Sites/Translations are accessible under original slug

This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.

Problem:
You are using WPML for translations on your website and have noticed that each translated page can still be accessed using the original English slug. This behavior could potentially lead to duplicate indexing issues.
Solution:
This behavior is part of WordPress's functionality where it tries to guess the URL before throwing a 404 error. It is not considered a duplicate issue if the URL is not linked anywhere. You can learn more about this feature of WordPress here.

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Tagged: Documentation request

This topic contains 1 reply, has 2 voices.

Last updated by Christopher Amirian 2 months, 2 weeks ago.

Assisted by: Christopher Amirian.

Author	Posts
November 7, 2024 at 12:02 pm #16376924
lukasP-26	Background of the issue: I am using WPML for translations on my website hidden link. When translating pages, each translated page can still be accessed using the original English slug. For example, if our source page URL is hidden link and the German translation URL is hidden link, the German page is also accessible at hidden link (original English slug). We occasionally want to keep the original slug for certain translations, but this behavior can lead to duplicate indexing issues. Symptoms: Translated pages are accessible via the original slug, causing potential indexing issues for the incorrect URLs. Questions: Is it intended behavior in WPML for translated pages to be accessible using the original slug? Is there a way to prevent translated pages from being accessible using the original slug?
November 7, 2024 at 12:24 pm #16377102
Christopher Amirian Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Asia/Yerevan (GMT+04:00)	Hi, I have an answer. As I guessed there is no issue with that. WordPress tries guessing the URL before throwing a 404 ... this shouldn't be a problem and wont be considered as a duplicate if its not linked anywhere. Try these URLs, they all return results hidden link hidden link hidden link hidden link You can learn more about that feature of WordPress here: https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/redirect_guess_404_permalink/ Thanks.