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The 7 Best Things About How To Resolve Canonical Issue On A Website

How to resolve Canonical issue on a website | Canonical error in SEO

How to resolve Canonical issue on a website: If you have a one page with multiple URLs, or another pages include the same content (for e.g., a page with mobile and desktop versions). Google considers these pages as duplicate copies of the same page. Google prefer one URL as the canonical edition and crawl that, and all the other URLs will be viewed as duplicate URLs and will receive less regular crawling.

If you don't specifically tell Google which URL is canonical, Google will decide for you, or may treat them equally, which could result in undesirable behavior, as mentioned in reasons to select a canonical URL.

What is Canonical URL in SEO?

A canonical URL is the official URL for a page on your site. For example, if you have URLs for the same page (incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com?bestfreeseotools and incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/bestfreeseotools/1234), Google will choose one as canonical.

A page can have minor differences in sorting or filtering, but it will not be considered unique. The canonical URL is different from duplicate URLs in that they use a different domain name.

How Google indexing works?

Google indexes your site by looking for the primary content on each page. If the same information appears on multiple pages, Google chooses the page that it thinks is most complete and useful and marks it as canonical. The canonical page will be crawled most regularly; duplicates are crawled less regularly in order to minimize the crawling load on your site.

Google uses a number of factors to choose the canonical page, including whether the page is served via HTTP or HTTPS, quality of the page, existence of the URL in a sitemap and any rel=canonical labeling. You can indicate your choice to Google using these methods but Google may select another page more canonical than you do for several reasons.

If all of a page's text is translated into different languages, but the same content remains intact, these pages are considered duplicates.

Google uses the main pages as the main sources to identify content and quality. If a user sees a search result that points to one of these pages, unless one of the duplicates is specifically best suited for the user, the search result will probably point to that page on mobile devices as well.

Reasons for having same or duplicate pages

There are many reasons why a website might have different URLs that point to the same page, or have duplicate or same pages at different URLs. Here are some of the most common ones:

To support multiple types of devices:

https://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/2022/08/best-free-seo-tools
https://m. incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/2022/08/best-free-seo-tools
https://amp. incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/2022/08/best-free-seo-tools

To make dynamic URLs possible, such as search parameters or session IDs:

https://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/search/label/SEO%20Tools
https://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/search/label?SEO=20Tools
https://www.incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/search/label/SEOTools.html

If your blog system saves multiple URLs when you reposition the same post under multiple sections.

https://blog.incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/blog/best-free-seo-tools/
https://blog.incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/best/blog-seo-tools/

If your web server serves the same content for http:// and https:// as it does for http://, then it is configured to serve the same content for all protocol variants:

http://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/best-free-seo-tools
https://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/best-free-seo-tools
http://www.incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/best-free-seo-tools
http://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com:80/best-free-seo-tools
https://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com:443/best-free-seo-tools

If you post content on your blog for syndication to other sites, we ask that you do not reproduce it on those domains.

https://news.incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/best-free-seo-tools-155672.html (syndicated post)
https://blog.incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/blogs/best-free-seo-tools/3245/ (original post)

Reasons to choose a Canonical URL.

There are a number of reasons you may want to choose a canonical page in a set of duplicate or similar pages:

  • Indicating the URL you want users to see in search results. You may wish that visitors visit the product page for your seo tools at https://www.incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/tools/seo/seotools.html an alternative to https://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/tools/cocktail?gclid=ABCD.
  • To combine link signals for duplicate or related pages. Being able to combine the data that search engines have for each particular URL (such as links to them) into a single, chosen URL is helpful. As a result, links to https://www.incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/tools/seo/seotools.html are combined with links to http://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/tools/cocktail?gclid=ABCD.
  • To make it easier to track metrics for a single product or subject. It's more difficult to find consolidated analytics for a particular piece of content when there are several different URLs.
  • To control syndication of content. If you distribute your article or content for publication on other websites, you want to make sure that your chosen URL displays in search results.
  • To save crawling time from visiting duplicate pages. If you wish Googlebot to make the most of your site, so it is preferable to spend time crawling fresh (or updated) pages on your website, instead of crawling the desktop and mobile versions of the same sites.

Find out which page Google considers as the canonical one.

To find out which page Google believes to be the canonical one, use the URL Inspection tool. Google may select a different canonical page even if you specifically define one for a number of reasons, including performance or content.

General Guidelines

Follow these general recommendations for all canonicalization techniques:

  • Robots.txt should not be used for canonicalization.
  • Don't canonicalize using the URL removal tool. It removes a URL from Search in all of its variations.
  • Don't use the same or separate canonicalization methods to define various URLs as the canonical for the same page (for example, don't specify one URL in a sitemap but a different URL for that same page using rel="canonical").
  • Avoid using noindex to stop a page from being chosen as the canonical version. This directive does not control the selection of a canonical page; rather, it is meant to remove the page from the index.
  • Identify a canonical page when employing hreflang tags. Identify a canonical page in the same language, or the best available replacement language if one doesn't available for the same language.
  • When connecting within your website, point to the canonical URL rather than a duplicate URL. Linking regularly to the URL you believe to be the canonical version helps Google in understanding your choice.

