Suggestion: Include forum names in topic URL

[insectdude]

At the moment, IPB's search engine friendly URLs for topics are in this format (assuming IPB is installed in a directory called "forums"):

http://domain.com/forums/topic/1234-title-of-topic/

I propose that it would be helpful for SEO to change this to include the forum name, for example:

http://domain.com/forums/topic/298-ipboard/1234-title-of-topic/

Better yet, include parent forums/categories too:

http://domain.com/forums/topic/307-ips-client-services/297-feedback/298-ipboard/1234-title-of-topic/

This should help search engines associate IPB topics more clearly with appropriate keywords. An example of how this would help from my own site (which is a fansite for a Korean singer): I have a forum where we post lyric translations, organised by album. So at the top level we have a category called "IU", then a sub-category called "Lyrics", then subforums for each album, and finally a topic for each song. Let's look at a track called "4AM", track 12 from an album called "Last Fantasy". At the moment the URL looks like this:

http://weheartiu.com/forums/topic/4504-12-4am/

Under my proposal above, this URL would become:

http://weheartiu.com/forums/topic/5-iu/8-lyrics/53-last-fantasy/4504-12-4am/

Hopefully it's obvious how much better that would be for SEO. (If the numbers are not necessary to make this work, even better.)

[bfarber]

Admittedly, there are times when this might be good in specific circumstances (such as the one you posted).

If you look at the example of a topic on our forum, however, you will note that adding the forum names to the URL simply makes the URL longer without giving it any better context. To a HUMAN user, it is less usable, not more usable.

This is one of those things that will vary from situation to situation IMO, and it becomes hard to make a global general rule to account for as such.

[insectdude]

Fair point.

Perhaps this could be implemented by way of a per-forum setting then? Something like "Include this forum name in search-engine-friendly URLs". So in the example I gave from the IPS site, you might choose to include "ipboard" in the URL because it adds useful context, but not "ips-client-services" or "feedback".

I don't know how feasible that is but if it is technically possible, I think it would account for most situations.