summer we converted my "big board" from vBulletin to IPB. We probably didn't go about it the right way because we changed the directory which changed all of the url's - ex. from /boards/ directory to /forum/ directory. After a couple months we decided to go from IPB back to vBulletin, changed the directory name again, and traffic dropped again. Now SE traffic is steadily climbing but it's still only 1/3 of what it originally was.

I would like to eventually convert that vBulletin forum to XF but I don't want to take another hit on the search engines. I guess I'm wanting someone to explain the conversion / url redirection process like they were explaining it to a child. Is it possible to convert without taking a huge hit? There must be, I see big forums do it all the time.

 

[Onimua]

Using this is your best option. It is nearly impossible to not change the URLs.

 

[Kier]

Search engines hate when stuff they've indexed goes missing. We have worked around that, by providing the redirection scripts so that even though the content has moved, the links stored by search engines still work, and the search engine will soon learn where the content has moved to by following the old links. In this way, we minimize the impact of switching software.