Perform a canonical redirect when paginated states of the front page are not found

[dd32]

As a followup to #45337, [34492], and [47727].

When example.com/ has a static front page assigned and uses <!--nextpage--> accessing non-existing pages uses example.com/page/3/ and Canonical won't kick in.

This is because paged states of the front page use the paged query var, not the page query var.

Should also fix ​https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/5184 :)

See https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/50163

[SergeyBiryukov]

Thanks for the ticket, I'm working on this as part of #28081 :)

[SergeyBiryukov]

Didn't get a chance to write the tests for this in time for 5.5 RC, moving to 5.6.

[mukesh27]

Adding the refresh keyword for the PR merge conflict.

[audrasjb]

Patch refresh

[audrasjb]

before patch: example.com/page/3 exists

[audrasjb]

After patch: example.com/page/3 redirects to homepage

[audrasjb]

50163.diff refreshes the previous patch. It appears to fix the issue.

[mukesh27]

Patch 50163.diff​ applied fine in trunk version

[SergeyBiryukov]

Thanks for the refresh! This still needs tests though, moving to the next release for now.

[audrasjb]

Just to be sure: do we need unit tests @SergeyBiryukov ?
Because in my testing the suggested patch fixes the issue.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Yes, sorry I was not clear enough :) Any functional changes to the Canonical component should really be accompanied by unit tests, to avoid unexpected regressions like comment:40:ticket:12456.

[audrasjb]

Ok thanks for clarifying. I'll make sure to get those unit tests for the next release as I already saw at least one example of SEO impact of this issue.

[lukecarbis]

Since we're in 5.7 beta 3, let's move this to the next release.

[chaion07]

We reviewed this ticket during a [recent bug-scrub]​https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1622579264170500. Pinging @audrasjb for the [unit tests]https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/50163#comment:9. Are these likely to be done before Beta 1 or this should be punted to the Future Releases? Thanks!
Props to @jeffpaul ​https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1622579402171400

[hellofromTonya]

Today is 5.8 Beta 1. This one needs tests. Punting to 5.9. But also adding to my tests TODO list. And to ensure I don't forget, @SergeyBiryukov changing ownership to me for the tests.

[hellofromTonya]

With 5.9 Beta 1 tomorrow and this patch touching wpdb, moving to 6.0. I'll work on and finish the unit tests early in the 6.0 cycle to get it committed.

[Mte90]

Any updates for this? maybe for 6.0?

[chaion07]

Thanks @dd32 for reporting this. We reviewed this ticket during a ​recent bug-scrub session. The team is hopeful that @hellofromTonya can take look at her convenience for this ticket to be moving forward during the 6.0 cycle.

Props to @peterwilsoncc

Cheers!

[chaion07]

Updating milestone to Future Release as per discussion during today's bug-scrub session. We can always pull this ticket back if the tests happen to land before the beta 1 which gets into effect on April 12.

Props to @peterwilsoncc & @costdev

Cheers!

[hellofromTonya]

As of today, I'm no longer a sponsored contributor and am starting a month or more AFK break. To not stand in the way, I'm clearing me as the ticket owner, which opens the ticket for someone to step in to shepherd this ticket forward to resolution.

[Mte90]

Any hope for this?
There is a ton of spam on GSC for urls with /page/[number] that doesn't exists, and this issue once resolved should help in some cases.
I see that the PR is waiting a review from @SergeyBiryukov since 4 years on github.

Using the 'paged' var if the singular page is the front page with unit tests

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/50163

[rajinsharwar]

Sent a new PR, and also added the unit tests. As this was agreed that the patch would work, and only was missing unit tests, marking this as a candidate for commit.

[hellofromTonya]

This ticket was previously marked as an early candidate. Though it's not touching wpdb, it is touching an area that likely needs a longer soak time to ensure it works properly in Site Editor, front-end, etc. Thinking this one will be better for early commit in 6.7-alpha, which should open in less than 2 weeks.

Moving it to 6.7.

Also removing the commit keyword, as the PR is not yet approved. And now that I'm sponsored again, if @SergeyBiryukov doesn't mind, I'll reassign ownership to myself.

Hey Sergey, please feel free to reassign to yourself and move it back into the milestone if you think it's ready.