[4.x] Add Trailing Slash “/” to Joomla URLs

[ptest8794]

to add trailing slashes in the URL you need to edit the file

public_html/libraries/src/Router/SiteRouter.php

public function buildRewrite(&$router, &$uri)
{
// Get the path data
$route = $uri->getPath();

    // Transform the route
    if ($route === 'index.php') {
        $route = '';
    } else {
        $route = str_replace('index.php/', '', $route);
    }

    $uri->setPath($route);
}

add the string. '/' in the following line of code

$uri->setPath($route . '/');

I was wondering if it is possible to add as a new feature to be activated from the admin area

[brianteeman]

Why would you want to do this?

[ptest8794]

To add trailing slash without any plugin or htaccess code.
Do you think is possible add this new feature?

[richard67]

Trailing slashes should - if ever - not be added to ANY URL but only to those of directory stile, e.g. "www.some-domain.com/en/" or "www.some-domain.com/de/", but not "www.some-domain.com/index.php/" or "www.some-domain.com/somecategory/somealias.html/". As it is possible to switch on suffix (e.g. ".html") in the configuration, your proposed solution is simply wrong and would break such URLs. Your solution may for you in your particular use case but not for everybody.

[ptest8794]

In Fact I mean this solution for cases like www.domain.com/en/category/ or www.domain.com/en/category/article/

I was wondering if it is possbile add this feature with a switch in the web admin area and if the suffix was enabled the trailing slashes button has to set to no add or disabled.

[richard67]

Well the trailing slashes are a relict from old times. Meanwhile Google doesn't recommend or require them anymore. They do not do any harm, but they also serve no benefit.

[joomdonation]

Guess this issue could be closed. @richard67 Could you please make final decision here?

[richard67]

@joomdonation I don’t like to make decisions. Maybe move it to discussions?

[joomdonation]

OK. Thanks. I'm moving this to discussions so that it could be discussed further if needed.

[jokorntheuer]

As an SEO-Senior i can tell you that this issue DOES matter. Why?
First of all - the best solution would be to make this a GLOBAL OPTION in joomla -"Trailing slash - YES / NO" - for EVERY URL, no matter if it is a category or article.

Google recommends to use EITHER no trailing slash oWITH trailing slash and RECOMMENDS to be consistent here.
And there comes the problem - Joomla 4 URLS can be rendered WITH Trailing slashes and without trailing slashes - this can produce cuplicate content and is NOT CONSISTENT.
Source: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2010/04/to-slash-or-not-to-slash?hl=de

Also this would help me (current project in fact) to migrate a Wordpress-Site to Joomla. Because wordpress uses Trailing Slashes "/" on every url and joomla does not. So i would have to make a 301-redirect for every single site (with relevant rankings) to the new joomla URL with no trailing slash. If i dont do this - the old Wordpress URLS would also be working on the joomla ist (if URL structure is the same) and produce URLS with Trailing slash (from old wordpress urls who are still in the google index) and without trailing slash (internal joomla linking).

joomla 4 needs the following SEO-Settings:

• global option: Trailing slash: YES OR NO
• correct automatic redirects of URLS with trailing slashes TO URLS without trailing slashes and VICE VERSA depending on the global setting.

in my opinion this is a "design-flaw" that should have been adressed already in joomla 3 and i am really surprised why this isnt yet fixed in joomla 4 because it makes the lifes and work of seo-agencies much more difficult and is not a [+] point when it comes to the choice "wordpress OR Joomla".

greetings,
Joe

[jokorntheuer]

that`s it for me now. i dunno why i am investing any time here to report an issue with details and how it could improve the value of joomla (compared to other CMS who do it better) just to get quotes like: "Hire a developer".

[brianteeman]

/me still looking for a canonical link in joomla

[jokorntheuer]

/me still looking for a canonical link in joomla

no canonical link in joomla core? ok. this is serious. maybe this comes from PWT SEO. nevertheless - "canonical link" is just another "must have feature for CMS in the year 2023" shall i open a new issue?

[brianteeman]

so you are saying that the problem with your multiple canonical links is because of an extension to Joomla creating them. In which case you should report it there

[jokorntheuer]

oh well, i found another topic on this...already from...2019. @Hackwar pinned the problem in the last comment. the topic creator btw is digging in on the same problem that still exists 4 years later:
#25448

[Hackwar]

As @richard67 wrote, we shouldn't have the slashes at the end and Joomla does not render the URLs with a slash at the end. We are not going to add this as a switch in the configuration somewhere. We already have far to many switches and those create additional issues. If you need a slash at the end, you can write a plugin to do this. I'm going to close this discussion with that.