@Nicholas_Perry: Please semantically connect task dependencies via subtasks/parent tasks. Thanks! :)

Lately I noticed Google even start to show mobile link for zh.wiki.

https://www.google.com/search?q=%E6%9C%BA%E7%94%B2%E5%B0%8F%E5%AE%9D+Wikipedia

The first search result is https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E9%93%81%E7%94%B2%E5%B0%8F%E5%AE%9D despite I use desktop browser.

I think the problem is caused by https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Gadget-variant-link-fix.js

Google has asked if it would be possible for Wikipedia to stop redirecting zh.wikipedia.org/zh-{region,script}/<subject> coming from Google search (or Google crawler) to zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/<subject>

I have disable it for logged-out users https://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=71419787. Hope this helps.

@Nicholas_Perry About the "because as long as this redirects Google cannot send its users to the right version of Chinese Wikipedia.", the flight redirect (MediaWiki:Gadget-variant-link-fix.js) was created precisely because Google can't take users to the correct version. At least in the past, Google frequently offered the hard-coded variants in result URLs that users don't unfamiliar / non-preferred variant, and users complained that they saw incorrect results. Chinese Wikipedia wants every user to come to '/wiki/' pages and apply variant based on user preferences, not a mandatory version or even a mixed variants (/zh/) that Google thinks the user want.

As well, Google recently began sending desktop users to the mobile site of Wikipedia in the results, which is unfamiliar and fewer features, some users have to try to switch the url manually, which should be discussed together.

The ideal way should be taking all users to '/wiki/' pages, and not only apply variant based on user preferences, but also apply mobile version of the site on mobile device if possible.

IMHO, different chinese variant pages shouldn't be treated as the same page. Right now we set canonical url to /wiki/ page for all chinese variants pages. This makes Google think that they are the same page so that Google only shows one kind of search result. But the reality is different variants should have different search result (title, description). A simplified chinese user should be able to see simplified page title in search results. A traditional chinese user should see the traditional ones.

I propose that we remove canonical url in chinese variant pages (/zh, /zh-tw, /zh-cn). Let Google search do their work to show the right variant search results. When a user click on a /zh-tw search result link, they are taken to the /zh-tw page directly. And if a user visits /wiki/ page directly, we still show the preferred variant based on user preferences.

Change 879579 had a related patch set uploaded (by Winston Sung; author: Winston Sung):

[mediawiki/core@master] Make meta canonical URL language-variant-aware

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/879579

在T305540#7893964中，@fireattack写道：

Lately I noticed Google even start to show mobile link for zh.wiki.

https://www.google.com/search?q=%E6%9C%BA%E7%94%B2%E5%B0%8F%E5%AE%9D+Wikipedia

The first search result is https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/%E9%93%81%E7%94%B2%E5%B0%8F%E5%AE%9D despite I use desktop browser.

related task: T307359

Should be resolved with or without the linked patch? It got +2 but the parent change was still pending review.

The main crux of this issue has been solved with T294716
https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/c/mediawiki/core/+/879579 covers various related edge cases.

I'm still working on making sure this gets merged outside this ticket, but I'm happy to reopen this ticket until that's done if preferred.

Change 879579 merged by jenkins-bot:

[mediawiki/core@master] OutputPage: Fix the behavior for canonical URL and alternate URLs

https://gerrit.wikimedia.org/r/879579