Page Properties - SEO

[mixextra]

Hi,

the web contains a file htaccess that does the function:
http to https
www to non www
.html to non html extension

http://www.example.com/index.html
to
https://example.com/index

How to set the following parameters correctly - for example, for the "index" page:
1. Page Properties/SEO/Canonical URL ?

URL: ???

2. Page Properties/SEO/hreflang ?
The website is in one language SK (Slovakia)
Language: SK

URL: ???

Thanx

[Pablo]

I am not a SEO expert, but I don't think that you will need to set hreflang, if you only have one language.

[mixextra]

and in the Page Properties / SEO / Canonical URL question, will anyone be able to advise me on whether the settings for the "index" page will be correct:

http://www.example.com/index.html
or
https://example.com/index
or
other

due to redirection of the htaccess file

Thank you for the advice and ideas

[Pablo]

Maybe this will be helpful:
https://developers.google.com/search/do ... urls?hl=en

[wwonderfull]

and in the Page Properties / SEO / Canonical URL question, will anyone be able to advise me on whether the settings for the "index" page will be correct:

http://www.example.com/index.html
or
https://example.com/index
or
other

due to redirection of the htaccess file

Thank you for the advice and ideas

the canonical url usually for example my website with ssl it was https://example.com if it did not have ssl certificate it would be http://example.com without the "s" that is the canonical url you should put to declare to search engines like google and others that you prefer the non-www version of your domain over the www version. But there is a cache. You need to config your .htaccess also for that which you can learn some configure by reading from here https://www.askapache.com/htaccess/

Note: Why remove www from your domain and redirect to non-www?
Non-www domains are easy to remember and simpler to type and search for, which is great for getting direct traffic. This is the clearest, strongest benefit. Most people search for websites without typing the www, so eventually, the www domains might phase out, and non-www might be more prominent. And also google sees the www version and the non www version as duplicate content so you may get penalty for that too.

[wwonderfull]

Also note that depending on servers and settings the .htaccess codes can varry which I have gotten codes from others. One more tip I can give is that in robot.text file also put the exact canonical url. If you can not config the .htaccess then refrain from doing things half way.

[mixextra]

Thank you for the direction, advice and ideas.

I will share my server settings and the WWB tool https://www.seobility.net/en/seocheck/ evaluates as correct.
Server (Apache) and htaccess file:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^example.com$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://example.com/$1 [R=301,L]
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI}
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)/?$ /$1.html [L]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \s/([^.]+)\.html [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1 [NE,L,R]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)/?$ /$1.php [L]
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \s/([^.]+)\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1 [NE,L,R]

This setting ensures routing:
from http://www.example.com/contact.html to https://example.com/contact
or
from http://www.example.com/contact.php to https://example.com/contact

WWB canonical URL setting is: https://example.com/contact

I'm still working on the correct settings for the homepage https://example.com/index because google search engine indexes as homepage https://example.com/ and listed as a duplicate page and incorrect setting of WWB canonical URL https://example.com/index if I get to the home page from the WWB menu as an internal link to the page /index.html

So far, it seems to me to be a good solution in navigating the home page menu to use the External Web Address directly https://example.com/ and setting WWB canonical URL https://example.com/ this will ensure that https://example.com/index is always redirected to the URL https://example.com/ that google indexes and is also set to canonical in WWB.

[wwonderfull]

WWB canonical URL setting is: https://example.com/contact

I'm still working on the correct settings for the homepage https://example.com/index because google search engine indexes as homepage https://example.com/ and listed as a duplicate page and incorrect setting of WWB canonical URL https://example.com/index if I get to the home page from the WWB menu as an internal link to the page /index.html

So far, it seems to me to be a good solution in navigating the home page menu to use the External Web Address directly https://example.com/ and setting WWB canonical URL https://example.com/ this will ensure that https://example.com/index is always redirected to the URL https://example.com/ that google indexes and is also set to canonical in WWB.

It should be more like example.com/page I think if you have used the removal code for the .html and .php then that should do it

[mixextra]

HI wwonderfull

my file listed above htaccess does not add / at the end (after the page title)
therefore, the notation is a canonical URL for WWB:
https://example.com/cookies
https://example.com/blog

when i added the end of the canonical URL for WWB / so SEO tool https://www.seobility.net/en/seocheck/ reported an error
"The specified canonical link points to a different page."

The situation is different at the home page where / must be
therefore, the notation is a canonical URL for WWB:
https://example.com/
and appears in the browser window as
https://example.com

https://example.com/ I have listed it as a direct link in all navigation menus that link to the home page.

maybe there is a better solution but SEO tool https://www.seobility.net/en/seocheck/ evaluates it as a correct solution without duplicate pages.

