Canonical tags play a major role in page indexing and SEO. Although they’re invisible to internet users, they’re incredibly powerful and help to prevent pages with duplicate information from ranking higher in search results than the original. Though an easy concept, you might have deeper questions about canonical tags and how to use them – and our experts have the answers.
Covering how to create canonical tag code, how to use canonical tag in your pages, how to add canonical tag in HTML, what is canonical tag best use, and much more, this informative guide tells you everything you need to know about this nifty little code.
What Are Canonical Tags?
What is a canonical tag? A canonical tag is a small piece of code (rel=canonical) that tells search engines which page is the ‘main’ page if there are similar or duplicated ones on the internet.
In short, this handy code directs search engines to the page you want to rank when there are other similar ones. It also tells Google you want to consolidate equity from the other links while also ensuring that Google can crawl and index your pages better.
Why Should You Use a Canonical Tag?
In many cases, search engines don’t view duplicate information favourably. However, sometimes, it’s needed; for example, websites with the same product in different colours might have similar pages that search engines could consider duplicates. These pages may have different URLs, but they’ll typically have duplicate content.
Normally, search engines look at these similar pages and decide which one to display. When there’s no canonical tag, a search engine won’t just show them all. Instead, it will pick the most relevant; however, the chosen page might not be your preferred choice, so using a canonical tag directs Google to rank the page that you want to show on search pages.
It’s also important to note that a canonical tag is a signal to search engines, not an outright directive. Even with this code, Google might still rank other similar pages over the one you chose to have the canonical tag.
How to Add Canonical Tag in HTML
When looking for guides on how to add canonical tag in HTML, you’ll find the steps to be fairly simple. In most cases, you can simply go into the duplicate page and add the rel=canonical tag into the <head> section of the page’s HTML code.
You should add the code like this:
<link rel=“canonical” href=“https://example.com/canonical-page/” />
Also, it’s essential to ensure that the link you use in the canonical tag code above links to the ‘main’ page or the original one that you want search engines to rank.
Next, it’s time to learn when and how you should use canonical tags.
How to Use Canonical Tag
What is canonical tag best practice in terms of actual use? Before you use a canonical tag, it’s wise to examine the need for it on a page-by-page basis. Determining if the tag is needed might be time-consuming, but if a page holds some SEO value, canonicalisation may not be the best option.
For larger websites that require numerous canonical links, some website hosting platforms provide an automatic tag to your web page. For example, SEO plug-ins on WordPress allow you to input the tag and link within the settings.
How to Add a Canonical Tag in Other Ways
HTTP Header
When researching where to add canonical tag code, the usual answer will be the HTTP header of your web pages. Putting the tag in this area is helpful when you have non-standard elements like PDFs on your website. These pages won’t have the <head> section, so adding an HTTP header will point Google in the right direction. To add this tag, you will require access to the .htaccess file on your website.
301 Redirects
A 301 redirect could be used if you want to take users away from the duplicate page and directly to the original content. For example, there are often different URLs for a home page, such as:
- example.com
- example.com/index.php
- example.com/home/
However, you don’t usually don’t want each version to show, so redirecting users to the main page is helpful. This also applies to HTTP/HTTPS and www/non-www URLs.
Why Is a Canonical Tag Important for SEO?
What is a canonical tag when it comes to SEO? Using a canonical tag is an integral part of an SEO strategy when you have duplicate content on your website. While duplicate content isn’t always directly penalised by search engines, it’s not typically best practice since it may result in Google viewing your website negatively for user experience.
Overall, there are several benefits of using a canonical tag for SEO, including:
1. It Consolidates Page Rank
Pages on your website may obtain backlinks from external sources such as social media and low-authority websites. Canonical tags consolidate everything to your main page to avoid these links dragging your page rank down. The duplicate pages also get some of that link equity from the original.
2. It Helps Search Engines Identify Syndicated Content
There’s a lot of duplicate content out there, and Google has the job of crawling it all and determining which is the original. Canonical tags tell search engines which content is the original version, which makes the process easier.
3. Improves Crawling
Every website owner wants search engines to crawl and index pages with the best SEO value. However, crawling and indexing pages is less efficient if there are tons of duplicate content. By using a canonical tag, you’re telling search engines which pages are the most important from an SEO standpoint.
Common Issues with Canonical Tags to Avoid
What is canonical tag use in terms of the problems that may arise? While canonical are quite straightforward once you master the basics, there are also some things to avoid to ensure they’re implemented well. These include:
Blocking canonical URLs via robots.txt
Blocking links via robots.txt will tell Google not to crawl the pages, which stops search engines from seeing the tag and prevents any benefits from being passed to the link.
Using several canonicals tags on one page
Although it’s not common, canonical tags are sometimes added several times on one page. If this happens, Google will likely ignore all the tags, as the duplication causes confusion. Duplicated tags could prevent any benefit from being gained from the link.
Adding the canonical to the <body> section
The canonical tag should be added to the <head> section of the web page. Adding it to the <body> section will most likely result in the tag being ignored.
Using canonical tags on non-duplicated pages
The canonical tag is designed to point search engines to the original version of the content. Therefore, the tag should be used on pages with completely identical or very similar content any time it’s used. If search engines deem the content to be different, they will likely ignore the canonical tag altogether.
Using ‘noindex’ on the canonical link
The tags ‘noindex’ and rel=canonical contradict themselves. Search engines usually prioritise the canonical tag over the ‘noindex’. However, it can cause crawling confusion, which is always best to avoid.
Conclusion
Naturally, when looking to learn what is canonical tag best practice, endless results display with equally endless explanations. However, the canonical tag isn’t as complicated as you might think. These tags are a great way to improve your website searchability and help search engines index the best information among any pages with similar content.
