What is Canonical Tag? A canonical URL is the main version of the webpage chosen as well as prioritized by search engines such as Google when duplicates exist to avoid showcasing repetitive content in the search results. In addition to that, The canonical page may also be referred to as the principal, primary, or representative version. In this following article, we will be addressing the basics of canonical and what role it plays in search engine optimization.
Decoding “What is Canonical” Tag or Link in HTML
A canonical tag in the HTML code is also called a canonical link or “re canonical” that tells search engines that there is a master copy of the page. To explain in other words, it means you can write the same content multiple times with different URLs. To indicate which version is the primary and should be indexed, you can use canonical tags.
In SEO, canonical tags help search engines avoid duplicate content and index the correct URL.
Now, let’s take a look at the importance they hold in search engine optimization.
What Is the Importance of Canonical Tags in SEO?
Canonical tags play a vital role in SEO. It guides the search engine to recognize the main version of the page.
The significance of canonical tags and how to take advantage of them are explained in this comprehensive guide:
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Remove the Duplicate Content
By adding the canonical tag, you can tell the Google search engine to display and index the content properly, and you can avoid negative impressions and duplicate content because it eliminates the duplicate content.
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Give a Proper Introduction to Search Engines
While learning what is canonical tag, it is important to know that it gives a proper introduction for search engines. They provide clarity about which URL represents the master copy of a page, ensuring that search engines understand and index the preferred version of the content
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Increase the Trust of the Website
Search engines see the websites with more authority and credibility when they use canonical tags. Making it clear that you prefer a particular URL can help a website rank higher in search results by demonstrating consistency and reliability.
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Avoid Keyword Stuffing
Another importance of canonical tags is that there are multiple versions of the same content on various URLs which may dilute search engine rankings and keywords. By combining ranking power and guaranteeing that the preferred version is indexed and ranked, gaining maximum visibility, canonical tags aid in resolving this problem.
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Improve the user experience
Canonical tags help create a better user experience by showing the preferred URL in search results. Users are guided to the most authoritative and pertinent version of the content, which clears up any confusion and improves the website’s overall usability.
How to Use Canonical Tags That Help the Search Engine?
Here we are going to discuss five methods that make your canonical URL unique.
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Rel=”canonical” HTML tags are used to set canonicals
To specify a canonical URL, the easiest and most obvious way is to use a rel=canonical tag.
To make any duplicate page, just add the following code to the <head> section:
<link rel=“canonical” href=“https://example.com/canonical-page/” />
Keep in mind that you do not need to mix with your page’s code if you are using a content management system. A simpler method exists.
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Use canonical in the http header
When understanding what is canonical tag, keep in mind that it cannot be added to the page header of documents like PDFs. That is because there is not a page <head> section for them. In these situations, setting canonicals will require the use of HTTP headers. On typical web pages, you can also use a canonical in the HTTP headers.
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Use canonical in sitemaps
Google says that non-canonical pages shouldn’t be added to sitemaps. You should only list canonical URLs. This is so because a sitemap’s listed pages are considered recommended canonicals by Google. But they will not always designate sitemap URLs as canonicals.
Although, it is also important to know how to use canonical tags as there is no surety that the sitemap URLs will be regarded as canonical. Sitemaps are a helpful tool to inform Google of the most important pages on your website. And they are a straightforward method of defining canonicals for a large site.
- Use canonical with a 301 page redirect
When you wish to redirect traffic from a duplicate URL to the canonical version, use 301 redirects.
On a page, canonical tags are added in the <head> section, and server-side 301 redirects are configured.
Whereas 301 redirects take users directly to the new URL, after learning how to use canonical tags, users can view all versions of a page.
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Use the internal Link
A canonicalization signal is the way the pages on your website link to each other.
The signals used to find the canonical URLs are covered by Google.
Search engines will find your preferred canonical URL more easily if you are more consistent with all of these signals. Google also favors HTTPS over HTTP URLs and prefers prettier URLs.
Once you are aware of the importance of these tags and how to use them, we shall also understand certain mistakes to avoid.
How to Avoid Common Canonical Tag Issues?
There are some common issues that we will be discussing how to avoid:
- Using robots.txt to block the canonicalized URL
Use robots.txt to block the canonicalized URL. It means Google stopped crawling. In other words, your canonical tag will not appear any more on the website page.
It consequently stops them from moving any “link equity” from the non-canonical to the canonical.
- Putting “noindex” as the canonicalized URL
One importance of canonical tags and learning how they work include never combining rel=canonical with “noindex.” These are incoherent instructions.
Google will usually prioritize the canonical tag over the ‘noindex’ tag.
Still, it is not a good practice. Use a 301 redirect to canonicalise or use a noindex tag for URL. Rel=canonical should be used otherwise.
- Using a canonicalized URL with a 4XX HTTP status code
Just like with the ‘noindex’ tag, setting a 4XX HTTP status code for a canonicalized URL prevents Google from seeing the canonical tag and transfers “link equity” to the canonical version.
- Converting every page that is paginated to the root page
Another canonical tag issue is that it is not appropriate to canonicalize paginated pages to the series’ initial paginated page. Rather, all paginated pages ought to use self-referencing canonicals.
- Using hreflang but not canonical tags
A webpage’s language and geographical targeting are specified using hreflang tags.
When utilizing hreflang, Google recommends that you specify a canonical page in the same language, or the best possible substitute language if a canonical does not exist for the same language.
- Within the <body>, Rel=canonical
A document’s `<head>} must contain the `rel=canonical} tag. It will be ignored if it is in the `<body>} and could cause problems for SEO if scripts or unclosed tags break the `<head>}.
By following all this, you can avoid all common mistakes.
Concluding Point
As we discussed above about the topic about what is canonical tag, it is important to know about them from an SEO point of view. We have also shared examples to make you understand in the best way possible. It is crucial to know the importance of these tags and how they can be implemented. We have also covered the common canonical tag issues that you need to keep in mind and avoid.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ques 1. What is canonical tag?
Ans. A canonical tag is also known as the canonical link or “rel canonical” is a tag in the source code of a page that indicates to the search engines that the master copy of the page still exists. However, canonical tags are most likely to be used in SEO to help the search engines index to correct the URL & avoid your duplicate content.
Ques 2. Are Canonical tags important for SEO?
Ans. Canonical tags tend to help one avoid one of the main SEO challenges, which is dealing with duplicate content. However, if multiple pages are identical or similar enough, then search crawlers might struggle to decide which page deserves the highest rank and will need more time to identify valuable content.
Ques 3. Where can I find canonical tags?
Ans. Implementing the canonical tags is quite easy. Also, one may need to add the rel=”canonical” tag to the head section of the duplicate pages. Usually, the href link must point to the main page. In the meantime, the canonical tag implementation must not cause problems, that is why it is important to follow the steps.
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