URL structure is changing but does NOT return 404

[andreicomoti]

Hello,

I have a problem on one of my websites (an e-commerce website). Let me give you an example:

Original version of URL: www.example1.com/category-page/category-identifier1.html.
Modified version of the URL: www.example1.com/modified-page/category-identifier1.html

As you noticed, the URL has changed and would normally return a 404 code. However, the modified version does not return a 404 and displays the content shown on the original version of the URL.

I must mention that the modified version of the URL has a canonical tag pointing to the original version.

Do you think this can be a problem in the future, maybe lots of URL with the same content? If there are potential problems involved this situation, what is the best way to explain this to a decision board and highlight these potential problems and the damages that they can make to our online store?

Thanks in advance

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 11:57 am (utc) on Mar 5, 2020]

[andreicomoti]

UPDATE 1: forget about the canonical tag, the modified page points canonical to itself, not the original URL, so there is a problem there too.

[not2easy]

To offer ideas it helps to know how this is happening. Are the URLs being modified by the CMS? Is the "new" version being created by the CMS without changing any settings? If you type in the old URL does it automatically redirect to the "new" URL - and is there a 301 server response to the original URL or so you see a different server response in your access logs? Which URL is shown in your sitemaps?

[andreicomoti]

@not2easy

The problem has nothing to do with CMS. There are no new URLs being created at the moment. We have just identified this issue and we want to know if it is a matter of concern.

The new URL created does not redirect to the original URL. The new URL has a canonical tag that points to itself, not the original version of the page.

As a theory, what if somebody decided to harm the website and create a big number of versions for one or more URL on our website and access them daily. Will this pose a problem? Are all our category pages at risk at the moment?

How to approach this issue?

[tangor]

Not sure what you are asking ... confess I might be missing something.

On the web there can be only one url.

If two different urls result in the same destination then something is seriously wrong.

I must mention that the modified version of the URL has a canonical tag pointing to the original version.

Why? It is a new URL, right? The old one is either a 301 to the new, or should be a 410 (gone) to make it disappear as soon as possible.

Color me confused.

[andreicomoti]

@tangor

You are right, one the web right now there is only one URL.

However, the uniqueness of the URL is given on our website by the category-identifier, which cannot be changed. If you change it, the page will result in a 404. However, if you change the name of the category like /category-name/category-identifier.html to /some-text/category-identified.html, it will not result in a 404 as it should, it will result in a brand new URL with the same content. Nobody will change the text or the category name intentionally, so no problem, but what if somebody decides to do so intentionally to harm that page (create different URLs with the same identifier at the end but different names). This is my concern at the moment.

[lucy24]

The problem has nothing to do with CMS.

Sorry, but the problem has everything to do with CMS. Here, it sounds as if you are using a custom-made system rather than one of the well-known ones. But that just means the people who coded your system have to come up with the fix; there's no existing plugin or documented solution you can deploy. It isn't clear from your post whether that means you, personally, or whether it's a developer saying “Can’t do it” when they mean either “I don’t know how to do it” or “I can’t be bothered to do it” (or, quite possibly, both).

If an URL has been discontinued, it shouldn't be returning a 404 anyway. If it's simply gone, requests get a 410. If the same content now lives at a different URL, that's a 301. Ideally these would be handled on the configuration-file level before the request gets shipped off to the server-intensive CMS itself.

Canonical tags are for when all other solutions are impossible.

Nobody will change the text or the category name intentionally, so no problem, but what if somebody decides to do so intentionally

No intent required. Search engines already know your old URLs, and will continue requesting them.

[JS_Harris]

Try this: add a period to the end of a page url. ie: example.com/random-page becomes example.com/random-page. or even example.com/random-page... (include the periods). If they all resolve to the same page it's your CMS.

Make sure the canonicals all point to the right version.and most search engines will not miss a beat.