Duplicates of Index and Home Page 
Author: Julian G.
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When trying to use Google Search Console. It has issues with 2 pages having identical duplicate content,
Screeming frog tells me its these 2
https://small-business-ideas.com/
https://small-business-ideas.com/index.html
Hosting is done on the X5 host. The dropdown box gives me the option of the Https://www. or the Https://
I originaly used the Https:www but was advised to use the Https://. I wonder did this cause it
Any help appreciated
Posted on the
In WebSite X5, select the homepage under "3 Sitemap" and click on "Properties" at the top, then click on the "Expert" tab.
Here at "Custom Code: Before the closing <HEAD> tag" make a canonical entry with the desired URL for the homepage.
Example of a canonical entry:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.org/" />
----- Screenshot (German version of WebSite X5) -----
Author
Thanks Dan
I think that worked
Would that have to be done on every site with a page marked home ?
Since all websites can be reached via a URL with and without index.html, this would have to be done for all websites.
----- Excerpt - translated with Google -----
What is a Canonical Tag?
...
If a crawler scans a website and finds a canonical tag on it, the bot recognizes that the linked page is the “actual” original, meaning that the “copied” websites can be ignored with regard to duplicate content. In addition, the search engine such as Google transfers properties such as PageRank to the original. The canoncial tag is therefore an important tool for on-page optimization and for avoiding errors in the evaluation of content.
>> https://www.seo-kueche.de/lexikon/canonical-tag/ (German)
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Author
Thanks for the info. I appreciate it.
Google now will not approve the site because of redirects.
On checking with a program. It tells me there is a 301 between http://Small-Business-Ideas.com
and https://Small-Business-Ideas.com . I have not done any redirects.
Any help appreciated Thanks Julian
With an SSL certificate, a redirect occurs from the HTTP web address to the HTTPS web address - this is normal.
Author
Thanks, That sounds logical.
However it seems strange that Google Search Console would have an issue with it.
Thank You
The SEO experts can certainly provide more detailed information if Google complains.
Normally, redirection from HTTP to HTTPS is set up either in the web host's customer area (e.g. with the "Force HTTPS" setting) or with code in the .htaccess file if there is no setting option at the web host.