Canonical URL: Definition, Importance, and How to Set It

Duplicate pages can be a roadblock for your SEO efforts. Why? That is because duplicate content can confuse search engines, which can also potentially harm your website’s ranking. Therefore, you need to immediately take some action when you find duplicate pages on your website.

The best way to solve duplicate content issues is to use a canonical URL. This article will discuss what a canonical URL is, why it is important, how to set it, and how it differs from a canonical tag. Read the full explanation below!

What Is Canonical URL?

A canonical URL or canonical link is a link that tells search engines which page to show in the search results in case the site has duplicate content. By using canonical URLs, you guide search engines to choose the primary version of the page to index and rank in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Suppose you write an article about the best restaurant in Riyadh. You may have two versions of this article with the same content but different URLs on your site. This would confuse the search engine crawlers when determining which version to prioritize, potentially decreasing your website’s ranking.

However, you can avoid this issue by using canonical URLs and pointing to the preferred version of the duplicate content for search engines to index and display on SERPs.

Here is a canonical URL example:

• Canonical URL: https://examples.com/blog/best-restaurant-riyadh/
• Non-canonical URL: https://examples.com/blog/best-restaurant-riyadh/?page=1

Based on the example, Google will likely display the canonical URL because it is more concise, clear, and direct, which meets Google’s criteria for a suitable candidate to be indexed and ranked.

Why Is Canonical URL Important?

Search engines like Google will only index canonical links, so you need to pay more attention to this issue. If your site has duplicate pages, Google will crawl and index one of them as the primary version, which is the canonical one.

With canonical URLs, you indicate your preferred version of the URL, telling Google which version to choose as the primary one. Google usually respects your preference and views that URL as canonical. 

However, if no canonical URL is specified, Google will choose the version it thinks is the best, which may not be the one you want to be indexed. Therefore, if you want your preferred version to be ranked, you need to set a canonical URL manually and properly.

Differences between Canonical URL and Canonical Tag

People often mistakenly use the terms canonical URL and canonical tag interchangeably. Well, 

canonical URLs and canonical tags are indeed related to each other but are not the same thing. 

If canonical URLs are the preferred URL that you want search engines to index as the primary version of the page, then canonical tags are the HTML code that specifies this preference to search engine crawlers.

Let’s say that canonical URLs are like the target destination, while canonical tags are the signposts that direct search engines to the right place.

The canonical tags, also known as meta canonical, are usually written as (rel="canonical") in the head section of the HTML code of the page. This code specifies the canonical URL and guides the search engines in defining the primary version of the page.

For example: <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/blog/canonical-url-guide/" /> 

In a nutshell, canonical tags point to the canonical URL of a page that search engines should prioritize in their search results when indexing duplicate pages. They work like little tags that signal to search engines which is the original or master copy. 

How to Set Canonical URL?

Now you know why canonical URLs are important and how they differ from canonical tags. Let's dive deeper and see how you can set canonical URLs for your website. Here is the step-by-step guide to follow:

1. Identify duplicate pages. Find duplicate pages using tools like Google Search Console, Site Audit, or CMS plugins.
2. Choose the page version. Once you find the duplicate pages, choose which page version you want to be canonically linked to. Consider choosing the most simple and user-friendly URL version, that has the most internal backlinks, and is informative pages. Keep in mind that you should not decide on pages with unnecessary parameters.
3. Add a canonical tag. Insert a canonical tag with the URL you chose to the HTML head section of the page. For example, if the canonical URL you choose is https://www.examples.com/community/, then you should add the canonical tag to specify that as the primary URL, and it will look like this <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.examples.com/community/” />.

Canonical URL Best Practices

You need to set up the canonical URL properly and have a clear understanding of how to implement it without causing any problems. Therefore, you must pay attention to the following best practices of canonical SEO:

1. Utilize Full URL

First, make sure you use the full URL, which is the complete link that includes the http:// or https:// prefix to ensure clarity. This must be done to avoid any misinterpretation by search engines.

So, you must write the URL like this:

Instead of the alternative version:

2. Use Self-Referencing Canonical Tag

A self-referencing canonical tag refers to HTML code that points to the preferred page itself. This step will highlight the current page for search engines to index and display in search results.

Even if you don’t have duplicate pages, using a self-referencing canonical tag will be helpful to prevent issues caused by incorrect URL parameters. 

3. Be Consistent

A canonical tag points to the preferred page for a website. However, imagine that the page you are pointing to isn’t there, then you may end up with a 404 error. Therefore, you need to make sure that the page you are linking to truly exists. 

If the preferred page is deleted or redirected, you must update it in the canonical link. Besides, double-check to see if there are any typos that might be causing the canonical URL to be invalid. 

4. Omit Non-Canonical URLs in Your Sitemap

A sitemap is actually the road map of your site that helps search engines index your pages. By listing the non-canonical URLs in your sitemap, you are sending a mixed message to the search engines that confuse them about which page they should index.

Thus, you should always submit only the canonical URLs to the sitemap and then eliminate the non-canonical URLs to make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your site.

5. Apply One Canonical Link Element Each Page

Remember that each page should only have one canonical link element. Look at the following conditions you must be careful about:

• Refrain from manually adding additional canonical tags to your HTML code if you are using CMS to set the canonical tag.
• Don’t add rel="canonical" to the HTTP header if you have written it in the HTML code.

6. Avoid Setting 404s as Canonical URL

A 404 error is a webpage that doesn’t exist on your site due to several reasons. It can be because the page is deleted or moved, so the link is broken. If a 404 error is set as the canonical URL, search engines will be unable to crawl the content.

To avoid this situation, you can use a 301 redirect to the new page instead. 301 redirects will help search engines understand that the page has been moved to a new location and inform them the new URL is the canonical one.

Conclusion

Those are the overviews of canonical URLs you need to know. Setting a canonical URL is a great way to avoid duplicate content issues by telling search engines which URL is the original or primary one.

However, setting up canonical URLs is not a simple task. You need to be careful to ensure that you are using it correctly to avoid any potential problems. If you need help setting up canonical URLs, you can always consult with the experts to get the best possible results.

In such cases, SEO Services by cmlabs is ready to assist you with your canonical URL setup. We are dedicated to providing the best services and results to help you reach your website goals. 

On top of that, our team of professionals can also handle your SEO needs from start to finish, so you don’t have to worry about anything. Contact our marketing team today and get special offers!