Which URL structure?

**Yogesh Sarkar** · 10-07-2008, 06:55 PM

I have finally decided to bite the bullet and will be buying vbseo license next month if everything goes according to plan. But before I buy a license and start messing with it, I thought why not gather as much information as possible.

One thing I do find confusing is the myriad of URL formats found in vbseo. Thus I would like to know, which one is better for both search engine rankings and server performance and why.

Would love to hear what current vbseo owners are using and why and which format they find is better.

**Caddyman** · 10-07-2008, 08:01 PM

Briansol's Ultimate Guide to vBSEO

**Yogesh Sarkar** · 10-07-2008, 08:18 PM

Already read it, but it doesn't talk about URL structure and I think Brian uses the default format used by vbseo.

**Caddyman** · 10-07-2008, 08:26 PM

hmm i could have swore it was covered...

i think i read recently that folder style is best

site.com/

site.com/forum/

site.com/forum/thread-title-here/

site.com/forum/membername/

i think you can set it up like that....right?

**Mike54** · 10-08-2008, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yogesh Sarkar

Already read it, but it doesn't talk about URL structure and I think Brian uses the default format used by vbseo.

Actually, Brian does mention his preference - non-hierarchic, folder-style URL's, with no extensions. See the very first step in his guide.

**Yogesh Sarkar** · 10-08-2008, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike54

Actually, Brian does mention his preference - non-hierarchic, folder-style URL's, with no extensions. See the very first step in his guide.

Does that means something like this, /forum/thread-name-3452/ or /forum/f2-or-forum-name/thread-name-2345/?

**Caddyman** · 10-08-2008, 12:35 PM

I think the /forumname/ would be in there

**glennybee** · 10-08-2008, 03:29 PM

I have it setup like vbseo forums. I figures if they use it, it can't be bad.

The thread title is going to be the most important but do you necessarily need the forum name in there all the time, I don't think so.

That's why I went with /f1/thread-title.

**Brandon Sheley** · 10-08-2008, 03:51 PM

#6 is the best IMO

I would advise NOT to use forum-title, use forum-id

**Yogesh Sarkar** · 10-08-2008, 05:30 PM

I reckon #6 is the one from you?

Doesn't inserting forum id/name into the URL needs more processing and in case you move the thread, the URL would be rewritten?

**Brandon Sheley** · 10-08-2008, 06:03 PM

I like the thread ID because if you want to change the forum name, your still good
if you use forum-title, all those threads and the forumdisplay link will have to be re-indexed

**ArnyVee** · 10-08-2008, 09:11 PM

Shoot...I have forum-title...didn't think to do that adjustment. But, I don't want to go through reindexing again.

Or, should I

**Brandon Sheley** · 10-08-2008, 09:49 PM

well, it only really comes into play if you change the forum title
do you think you'll ever change them? how long have you had vbseo installed

btw. you might consider adding /tags/ to your robots.txt

**ArnyVee** · 10-09-2008, 09:53 AM

Brandon, I've been looking for the thread with the robots file to compare with what I have, but couldn't find it. Do you have a link to it?

How did you know about my robots.txt lacking /tags?

**Brandon Sheley** · 10-09-2008, 02:57 PM

We have a thread here, but it's a little our dated, it doesn't have the tags in it.
I knew about yours because I see the tags being indexed, and we can see the robots.txt file

vBulletin SEO Optimization Tips

you can check out what I have here
http://forum.vbulletinsetup.com/robots.txt