Very good to hear, thanks Shawn!  The goal is to use absolute canonicals, but for a period of time, we may have to use protocol relative.  The redirects in place should avoid any duplicate content issues, which seems to be the big landmine.

Hey Shawn, did using an unspecified HTTP/HTTPS protocol work for you in the canonical and/or HREF-LANG? We are going through a transition to HTTPS as well, and have multiple systems with some URLs that are hard coded. Hoping this solution would work as a short-term fix, while we update these pages to use a new, more dynamic system.

Yes, it is still possible. I see this features utilized by a number of brands in my vertical.

The redirect is automatic, based on location, and underneath the brand name and segment there's a link with the wording "Redirected from [main_page_name]".

The Like count is shared, and if a user mouses over the "redirected from..." link text they see a pop-up with the header of the primary page.

Definitely do-able, and I would say increasingly popular for major brands with a strong international presence.

Cheers!

We serve up different desktop/mobile optimized html on the same URL, based on a visitor’s device type.

While Google continue to recommend the HTTP Vary: User-Agent header for mobile specific versions of the page (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va6qtaiZRHg), we’re also aware of issues raised around CDN caching; http://searchengineland.com/mobile-site-configuration-the-varies-header-for-enterprise-seo-163004  / http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2249533/How-Googles-Mobile-Best-Practices-Can-Slow-Your-Site-Down  /  http://orcaman.blogspot.com/2013/08/cdn-caching-problems-vary-user-agent.html

As this is primarily for Google's benefit, it's been proposed that we only returning the Vary: User-Agent header when a Google user agent is detected (Googlebot/MobileBot/AdBot).

So here's the thing: as the server header response is not “content” per se I think this could be an okay solution, though wanted to throw it out there to the esteemed Moz community and get some additional feedback.

You guys see any issues/problems with implementing this solution?

Cheers!

linklater

Very good to hear, thanks Shawn!  The goal is to use absolute canonicals, but for a period of time, we may have to use protocol relative.  The redirects in place should avoid any duplicate content issues, which seems to be the big landmine.

Yes, it is still possible. I see this features utilized by a number of brands in my vertical.

The redirect is automatic, based on location, and underneath the brand name and segment there's a link with the wording "Redirected from [main_page_name]".

The Like count is shared, and if a user mouses over the "redirected from..." link text they see a pop-up with the header of the primary page.

Definitely do-able, and I would say increasingly popular for major brands with a strong international presence.

Cheers!