[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #17619: Soft 404 at /wp-content/plugins/

[WordPress Trac]

#17619: Soft 404 at /wp-content/plugins/
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 Reporter:  miqrogroove            |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement            |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                 |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  General                |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                 |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch 2nd-opinion  |     Focuses:
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Changes (by desrosj):

 * keywords:  has-patch => has-patch 2nd-opinion
 * milestone:   => Future Release


Comment:

 Copying the detailed description over from #46286, which was just closed
 as a duplicate:

 > Direct requests to system file structures/folders (e.g.,
 https://yoast.com/app/wp-content/) currently return a blank page with a
 200 HTTP status. This informs search engines and agents that the
 page/state is 'okay', which may result in them being crawled, indexed, or
 otherwise exposed.
 >
 > This causes a number of SEO and analytics headaches, and, is generally
 poor practice.
 >
 > Whilst these directories/files technically do exist, and therefore
 arguably should return a 200 status, the important thing to consider is
 that no user-facing page/content exists at the URL. We're not trying to
 represent the 'physical' file structure of the site (which we're already
 extremely abstracted from), we're trying to signpost what is, or isn't, a
 valid page/response. That an actual file/folder resides at the requested
 URL is irellevant.
 >
 > In the short-term, we should simply set a 404 header in all 'Silence is
 golden' templates.
 >
 > In the long-term, we should aim to find a way to allow all request to
 'Silence is golden' files to return the 404 template of the active theme.
 This may come with complexities, where we can't rely on system
 configurations/capabilities or folder structures to be consistent between
 sites.
 >
 > As an aspiration, we should aim that all requests to a WP site return an
 appropriate HTTP status and experience based on the user's context,
 regardless of the actual file/directory structure.

 Props @jonoaldersonwp, @vanyukov, @santilinwp for their discussion and
 work over there.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/17619#comment:16>
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