I am NOT an expert on this, but would also assume that this hidden content is not indexed because otherwise people would throw in keywords like crazy…? 
So, if one choses Clean URLs for a new project right away
AND
creates Canonical
would the canonical then be „pretty“ ?
For a totally new website never before uploaded or indexed, I would have no major problem with Clean URLs being enabled in Blocs. Why? Let’s consider my existing site, which is NOT new.
My existing site folder structure (i.e., URLs) are not only indexed on all the major search engines and directories, but many of our product dealers and magazine reviews have hard links to our specific URLs. Changing the entire folder structure for the sake of SEO (i.e., enabling Clean URLs in Blocs, which in turn creates a new folder for every single HTML page in the website) on existing websites like mine would probably be very self-defeating in the short term. All those new URLs would need to be reindexed and that doesn’t happen instantaneously. And even in the long term after Google reindexes my Clean URL website, some of those old links to my websites by third parties just won’t be updated at all, ever. I know that from years of experience. So when I have needed to move a page to a different URL, that external link to my old page’s URL breaks, yet it remains in the search results for quite a long time. Often times, I will add redirect because it’s easy to do for a single page; but for a big site, that’s not always possible or desirable.
Another consideration is the fact I use Google Custom Search on my websites. I know from experience that updates to my site take a while before they are reflected in search results, so one needs to take that into consideration too when making a major change to the entire website’s folder structure, for an existing website.
Now in terms of what you yourself deem “pretty,” which of the following is considered more pretty than the other and why?
https://example.com/apples/green.html
https://example.com/apples/green
In my humble opinion, both are pretty much the same. Killing the “.html” doesn’t revolutionize that URL, and I doubt it would have any SEO merit either.
I don’t use a lot of parameters (?xxx at the end of the URL), nor do I use CMS. That’s why my website URLs tend to be as clean as the example I just gave. I therefore do not think it is worth making the Clean URLs change for large, existing websites that already have pretty clean URLs.
The only URL I would want to keep perfectly clean is the top page, eliminating the /index.html at the end because it is totally and utterly redundant. For me to actually WANT /index.html to appear on my top page URL in a Google search would be the same as me walking around town, tapping everyone on the shoulder, then pointing up and screaming, “Hey, the sky is blue!” Yeah, we know that. It’s ridiculous to even mention it.
The top page in your website which is really the page you want as clean as possible when it appears in a search result or when you showcase it to someone. Again, if index.html at the very end of your main website URL is so precious for you to actually WANT a Canonical tag to keep it, you might as well advertise your website URL on flyers and elsewhere in the same way… "No, friends, we aren’t ‘https://superduper.com’, we are ‘https://superduper.com/index.html’!!! See how silly that “index.html” part is when advertising your root URL?
On other pages in my site, the /pagename.html part is not redundant (unless perhaps it is in a different folder and has the name index.html). That is why I disapprove of Blocs’ current thinking about Canonical as it pertains to the home/top page only. For the rest of the pages in the site, it’s okay. So my workaround for that undesirable functionality is to untick that Canonical checkbox on my top page only, and add my preferred Canonical code myself (which does not include the index.html part), but enable Blocs’ Canonical checkbox on all other pages in the Blocs document. That pleases me well. And again, I am doing this because I have Clean URL’s disabled.
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Yes.
I should mention that I am having problems with bugs today. Clean URLs works once and then stops working. Yes, I’ve reported the bug to Norm, and so should any of you if you experience it. Specifically, enabling Clean URL’s allowed me to export and confirm each HTML file was placed into its own folder, but when I disabled Clean URL’s and then exported and then re-enabled Clean URL’s and exported yet again, all HTML files were placed in the main folder, which shows Clean URL’s was disabled. Restarting my iMac fixed the problem temporarily, but toggling Clean URL’s OFF then ON again triggered the bug and killed the functionality.
Because of the bug, it took me a while, but here’s what I did.
- I ticked/enabled “Enable Canonical Meta Tag” on my home/top page in Blocs 4.
- I deleted my custom Canonical code from that page so as not to interfere with the Canonical code Blocs will insert at the time of export.
- I ticked/enabled “Clean Page URL’s” in the Project Settings.
- I exported and previewed the index.html for my home/top page in Safari.
- I pressed Opt-CMD-U to view the page code and searched for “Canonical”. I found that there is no “index.html” at the end, which is a good thing.
Summary: If you use Clean URL’s (and are not hit with the bug like I am) and get each HTML file placed in its own folder, AND if you also “Enable Canonical Meta Tag,” then the Canonical code will NOT have index.html at the end of the home page URL and your other page URLs will be similarly pretty when it comes to Canonical.
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