upgrade to new folder or same folder for best SEO?

[SJ77]

I recently converted and upgraded from SMF to - > 3.X.X to --> 4.x.x

My root install folder (smf) was at www.mydomain.com/forum/ on 3.x and when I upgraded I installed to www.mydomain.com/forums/    <--- the same but I added an "S" on forums

I liked it because I could still access my old forum and I could also access my new forum. However, I see that many people are trying to log in at the old location. They must be using outdated links. Google has lots of link juice and old references too.

Should I try and do some fancy regex redirect or should I simply change my new directory to "forum" instead of "forums"?

[Jim M]

You will want your old urls to redirect to your new ones, otherwise you lose all SEO and run the risk of duplicate content on your domain. I'd suggest moving it back to the old location.

[SJ77]

7 minutes ago, Jim M said:

You will want your old urls to redirect to your new ones, otherwise you lose all SEO and run the risk of duplicate content on your domain. I'd suggest moving it back to the old location.

but all the old urls will lead to "page cannot be found errors".

 

I guess that's better than people being lost on old site. How would I go about changing the IPB settings to let it know its in a new folder?

 

Edit: I found $INFO['board_url']

[Jim M]

26 minutes ago, superj707 said:

but all the old urls will lead to "page cannot be found errors".

This should not happen. Please submit a ticket if it does.

[SJ77]

12 minutes ago, Jim M said:

This should not happen. Please submit a ticket if it does.

of course it would happen. All the links leading to my site from years and years are to

www.MY_SMF.com site and now I am using IP ... there is no way the links or even topic ID numbers line up anymore.

 

[Jim M]

1 minute ago, superj707 said:

of course it would happen. All the links leading to my site from years and years or to

www.MY_SMF.com site and now I am using IP ... there is no way the links or even topic ID numbers line up anymore.

 

Ah, this was not described. Yes, if you're using a different domain then you're out of luck I'm afraid. Nothing you can do will restore your SEO from the previous point.

[SJ77]

6 minutes ago, Jim M said:

Ah, this was not described. Yes, if you're using a different domain then you're out of luck I'm afraid. Nothing you can do will restore your SEO from the previous point.

ARGH!!! I am not using a different domain

MY site was using SMF  (different forum software) http://www.simplemachines.org/

I had the original installation in a directory called "forum" and the new one in a directory called "forums"

Even If I move back to the "forum" directory the links between SMF and IPB don't line up.  Here is an example of the SMF link verses IP (SAME TOPIC)

http://www.curvage.org/forum/index.php?topic=542311.0

http://www.curvage.org/forums/424674-Curvy-wife/

[Jim M]

When you converted to IPS software these links should have redirected. If they have not, then something went wrong.

[SJ77]

12 minutes ago, Jim M said:

When you converted to IPS software these links should have redirected. If they have not, then something went wrong.

How exactly would the IPS upgrade convert 100's of thousands of links scattered across the web and stored in google etc?

All those links no longer lead to anything...I don't know what you are trying to tell me

[Jim M]

2 minutes ago, superj707 said:

How exactly would the IPS upgrade convert 100's of thousands of links scattered across the web and stored in google etc?

All those links no longer lead to anything...I don't know what you are trying to tell me

They would not convert the links across the web. They would redirect them.

Example:

Old link = domain.com/xyz-old

New link = domain.com/xyz-new

All visitors going to the "Old link" would be redirected to the "new link"

[SJ77]

 

 

I appreciate your help, can we get back to answering this question. I am still not sure what to do.

Should I try and do some fancy regex redirect or should I simply change my new directory to "forum" instead of "forums"?

 

So should I move IPB to "forum" (where my site has been for the last 7 years) or should I leave it in "forums" because IPB is doing redirects

As is "old link" lands one on the SMF site and not the IPB site. I think you are talking about upgrade and not conversion from different software

TOPIC REBOOT!!.. please see below

 

[SJ77]

I am going to start over. I think I've made a mess of this discussion.

For YEARS I ran my site using SMF software at www.MY-DOMAIN/.com/forum

Thus, there are 1000's of links leading back to www.MY-DOMAIN.com/forum

Recently I converted to IPB and put my IPB instillation in a different directory www.MY-DOMAIN.com/forums <--added an "s"

I changed my domain server to send www.MY-DOMAIN.com requests to the "forums" directory instead of "forum"

However, to my dismay I see 100's of people trying to log into the old site at www.MY-DOMAIN.com/forum 

Clearly this is because they have links, bookmarks or whatever pointing to the "forum" directory as opposed to the new "forums"

So to fix this should I

1. Keep IPB in "forums" and use .htaccess to redirect all "forum" traffic to "forums"
2. OR should I simply move IPB to the directory I've been using for years "forum"

[Ryan Boyd]

3 minutes ago, superj707 said:

I am going to start over. I think I've made a mess of this discussion.

For YEARS I ran my site using SMF software at www.MY-DOMAIN/.com/forum

Thus, there are 1000's of links leading back to www.MY-DOMAIN.com/forum

Recently I converted to IPB and put my IPB instillation in a different directory www.MY-DOMAIN.com/forums <--added an "s"

I changed my domain server to send www.MY-DOMAIN.com requests to the "forums" directory instead of "forum"

However, to my dismay I see 100's of people trying to log into the old site at www.MY-DOMAIN.com/forum 

Clearly this is because they have links, bookmarks or whatever pointing to the "forum" directory as opposed to the new "forums"

So to fix this should I

1. Keep IPB in "forums" and use .htaccess to redirect all "forum" traffic to "forums"
2. OR should I simply move IPB to the directory I've been using for years "forum"

 

If you still need help, let me know! I would be glad to help you

[Jim M]

6 hours ago, Jim M said:

You will want your old urls to redirect to your new ones, otherwise you lose all SEO and run the risk of duplicate content on your domain. I'd suggest moving it back to the old location.