Does renaming a forum topic affect SEO?

[David N.]

I see that renaming a forum topic handles redirects from the original topic to the new one under the hood. I'm wondering how the redirect is done exactly, what happens if I rename a topic multiple times, and if it can hurt SEO, or if I shouldn't worry about it? 

[Randy Calvert]

Technically you could change ANYTHING in the name of the forum and it would redirect.  For example, this support forum itself...

https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/forum/497-help-support/

If I change it to https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/forum/497-help-me-help-me/

When the server processes the forum ID (497) in this case, it issues a HTTP 302 redirect to the value stored in the database.

Below is an example of the HTTP headers showing this:

Because it's a 301 code, Google will know it's a permanent redirect and will not penalize you for duplicate content.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Randy Calvert

[Jim M]

As mentioned by Randy, the way that FURLs work is that the number in the URL really tells the software what forum, topic, etc... you are viewing. Anything after that is a string that is incorrect then gets redirected to the correct URL.

If one thing is indexed, the 301 will tell Google it moved permanently and it should index the new URL. While that may not happen instantly, it will happen.

[David N.]

8 minutes ago, Randy Calvert said:

Technically you could change ANYTHING in the name of the forum and it would redirect.

Wow! Good to know, thanks, and I'm glad I asked this question. 🙂 

6 minutes ago, Jim M said:

If one thing is indexed, the 301 will tell Google it moved permanently and it should index the new URL. While that may not happen instantly, it will happen.

Great, good to know. Thanks a lot.