URL Issue

[tomoko33]

This may and probably has been asked before but the amount of results when searching is staggering.

My question is simple. Currently, my forum URLs show in the browser as this https://japancarforums.com/viewforum.php?f=5

When in fact the name of the forum is Classic Car Forum. For SEO reasons only I would like the URL to read as the forum is named. https://japancarforums.com/classic-car-forum/ if at all possible.

Is there a way to make this happen?

Thank you

[HiFiKabin]

Changing the URL in the way you mention will do nothing for your rankings. Google et al are aware of dynamic URL's like this and can index them correctly without any further intervention.

[tomoko33]

Ok this is great but I would still like to see the correct name in the URL. Is there a way to do this?

Thank you. Love to see the real deal so to speak.

[HiFiKabin]

You would need an extension for that, so have a look to see what is available in the CDB bearing in mind that should the extension no longer be supported you may face problems with your board in the future.

[tomoko33]

Thanks so much. I will take careful consideration of your advice. Appreciated. Thank you

[thecoalman]

Just to elaborate you are changing the URL structure and if the extension author decides to not support it in the future you may be left supporting it yourself when you go to update phpBB. The other issue is if phpBB implements "friendly URL's" in the future the structure of the extension may not be the same as the what is implemented by phpBB.

[tomoko33]

Understood on all counts thank you.

[Mick]

Plus, users don’t really care how the links look, they search, get a list of links and click them. There’s no real benefit to man readable links these days.