Don't send rel=canonical to variant-neutral page

This has been the subject of multiple complaints from Google, it
apparently prevents them from properly indexing the variant-specific
pages. Instead, send the variant-independent link as rel=alternate
hreflang=x-default, which is recommended by Google as the preferred way
of specifying "auto-redirecting homepages" in this help page:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en

Send rel=alternate links unconditionally, since that is also recommended
by that help page: "each language page must identify all language
versions, including itself".

Remove $wgCanonicalLanguageLinks since it would be rather pointless and
poorly named if it only controlled rel=alternate links.

Bug: 52429
Change-Id: Ic75717f6e4ac1f73aa600c2e1bdb9c60e607edb4

diff --git a/RELEASE-NOTES-1.24 b/RELEASE-NOTES-1.24
index e7fba76..c4822d3 100644 (file)
--- a/RELEASE-NOTES-1.24
+++ b/RELEASE-NOTES-1.24
@@ -42,8 +42,8 @@ production.
   configurations are $wgDeletedDirectory and $wgHashedUploadDirectory.
 * The deprecated $wgUseCommaCount variable has been removed.
 * $wgEnableSorbs and $wgSorbsUrl have been removed.
-* The UserCryptPassword and UserComparePassword hooks are no longer called. Any extensions
-  using them must be updated to use the Password Hashing API.
+* The UserCryptPassword and UserComparePassword hooks are no longer called.
+  Any extensions using them must be updated to use the Password Hashing API.
 * $wgCompiledFiles has been removed.
 * $wgSortSpecialPages was removed, the listing on Special:SpecialPages is
   now always sorted.
@@ -65,6 +65,9 @@ production.
   may need to adjust your default user settings to compensate for the index change.
 * $wgDeferredUpdateList is now deprecated, you should use DeferredUpdates::addUpdate()
   instead.
+* $wgCanonicalLanguageLinks has been removed. Per Google recommendations, we
+  will not send a rel=canonical pointing to a variant-neutral page, however
+  we will send rel=alternate.
 
 === New features in 1.24 ===
 * Added a new hook, "WhatLinksHereProps", to allow extensions to annotate

diff --git a/includes/DefaultSettings.php b/includes/DefaultSettings.php
index 14799c6..5fc7377 100644 (file)
--- a/includes/DefaultSettings.php
+++ b/includes/DefaultSettings.php
@@ -2699,11 +2699,6 @@ $wgDisableLangConversion = false;
  */
 $wgDisableTitleConversion = false;
 
-/**
- * Whether to enable canonical language links in meta data.
- */
-$wgCanonicalLanguageLinks = true;
-
 /**
  * Default variant code, if false, the default will be the language code
  */

diff --git a/includes/OutputPage.php b/includes/OutputPage.php
index 8d50e41..fbd80c9 100644 (file)
--- a/includes/OutputPage.php
+++ b/includes/OutputPage.php
@@ -3336,25 +3336,23 @@ $templates
                }
 
                # Language variants
-               if ( !$config->get( 'DisableLangConversion' ) && $config->get( 'CanonicalLanguageLinks' ) ) {
+               if ( !$config->get( 'DisableLangConversion' ) ) {
                        $lang = $this->getTitle()->getPageLanguage();
                        if ( $lang->hasVariants() ) {
-
-                               $urlvar = $lang->getURLVariant();
-
-                               if ( !$urlvar ) {
-                                       $variants = $lang->getVariants();
-                                       foreach ( $variants as $_v ) {
-                                               $tags["variant-$_v"] = Html::element( 'link', array(
-                                                       'rel' => 'alternate',
-                                                       'hreflang' => wfBCP47( $_v ),
-                                                       'href' => $this->getTitle()->getLocalURL( array( 'variant' => $_v ) ) )
-                                               );
-                                       }
-                               } else {
-                                       $canonicalUrl = $this->getTitle()->getLocalURL();
+                               $variants = $lang->getVariants();
+                               foreach ( $variants as $_v ) {
+                                       $tags["variant-$_v"] = Html::element( 'link', array(
+                                               'rel' => 'alternate',
+                                               'hreflang' => wfBCP47( $_v ),
+                                               'href' => $this->getTitle()->getLocalURL( array( 'variant' => $_v ) ) )
+                                       );
                                }
                        }
+                       # x-default link per https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en
+                       $tags["variant-x-default"] = Html::element( 'link', array(
+                               'rel' => 'alternate',
+                               'hreflang' => 'x-default',
+                               'href' => $this->getTitle()->getLocalURL() ) );
                }
 
                # Copyright