[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #62760: Noindex URLs when they render unapproved comments

[WordPress Trac]

#62760: Noindex URLs when they render unapproved comments
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 Reporter:  joostdevalk   |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:  6.8
Component:  Comments      |     Version:
 Severity:  normal        |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                |     Focuses:
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Changes (by peterwilsoncc):

 * milestone:  Awaiting Review => 6.8


Comment:

 Moving to the 6.8 milestone for investigation.

 Quoting the relevant part of the blog post to allow for ease of
 contribution:


 > Aside: the SEO impact of the WordPress comment system
 >
 > The fact that WordPress redirects to a URL with an `unapproved`
 parameter is incredibly tricky in my eyes; I’m never a fan of URL
 parameters being added anywhere (as it usually busts the cache, and bloats
 the URL space), but here it also leads to potential SEO issues if people
 link to these parameterized URLs. I was able to find quite a few of these
 with [https://www.google.com/search?q=inurl:unapproved+inurl:moderation-
 hash relatively simple Google search]:
 >
 > <snip sample urls>
 >
 > Since WordPress does not `noindex` these URLs by default, this is a
 perfectly sensible way of injecting links into a page and getting (usually
 `nofollow`, but still) links from domains that have no idea they’re
 linking to you, thinking they’ve not approved your comment.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/62760#comment:2>
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