Removing the ID numbers from URLs in the CMS

Hi Everyone,

I understand the need to place id numbers in forum urls so that we can guarantee a unique url. But for the CMS area which I have complete control over I would love to remove the need. I tried using custom URLs but whenever I removed the id form the string it failed.

So I have now this custom rewrite rule:

hypnosis/[entry_id]/[entry_title]/

Which produces this example:

We Hypnosis Forum and Community - Hypnotic Trance

So the 4 is the id which I would love to remove for SEO and usability reasons.

Any one have any ideas?

At this time, entries are required to have IDs in them for vbseo to function correctly in the CMS.

Id will always be required for Showthread and Entry Url's in future also.

This is one of those HUGE gaps between CMS systems and VBulletin. For usability and SEO keyword density in URL this is just a big MUST.

The fact that this is not possible even if I write a custom rewrite rule everytime I add content means that I could not upgrade easily in the future without a very big .htaccess permanently moved mission.

I suppose it because we are attempting to forse a bulletin board code to do the role of a cms instead of attaching a CMS module integration. So if I had known this in the first place I would have opted to go with a wordpress, drupal or joomla cms next to a vBulletin install. :(

No actually this is not a huge gasp at all. Wordpress is a single owner system and single blog owner can create url rewrite settings as they want and can avoid same names. However vBulletin is a community script and you can't expect vBulletin CMS run similar to a single owner blog script. As members can create same thread name articles id's will always be required.

Very true and wordpress uses -2 on the end of the url which prompts the writer to think again about the URL. I have no problem with the vBulletin Blog area to have the ids in url but for the CMS which is managed content I would really prefer to have the control of sections, caterories and content urls.

I was also searching for same query and I think I should continue here. As I am about to work on CMS and adding content so I guess I should decide permanent URL structure ASAP so...

Currently I have cms section URL set as :

Code:

[section_title]-[section_id]/

Article URL or ENTRY URL

Code:

[entry_title]-[entry_id]/

Now if I remove [section_id] from CMS section URL then will that cause any problem ?
Then would like to have my section url as :

Code:

[section_title]/

and CMS entry url ie. article urls as :

Code:

[section_title]/[entry_title]-[entry_id]/

Will that be ok or will cause any performance issue or any other issue ? Because I read that having forum ID in forum URL is better as compared to forum url without forum ID.So similar stuff goes here ?

PS: My forum is under talk/ virtual folder (incase if there is need to know it )

Hello Jaffery,

At this time, you will need to use [x_id] variable mandatory for both CMS sections and articles. Of course you can setup CMS entry without using [section_id] (ie, [section_title]/[entry_title]-[entry_id]/) because on that URL what matters is the article ID.

You won't have issues at all with "talk/" virtual folder, as it is merely a Custom Rewrite Rule for forum.php script

If I use as follows

Code:

[section_title]-[section_id]/
[section_title]/[entry_title]-[entry_id]/

Then it wont' be be any help if I want to have a URL structure where a certain article is under particular section.
Basically, I read somewhere that it is good to maintain an properly hierarchy and that is why I bothered for this. Otherwise I have already setup things ie.

Code:

[section_title]-[section_id]/
[entry_title]-[entry_id]/

Hence, all articles goes in root of site and forum is in talk/ folder.

Yes, it is advisable to use and keep a hierarchy sctructure for your URLs. I mean, using a format like this one:

[section_title]/[entry_title]-[entry_id]/

Will let know to the SE's spiders that the currently visited page is part of the section, while using this another one:

[entry_title]-[entry_id]/

May cause confusion to SE's spiders, because it is at the same level as a section. So yes , I advice you to apply a hierarchy structure.

But if I maintain hierarchy as follows (available in vbseo atm )
[section_title]-[section_id]/
[section_title]/[entry_title]-[entry_id]/

Then even though something is part of Auto section but it won't belong to auto in view of SE as Auto section is actually..
Auto-32/

What if I use like this :
[section_title]-[section_id]/[entry_title]-[entry_id]/


Though that way we will have two IDs in URLs but also then it will maintain proper hierarchy this way.

.

And, I heard on vb that they are gonna have something like custom URL ie. flexible URL mapping .. will that affect in future ?

Originally Posted by Jaffery

But if I maintain hierarchy as follows (available in vbseo atm )
[section_title]-[section_id]/
[section_title]/[entry_title]-[entry_id]/

Then even though something is part of Auto section but it won't belong to auto in view of SE as Auto section is actually..
Auto-32/

What if I use like this :
[section_title]-[section_id]/[entry_title]-[entry_id]/

If you use that format, it will be still hierarchical. What matters on the URL for it to be hierarchical is to keep the section name, as it is what will be available on 'meta description' tags. The number is just to recognize properly the section within the URL, and doesn't affect your ranking/indexing process at all.

Originally Posted by Jaffery

And, I heard on vb that they are gonna have something like custom URL ie. flexible URL mapping .. will that affect in future ?

I don't think so, Jaffery. And if them will come, we will be here to fix them .

I guess I am unable to clarify my point..

What I am saying when a article url with section is like this :
site.com/sectionname/articlewith-ID/

So the article is in "sectionname", so from terms of hierarchy, the article resides in
site.com/sectionname/

But, bcz we have to use ID in sectionname also, the actual URL is
site.com/sectionname-ID/

therefore, site.com/sectionname/ doesn't exist but is supposed to be second block of hierarchy (if we consider siteroot as first block or first level)

So, technically, section url with ID has nothing to do with hierarchy and its kind of mess as we are creating hierarchy but actually its not there at all !

To explain more, the article with url site.com/sectionname/articlewith-ID/ format does look like in hierarchy but its actually part of a section which doesn't exist bcz the actual URL is site.com/sectionname-ID but our hierarchy is refering to site.com/sectionanme/


Hope I explained it properly.

Regarding flexible url mapping, will it be feature like we see in drupal which allows to have totally custom URL ? If that is so then in future we can give CMS url completely customized look..

But if now I decide my structure then would have to stick with it.

btw, if I choose URL like
[section_title]-[section_id]/[entry_title]-[entry_id]/
will there be any issue bz nw we have two IDs in URLs ?

Though with this way we will have proper hierarchy in URLs

You can define section rewrite rule without id

Just to confirm, so I can define section URL as :
[section_title]/

and then CMS article uRL (entry URL ) by :
[section_title]/[entry_title]-[entry_id]/