Do index.php extensions count as duplicate content on Joomla sites?

[valetseo]

When i run my error report, i see 2 duplicate pages, but both are the main domain and then the /index.php extension.  how do i fix this?  does it  really count as duplicate content?

[AdeLewis]

Hey Linda,

They most definitely do count as duplicate. I build several Joomla websites a month for clients and whilst you can use a rel="canonical" link such as suggested by Todd, I prefer to remove the issue by replacing the standard joomla .htaccess file content with the following content:-

Options +FollowSymLinks

RewriteEngine On

prevents people from accessing anything with phpMyAdmin

RewriteRule phpMyAdmin - [F]

Remove index.php or index.htm/html from URL requests

RewriteCond %{THE_REQUEST} ^[A-Z]{3,9}\ /(([^/]+/)*)index.(php|html?)\ HTTP/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/administrator
RewriteRule ^([^/]+/)*index.(html?|php)$ http://www.domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

force canonical www if request is for non-www or has port number etc

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www.example.com)?$
RewriteRule (.*) http://www.domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

redirect 301 /home.html http://www.domain.com/

RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} mosConfig_[a-zA-Z_]{1,21}(=|%3D) [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} base64_encode[^(]([^)]) [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} (<|%3C)([^s]s)+cript.(>|%3E) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} GLOBALS(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2}) [OR]
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} _REQUEST(=|[|%[0-9A-Z]{0,2})
RewriteRule .* index.php [F]

RewriteBase /
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index.php
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/[^.]|.(php|html?|feed|pdf|raw))$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . index.php [L]

Before replacing your .htaccess code with the above make sure you take a back-up copy of the original code just in case. Replace www.domain.com with your domain.

Hope this helps.
Ade.

[EvolveCreative]

No worries. This can easily be fixed with a rel="canonical" tag. Just place this:

in the head section of the /index.php page. Here is a good resource:

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=139394

If you posted your website URL I'd be happy to help you identify other canonical issues.