However, I have a problem with a page that contains a form or EditableContentAdmin and if htaccess removes the .php extension from the page,
so form and EditableContentAdmin do not work.

[wwonderfull]

HI wwonderfull

my file listed above htaccess does not add / at the end (after the page title)
therefore, the notation is a canonical URL for WWB:
https://example.com/cookies
https://example.com/blog

when i added the end of the canonical URL for WWB / so SEO tool https://www.seobility.net/en/seocheck/ reported an error
"The specified canonical link points to a different page."

The situation is different at the home page where / must be
therefore, the notation is a canonical URL for WWB:
https://example.com/
and appears in the browser window as
https://example.com

https://example.com/ I have listed it as a direct link in all navigation menus that link to the home page.

maybe there is a better solution but SEO tool https://www.seobility.net/en/seocheck/ evaluates it as a correct solution without duplicate pages.

However, I have a problem with a page that contains a form or EditableContentAdmin and if htaccess removes the .php extension from the page,
so form and EditableContentAdmin do not work.

Try https://seositecheckup.com/ this is much better seo checker and one of the top best. I did my settings the way I had told but everything works for me. I even removed the .html and .php extension which comes after the page name. For me personally the form works 100% without the .php form page works although I removed the .php extension using .htaccess code. I will experiment using "Editable Content Admin" on my website and see what I can come up with. If it has any problem or something. I will try to let you know.

[mixextra]

wwonderfull, if you are willing can you share your htaccess settings?

/ at the end of the URL I see on many sites but so far I have not been able to get any commands to add my Apache server to the end of the URL /

as a bigger problem i see that php cms and forms scripts don't work for me
when I remove .php extensions

Maybe your settings could point me in the right direction.
Thanks

[wwonderfull]

You can try and see the settings from here. https://alexcican.com/post/how-to-remov ... -htaccess/

You can also try this to remove the .php

Code: Select all

RewriteEngine on 
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} /([^.]+)\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1 [NC,L,R]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.php [NC,L]

Even if that does not work there are countless many codes here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/402 ... h-htaccess
Note: That the codes do the same thing although maybe written differently. It does the same thing.

[wwonderfull]

One more thing I found out is that you should not use the .php or .html extension on the canonical url if you have put removal code in .htaccess, so remember that or the seo will get messed up.
Google has the example I am talking about. See below
https://developers.google.com/search/do ... icate-urls

For the easiest understanding if you want in google to show your website as example.com/page the canonical url should also be example.com/page
modern seo discourage trailing / at the end so rules are updating day by day most people care about their websites content more the the duplicate links.

[mixextra]

Hi wwonderfull ,
thanks again for the ideas and recommendations

It goes without saying that when redirecting page non .html and non .php must be canonical URL WWB http://example.com/page

I was able to solve all my problems, I will list my htaccess settings with a description:

Code: Select all

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /

#1. redirects everything from www to non www
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)(.*) [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) https://%2%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

#2. redirects everything from http to https
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.)(.*) [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

#3. redirects everything from example.com/index.html and example.com/index.php and example.com/index to example.com/
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /([^/]+/)*index(\.(html?|php))?\ HTTP/ [NC]
RewriteRule ^((?:[^/]+/)*)index(\.(html?|php))?$ /$1 [R=301,L,NC,NE] 

#4. redirects everything from example.com/page.html to example.com/page
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.html -f
RewriteRule ^(.*)/?$ /$1.html  [L]

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} \s/([^.]+)\.html [NC]
RewriteRule ^ /%1 [NE,L,R]

#5. redirects everything from example.com/page.php to example.com/page and work php form script and cms WWB
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !POST
RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,}\s([^.]+)\.php [NC]
RewriteRule ^ %1 [R=302,L,NE]

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME}.php -f
RewriteRule ^ %{REQUEST_URI}.php [L]

this setting # 4 resolves routing from the site navigation menu and also routes from ... / index.php and ... / index.htm and ... / index directly to domain ... example.com/

this setting # 5 resolved the removal of the .php extension as well as broken php form scripts and cms

to understand it, it is necessary to get acquainted with the settings of the APACHE server in more detail

With this setting, all canonical URLs for each site are as follows:
WWB canonical URL index = https://example.com/
WWB canonical URL contact = https://example.com/contact
WWB canonical URL blog = https://example.com/blog
and so on

301 redirects are SEO and google friendly and it is important to follow the order of the commands so that they are redirected as little as possible in the chain

im recommend a useful htaccess routing test tool:
https://www.serpworx.com/check-301-redirects/