Non Existing URLs or Pages in Public Portals Are Ranked by Search Enginees (SEO) Due to WebCenter Portal Redirecting to the Login Page Which Generates a 302 Redirect Instead of 404 Error (Doc ID 2643731.1)

Last updated on JANUARY 24, 2023

Applies to:

Symptoms

ACTUAL BEHAVIOR

WebCenter Portal does not generate 404 error for non-existent URLs or Pages.
Instead when accessing a non-existing URL WebCenter Portal Redirects to the Login Page which does a 302 redirect.
This problem affects the SEO qualification for Non-Existing URLs/Pages.

EXPECTED BEHAVIOR

Expect non existing URLs/Pages return 404 error.


STEPS

The issue can be reproduced at will with the following steps:

1. Open Chrome browser.
   
   
2. Access a Public Portal.
   e.g.:
   http://<HOSTNAME>:<PORT>/webcenter/portal/<Public-Portal-Name>
   
   
   
3. Start the developer tools in Chrome.
   
   
   
4. Select the Network Tab and select "Preserve Log".
   
   
   
5. Access a URL to the same portal but to a non existing page:
   e.g.:
   http://<HOSTNAME>:<PORT>/webcenter/portal/<Public-Portal-Name>/NonExistingPage
   
   In the network results note you are redirected to the login page which will generate a 302 redirect.
   
   
   
6. Login to WebCenter Portal.
   Note you get the WCPageNotFound.jsp Page.
   
   In network results, a code 200 is displayed as the first request when it should display a 404.
   So there is no 404 error at all.

Cause

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