Prefer HTTPS over HTTP for canonical URLs

Google prioritizes HTTPS pages over similar HTTP pages as canonical. Unless there are problems or signals that clash, such as the following:

  • The SSL certificate used on the HTTPS page is not valid.
  • Insecure dependencies are present on the HTTPS website (other than images).
  • Users are redirected from the HTTPS page to the HTTP page or vice versa.
  • A rel="canonical" link from the HTTPS page points to the HTTP page.
Although HTTPS pages are preferred by default by our systems, you can guarantee this behavior by performing any of the following steps:
  • Redirect the HTTP page to the HTTPS page by adding redirects.
  • Link the HTTP page with rel="canonical" to the HTTPS page.
  • Install HSTS.
Avoid the following actions to stop Google from possibly making the HTTP page canonical:
  • Avoid HTTPS-to-HTTP redirects and subpar TLS/SSL certificates as these make Google aggressively prefer HTTP. This strong preference cannot be overridden by HSTS implementation.
  • Avoid using the HTTP page instead of the HTTPS version in your sitemap or hreflang entries.
  • Avoid using the incorrect host-variant while implementing your SSL/TLS certificate. As an illustration, example.com is the server for the www.example.com certificate. The certificate must be a wildcard certificate that works with various sub domains on a domain or match your entire site's URL.

Use a rel="canonical" link tag

To specify when a page is a duplicate of some other page. You can use a <link> tag in the head section of your HTML

Even though other URLs can access this data, let's say you want https://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/tools/seo-tools to be the canonical URL. Make this URL canonical by following these instructions:

Use the rel="canonical" link element to identify any duplicate pages.

Duplicate pages should have a <link> element with the rel="canonical" attribute directing to the canonical page in the <head> section. For example:-

<link rel="canonical" href="https://incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/tools/seo-tools" />

If the canonical page has a mobile version, link to the mobile version of the page using rel="alternate".

<link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)"  href="http://m.incredibletoolsonline.blogspot.com/tools/seo-tools">

Any hreflang or other redirects that are suitable for the page should be added.

When using the rel="canonical" link tag, absolute paths should be used rather than relative ones.

If you are using the JavaScript to add the rel="canonical" link tag, ensure to place the canonical link tag properly.

Use a rel="canonical" HTTP header

If your server can be configured, you can specify the canonical URL for a document handled by Search, including non-HTML documents like PDF files, using a rel="canonical" HTTP header (rather than an HTML element).

For the time being, Google only supports this method for web search results.

If a PDF file is made available via several URLs, you can return a rel="canonical" HTTP header to inform Googlebot about the PDF file's canonical URL:

Link: <http://www.example.com/downloads/white-paper.pdf>; rel="canonical"

The rel="canonical" link element and the rel="canonical" HTTP header both follow the same guidelines. Use just double quotes in the rel="canonical" HTTP header in accordance with RFC2616.

Use a Sitemap for your website

Choose a canonical URL for each of your pages and include it in your sitemap submission. All of the pages that are included in a sitemap are recommended as canonicals; Google will determine which sites (if any) are duplicates based on content similarity.

Although we can't guarantee that we'll treat the sitemap URLs as canonical, it is a straightforward approach to specify canonicals for a large site, and sitemaps are a helpful way to let Google know which pages on your site you value the most.

Sitemaps shouldn't contain non-canonical pages. Use a sitemap solely for canonical URLs if you're using one.

Use 301 redirects for retired URLs

Use this technique when you need to eliminate duplicate pages that already exist but need to ensure a smooth transition before eliminating the old URLs.

Your page can be reached in a variety of ways:

·         https://example.com/home

·         https://home.example.com

·         https://www.example.com

Choose one of these URLs to serve as your canonical URL, and then use 301 redirects to guide visitors from the other URLs to your chosen URL. The easiest way to make sure users and search engines are taken to the right page is through a server-side 301 redirect. A page has relocated permanently to a new location if the status code is 301.

If you are on a website hosting service, look for their documentation on 301 redirect setup.

Troubleshooting

You won't be able to view any of the traffic to your duplicate page if the canonical URL is located on a piece of property that you do not own. The following are some typical justifications for a canonical existing in a distinct property:

  • Incorrectly marked language variants: If you operate many websites that offer essentially the same material in localized form to users in various locations, be careful to go by our localized site guidelines.

  • Incorrect canonical tags: Canonicalization strategies may be misused by some content management systems (CMS) or CMS plugins when pointing to URLs on other websites. To find out if this is the case, check over your content. Fix the problem immediately if your website is displaying an unexpected preference for a canonical URL, possibly as a result of improper usage of rel="canonical" or a 301 redirect.

  • Misconfigured Servers: Unexpected cross-domain URL selection might result from some of these hosting misconfigurations. For example:-

    • When a request for a URL on b.com is made, a server can be mistakenly configured to return content from a.com.
    • Google might not recognize two unrelated web servers' identical soft 404 pages as error pages when they return them.

  • Malicious Hacking: A cross-domain rel="canonical" link tag may also be inserted into the HTML <head> or HTTP header as part of some attacks against websites, typically directing to a URL hosting spammy or malicious content. In some situations, our algorithms can choose the spammy or dangerous URL rather than the URL on the infected website.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How to resolve canonical issue on a website?
If your website have a one page with different URLs, or some other pages include the same content. Google considers these pages as duplicate copies of the same page. You have to tell specifically Google which URL is canonical.

2. How do I fix canonical issues in WordPress?
If possible, Deactivate your SEO plugin first. Check the source code once more for the duplicate canonical tag after refreshing your website. If you only notice one canonical tag, you know that your SEO plugin was the cause. If you want to continue your SEO plugin, try deactivating the "canonical tag" option in your theme options.

3. How do I find canonical issues?
  • Right-click on your website to access the page source. 
  • Using Control F, look up "canonical". 
  • Verify that the URL of the page you want to be indexed is in the href= element of the link.
4. Why is canonical important?
Canonical can play a major role in informing Google that the first page is the original and the second page is a duplicate. Google might penalize one or both sites for duplicate content if the tag wasn't present.