Friendly URLs

Forums display content based on the current values of the forumid and threadid query string parameters. By default, URL of a forum thread might look like the following:

<domain>/Forums.aspx?forumid=3&threadid=12

Friendly URL of the same forum thread looks like the following:

<domain>/Forums/f4/t13/Frequently-asked-questions.aspx

Having your forum URLs in this format is a good practice when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Enabling friendly URLs

For this to be enabled, you have to do the following two tasks:

1. Set the following properties of the Forum group web part:

•	Use friendly URLs - check to enable the Friendly URLs feature

•	Friendly base URL - enter the base part of the URL, which is displayed after the domain name; e.g. /Forums for the example above and for the document aliases listed below

•	URL extension - extension that will be used at the end of the friendly URL;

2. Assign the following document aliases to the document containing the Forum group web part. The /Forums part of each alias must be equal to the value in the Friendly base URL property of the Forum group web part:

•	/Forums/f{forumid}/{whatever}

•	/Forums/f{forumid}/fp{fpage}/{whatever}

•	/Forums/f{forumid}/t{threadid}/{whatever}

•	/Forums/f{forumid}/fp{fpage}/t{threadid}/{whatever}

•	/Forums/f{forumid}/t{threadid}/tp{tpage}/{whatever}

•	/Forums/f{forumid}/fp{fpage}/t{threadid}/tp{tpage}/{whatever}

Single forum friendly URLs

If you want to enable friendly URLs for a single forum, the Forum (Single forum - General) web part should be set the same way as described in step 1, but only the following two document aliases need to be added to the document:

•	/Forums/t{threadid}/{whatever}

•	/Forums/t{threadid}/tp{tpage}/{whatever}