Canonical URL: Definition, Impact on SEO & Best Practices

It's totally normal for your site to have some duplicate pages. There are so many reasons why this can happen, like regional variants, device variants, or protocol variants. 

But here's the thing, having duplicate pages can sometimes have a negative impact on user experience and in some cases, it might even prompt Google to crawl your site. That’s where canonical URLs can be the best option to help manage this issue.

Now, let’s dive deeper into the explanation of canonical URLs, their implementation, and the best practices you can take to make it effective!

What Is Canonical URLs?

The canonical URL is the link to a web page that can help Google decide which version of a page to show in search results. A canonical link is used to select one of the most representative pages from a set of duplicate pages on a website. 

There are some reasons why this duplication happens. For example, if your site has a pagination feature where each page has a similar title, description, and body content across multiple pages, you can add a canonical tag to point to the main URL.

Duplication issues also happen related to device variants, protocol variants (HTTP and HTTPS), site functions, and accidental variants (demo version).

Duplicate pages are often the result of unintentional actions and are quite common on websites. However, if you're not careful, they can cause some serious issues on your website that might affect your SEO performance.

Differences between Canonical URLs and Canonical Tags

You may be wondering if canonical URLs and canonical tags are different. Well, the answer is yes, they are indeed different but still related. A canonical URL is the form of link that you can choose to be the best version of a duplicate page and canonical tags (meta canonical) are included in the canonical URL.

The form of a canonical tag is usually seen as (rel="canonical"), this snippet of HTML code will allow you to define the primary version of the page. Canonical tags are usually found in the front or head section of web page HTML.  

For example: <link rel="canonical" href="https://yoursite.com/preferred-url-here/" />

So it can be concluded that a canonical URL is the full form of a link to show one of the duplicate content most representative and canonical tags are a small part of the URL code indicating that the link is canonical.

How to Apply Canonical Tags

Now, you already know what canonical tags and URLs are, so it's time to learn how to use them on your site. Here are the steps you can take:

1. Check Duplicate Pages on Your Website

The first step you should do to implement canonical link tags is to check duplicate pages that exist on your website. To check this issue you can implement several ways, including:

• Use Site Audit Tools: This tool is great for taking a look at the whole website structure and also audit your duplicate content.
• Use Google Search Console: Google usually let you know if there are any indexing issues, so you can open the "coverage" report and check for any problems caused by duplicate content.
• Use CMS Plugin: Some CMS plugins offer site auditing to help you spot duplicate content, so it's worth checking them out.

2. Choose Pages Version

Once you've found the duplicate pages on your website, you can decide which version you'd like the search engine to index and show in search results. Here are a few tips to help you choose the best:

• Consider the most simple and user-friendly URL.
• Choose the most informative version page.
• Prioritise the URL page that has more internal and backlinks.
• Avoid using pages that have unnecessary parameters like session IDs and tracking codes.

3. Add Canonical Tag

Next, you need to decide which version of each group of duplicate content you can add a canonical tag <link rel=”canonical”>. 

For example, If there is any duplicate content and the first version is https://www.yoursite.com and the duplicate is https://www.yoursite.com/best-version, you can use the canonical tag to direct people to the right version.

You can set up a canonical URL in the HTML code on both versions, here is canonical URL examples: <link rel=”canonical” href="https://yoursite.com/best-version/" />

So, if Google indexes the other version of the duplicate page you don't choose, it'll automatically point back to your preferred version.

Using the right canonical tags for SEO is a great way to make your website more user-friendly and avoid any potential Google indexing issues. 

Canonical URL Best Practices

To get the optimal results from your canonical URL implementation, you can look into some of the best practices you can do, including:

1. Choose Absolute URLs

The first thing to note is that you should use the absolute URL, which is the full version of the website including "https://". 

For instance, instead of using: 

You can use full version like this: 

Using an absolute URL will help to avoid any potential misinterpretation by Google.

2. Be Consistent

When you're setting your canonical tags, it's really important to be consistent. Just make sure that the corresponding version is on your website. 

Make sure you check that all the related duplicate pages are pointing to the same canonical URL. Also, if you've removed the preferred page, don't forget to update to the correct one. 

3. Use Self-Referencing Canonical URL

The next tip you should do is to choose a self-referencing type canonical URL. A self-referencing URL basically means that the HTML code contains the canonical link that points to your preferred version of the page.

This helps Google to know that the current page is the one they should be prioritising in search results. It's fine to use a self-referencing link even if there's no duplicate page. It can help to avoid any issues with incorrect URL parameters.

4. Use One Canonical Link Element for One Page

Last but not least, it is better for you to use just one canonical link tag per page. Having multiple canonical elements makes it harder for the search engines to figure out which version you prefer, which can lead to other issues. 

It's also a good idea to check your canonical tag regularly to make sure there aren't any errors on your website. If you get your canonical URL right, your website will perform better and you'll have a better chance of ranking in search engine results.

Conclusion

Once you've got to grips with what canonical URLs/tags are all about, you'll be able to see how they can help you increase user experience and give your SEO strategy a boost. Canonical is a useful tool that can help prevent Google confusion when indexing your site, as well as avoid being labelled as an unqualified website.

However, for some people, implementing canonical can be overwhelming and time-consuming. If you also feel this way, then maybe it's time for you to get help from professionals like SEO Services by cmlabs who have experience in this field. 

With professional teams at cmlabs, we can help you to identify where the part of your technical problem includes duplicate content that should be improved.

We are dedicated to bringing your website to maximum performance in line with your business goals. Ready to get started? Contact our marketing team now and get a free consultation today!