How to Audit Canonical Tags on Your Site
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2025 7:10 am
Pointing Canonical Tags to Redirected Pages
Be careful not to specify a canonical URL that redirects elsewhere. This will only confuse Google.
For example, suppose page A is redirected to page B.
You should not have canonical URLs that point to page A. Instead, they should point directly to page B.
Using Canonical Tags for Non-Duplicate Content
Only set canonical URLs for duplicate or near-identical content.
Some SEO specialists try to use canonical tags to consolidate the ranking power of different pages.
For example, to drive authority from out-of-stock product pages to category pages.
However, Google advises against this croatia phone data practice. And it is very likely that it will ignore these canonical tags.
Find out what Google considers the canonical URL for any page on your website with Google Search Console .
After logging in, look for a URL at the top of the page.
Enter a URL in Google Search Console
When the "URL Inspection" report is ready, open the "Indexing" section.
Scroll down the page until you find the "Canonical URL selected by Google".
Canonical URL indexed by Google in Google Search Console
If this is not your preferred URL, you may need to review your page deduplication strategy.
To begin, make sure the "User-declared canonical URL" is present and correct.
Be careful not to specify a canonical URL that redirects elsewhere. This will only confuse Google.
For example, suppose page A is redirected to page B.
You should not have canonical URLs that point to page A. Instead, they should point directly to page B.
Using Canonical Tags for Non-Duplicate Content
Only set canonical URLs for duplicate or near-identical content.
Some SEO specialists try to use canonical tags to consolidate the ranking power of different pages.
For example, to drive authority from out-of-stock product pages to category pages.
However, Google advises against this croatia phone data practice. And it is very likely that it will ignore these canonical tags.
Find out what Google considers the canonical URL for any page on your website with Google Search Console .
After logging in, look for a URL at the top of the page.
Enter a URL in Google Search Console
When the "URL Inspection" report is ready, open the "Indexing" section.
Scroll down the page until you find the "Canonical URL selected by Google".
Canonical URL indexed by Google in Google Search Console
If this is not your preferred URL, you may need to review your page deduplication strategy.
To begin, make sure the "User-declared canonical URL" is present and correct.