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Bug Report
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Resolution: Fixed
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L3 - Default
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None
Environment (Required on creation):
Not environmental based issue.
Description (Required on creation; please attach any relevant screenshots, stacktraces, log files, etc. to the ticket):
/stable/ URLs (e.g https://docs.camunda.org/stable/ or https://docs.camunda.org/stable/guides/user-guide/#cdi-and-java-ee-integration) point to the old documentation site and are being indexed and ranked by Google (see attached video).
Additionally, the version numbers on the old site include newer versions as the list reloads (see attached video).
Steps to reproduce (Required on creation):
Google search with keywords like "camunda enterprise documentation stable"
Observed Behavior (Required on creation):
/stable/ appears to be indexed, ranking old documented versions with old branding
Expected behavior (Required on creation):
Only the most recent versions should be indexed by Google.
Root Cause (Required on prioritization):
Solution Ideas (Optional):
- Remove any content under /stable
- Disallow any but the most recent minor version in robots.txt. Make it part of the release procedure to update this.
Hints (Optional):
Website team has offered to pull a list of all resource under /stable/ if there are concerns about any content we do want ranked/indexed under /stable. I have linked them to this Jira in case collaboration is needed.
This is the controller panel for Smart Panels app
[CAM-13186] /stable/ indexed by Google
meyer, amara.graham. yes, I think we can remove the stable docs. However, all the other older minor versions are indexed as well, e.g. Googling for "camunda instance migration docs", the first link is for 7.7. We can update robots.txt to only allow indexing of the latest minor version. However, I guess that would also disable queries like "site:docs.camunda.org/7.7 instance migration"). So please let me know if you have opinions on this.
Overall, I am adding this as an optional topic to the 7.15 release cycle that we will tackle when anything code-related is done. Should we not have enough time, then I will submit the ticket to 7.16 planning.
Cheers,
Thorben
OK - thanks for the fast answer Thorben.
My opinion: Only the "latest" version of the docs should be indexed or queryable by google. No older versions need to come up in any google search.
amara.graham Thorben's answer basically means that he will try to address it before April 13 but it is not guaranteed that it will happen. If it does not, it will slip into the next cycle. If you want this to happen ASAP you would need to submit a PR yourself (you or Rin).
Thank you both for the quick responses here.
I agree, if developers are looking for information specific to an older version, I would rather they navigate to that information within our documentation site. Google search should only reference the latest (and greatest!).
I am ok with the timing here; my knowledge of indexing is weak at best. Most important to me is that this is corrected in the release process so when this is fixed we don't see future older versions still referenced.
The sites are updated that /stable and all docs sites except latest will be removed from the index the next time google crawls the site. It can take a few days for the changes to take affect
Hey thorben.lindhauer,
I think the fact that we still have content under /stable/ is complete legacy and we can remove it.
This was the first version of the Camunda Docs and we probably kept it under that URL for some time to maintain links but we should remove it now.
Maybe I am missing something but I think it is OK.
Daniel