SOLVED: Canonical tags hurting SEO?

<baris>

Created an issue https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/issues/11770.

<baris>

Please try with https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/commit/4045681aa70653890db07fcd039fbab6dbc03af5 and let me know if it makes a difference, I fixed the issue where each different page used the same canonical url.

NodeHam

It gets very complicated when you start changing the code. I prefer to not modify the code because then I have to keep track of those changes on updates. We've spent a lot of time trying to get our members to use our forums so they would get indexed. It would be nice to take advantage of that considering how long it takes for forums to get used.

<baris>

@NodeHam will release it as part of 3.2.1

phenomlab

@baris @NodeHam I too have this same issue in Google and Bing search consoles, and the new code is a welcome enhancement, and a step in the right direction in getting sites indexed.

NodeHam

This post is deleted!

NodeHam

Thanks so much for the quick update!

For some reason, some files / folders end up being owned by root again. I'm not sure what's causing that because I always use the nodebb user to update etc.

Anyway, it's done now. I asked Bing to re-check one of those links and now it shows as indexed. Wonderful. However, it complains about this now.

I'll try Google next.

NodeHam

This is the outcome of Bing's re-scan of the forums.

Many of these things are not under our control that I know of. Suggestions?

NodeHam

Am I the only one testing this quickly put out update?

NodeHam

Some of the fixes are as simple as going to settings, posts and changing the values.
Some, not so obvious such as follow;

Bing suggestions;

1 Change the description in the <meta description> tag in the page source to be between 25 and 160 characters in length.

2 Ensure that the page source does not contain large amounts of CSS or code at the top of the page. Consider moving code and styles into separate files.

3 The pages uses a meta robots tag. Review the value of the tag to see if you are not unintentionally blocking the page from being indexed (NOINDEX).

Bing seems to like the site better now but Google is still not loving it. I have to work on that next.

<baris>

1 Change the description in the <meta description> tag in the page source to be between 25 and 160 characters in length.

I did this in core btw https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/commit/9044e10e64fdef7f7314eb6b3b1a094a6ffe5857

NodeHam

I appreciate that but I really don't want to go down the path of changing the code. I've done that in the past with other forums software and it turns into a mess after a while.

<baris>

@NodeHam you don't have to change it, just wait for the next release.

NodeHam

Oh, I see it now, it's an update. Nice!
I just updated to 3.2.1 this morning but happy to do it again.

NodeHam

Darn, just got an email from bing saying that same as before, complaining about canonical links.
Does anyone care if I share any of this info or is it not useful since you're already working on something for a fix?

<baris>

I don't see the canonical link issue in bing for this forum.

Do you see it on the SEO report page?

<baris>

@NodeHam I identified another issue and fixed it in https://github.com/NodeBB/NodeBB/issues/11788, will be available in 3.2.2

NodeHam

I'm not seeing the errors that Bing emailed me about. Maybe it sent the email before knowing it had updated the reports. Seems better now.

BTW, Bing mentions something called IndexNow for Wordpress. Is this something that NodeBB could benefit from?

phenomlab

@NodeHam said in Canonical tags hurting SEO:

BTW, Bing mentions something called IndexNow for Wordpress. Is this something that NodeBB could benefit from?

IndexNow is a rapid indexing method where Cloudflare will push updates into Bing for example when something changes, which speeds the rate at which sites are indexed. It's a newer version of the RPC ping that WordPress used to issue as soon as content changed.

By default, NodeBB will already be able to access this if you are using CF and Bing.

NodeHam

I'm not using CF for these forums, we don't have enough traffic to require a CND.
I've upgraded to the latest version and will see what Bing has to say over the next few days.
Guess I need to check Google again too.