[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #4563: Search results pages on WordCamp Central should be noindex'd

[Making WordPress.org]

#4563: Search results pages on WordCamp Central should be noindex'd
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 Reporter:  jonoaldersonwp           |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect                   |      Status:  reopened
 Priority:  normal                   |   Milestone:
Component:  WordCamp Site & Plugins  |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  seo                      |
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Comment (by iandunn):

 > Search Google for site:central.wordcamp.org inurl:s ... this is actively
 harming our crawl budget, relevance, and site quality

 Thanks, that's helpful to see.

 Is there a way to objectively measure and demonstrate the harm? I don't
 think that's necessarily a requirement for doing something here, but it'd
 make a much more compelling proposal, and would help determine the
 severity/priority.
 [[br]][[br]]

 > There are thousands of issues like these, where WP core just doesn't
 meet basic SEO requirements... I'd love to see these level of standards
 implemented throughout WP, but it's just unrealistic that that'll happen
 any time soon.

 I think everybody agrees that WP should have good discoverability out of
 the box, and implement SEO best practices that are high-impact, ethical,
 backwards-compatible, etc. So far I don't see any reason this couldn't be
 done in Core.

 I'm well aware that it takes work to make that happen, but I don't think
 it's as difficult as you believe. If the problem is as big as you suggest,
 and the solution is as straightforward, then it shouldn't encounter any
 active resistance, and it's just a matter of going through the normal
 process.

 Since it sounds like there are a lot of small changes to make, and it has
 the potential to collectively make a big impact, I'd recommend
 [https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/about/release-cycle/features-as-
 plugins/ proposing a feature plugin] that would collect all of those small
 changes and bundle them together.

 Assuming the proposal is received positively, then you could work with
 some of your colleagues who are committers to write a plugin that
 implements those features [https://w.org/about/philosophy in a way that
 would be appropriate for Core]. Assuming that the beta-testing proves its
 usefulness and doesn't reveal any problems with back-compat, edge cases,
 etc, then it could be committed to Core, and make an impact for millions
 of sites.

 We could run the feature plugin on WordCamp.org to help with beta testing,
 etc.

 Pursuing this for only WordCamp.org, though, seems like the wrong way to
 go about it. Just like everyone else, Meta committers have very little
 time, and a lot of competing requests, and our focus needs to be on Meta
 projects.

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4563#comment:7>
Making WordPress.org <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/>
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