I have a page, for example node/3, which in admin/config/system/site-information is defined as “Path to use for the home page”

However, Google Search Console does not want to index this page - node/3 - for the reason "Page with redirect".

There is no redirect set at all in admin/config/urls/redirect (this is a brand new site) and so I assume the redirect is from using node/3 as the homepage.

So I wander if there an error in the site settings?

So far, I have set node/3 not to be included in the xmlsitemap (Inclusion = Exluded) and at the same time I have set node/3 - Canonical URL = /.

I would be very grateful for advice on whether I did the right thing and if not - how to do it correctly.

Most helpful answers

I will add a little.
1. You can exclude a page from XML Sitemap in the form of page editing (/node/3/edit).
2. The XML Sitemap module should not adapt to the user circumstances, maintaining its flexibility of the settings.
3. I always did not like to use some page for the Home, and fortunately in Backdrop you can use separate Layout (/home by default).

Comments

If this page be indexed, you will receive “duplicate content” (/ and /node/3 the same content), which should be avoided. Redirect to the main page is right. Only the main page should be indexed.

Thanks for the comment, Enthusiast! 

You are absolutely right and the redirect from /node3 to the home page is necessary, otherwise there would really be duplicate content.

Backdrop CMS itself does not have any problem. 

It appears with the installation of the XML sitemap module, in which a link to node/3 (or any other content intended to be a homepage) appears in the sitemap.xml and thus the link is visible to Google and search engines as an invitation for indexing.

From now on, I will configure content that is set to be the home page of the site (node ​​or view) to be excluded from sitemap.xml via admin/config/search/xmlsitemap/settings. It's great that the XML sitemap module allows for such fine-tuning.

However, it would probably be a good idea for users if XML sitemap module took into account the settings in "Path to use for the home page" from admin/config/system/site-information and automatically removed this content from sitemap.xml.

Otherwise, I know that the Google Search Console message about the presence of a redirect is not intended to report a problem on the site, but to alert the administrator to check whether the redirect was made by mistake.

Thanks again!

I will add a little.
1. You can exclude a page from XML Sitemap in the form of page editing (/node/3/edit).
2. The XML Sitemap module should not adapt to the user circumstances, maintaining its flexibility of the settings.
3. I always did not like to use some page for the Home, and fortunately in Backdrop you can use separate Layout (/home by default).

Thanks for point 1. Actually, I did exactly that and additionally set the home page as canonical for node/3. I just wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing.

I agree with point 2. This would be an unnecessary complication, but it would be good to indicate in the documentation  of XML Sitemap for users to exclude a page that is specified as the home page - if they have made such a setting in "site-information" and do not use the method proposed in point 3.

This seems to me to be for multilingual website developers who use Frontpage Multilingual to create different home pages for different languages.

I know that layouts can also be used for multilingual home pages, it's just that Frontpage Multilingual makes this task easier, and in this case the settings are made through "site-information"

For point 3 - thanks for the advice. I need to learn to do this. 

I am a long-time user of Drupal 7, before that 6 and 5 and my habits of working with Drupal are very stubborn and this prevents me from adopting the layout-oriented way of working:))

In my early years working with Backdrop, I constantly gravitated towards using custom page and block templates until I learned that the same goals were achieved much more efficiently with layouts.