I was considering using a mod to create search engine friendly URLs on a new phpBB forum. One thing I noticed is that most of the biggest phpBB forums listed on BigBoards, don't use search engine friendly URLs.
What's your opinion on the value of using mods, such as phpBB SEO, for creating search engine friendly URLs on a phpBB forum? Do you know of any disadvantages of using search engine friendly domains on a forum?
I don't think that "SEO Friendly" URLs really 'help' with SEO and such, but it does make the URLs look better. It is something that I have always wanted to use the phpBB SEO mods but never did get around to installing them.
Agreed with above. I'm not really sure how much it actually helps as far as SEO, but it is really nice to have. My forum does this automatically (I use IP.Board), and it's more convenient than you'd think to be able to recognize titles of a thread right from the URL. (For example, when someone links it.)
One thing I like about "SEO friendly" URL's is when people link to your site in a hidden forum and you can see the topic name of the refering topic in the logs 😀
Personally, I don't think they make much difference and you see many popular forum successful without these so call "SEO Friendly" URL's. We did have them on this forum for a little while although it did cause alot of problems hence why they were removed. I am sure the SEO Friendly URL mods now are better than 4+ years ago but personally I just feel are the worth the effort and the minor problems that may come with having SEO Friendly URL's... especially on a forum software where they are not included by default and is supported by an individual outside of the software development team.
