Adding canonical tags to your site is a good way to help reduce duplicate content. When a search engine sees duplicate content, it can dilute your link equity. Canonical tags allow you to tell the search engines which version of a page is the one you prefer to index. It will also help you rank better in Google Search and improve your site’s overall SEO.
Canonical tags are important because they are used to help Google determine which site is the original publisher of a web page. They can also be used to promote the original version of a page in search engines. If you’re not sure how to implement canonical tags on your site, there are a few simple steps that you can follow to make sure you’re getting the most out of this search engine optimization strategy.
One of the most common ways to implement canonical tags is to use the HTTP header. This requires technical knowledge and access to the server. The canonical tag should be used only when referencing a page that is HTML-formatted. If the page is a PDF or a non-HTML document, it can be used in a different way.
The most important part of using canonical tags is to ensure that they are placed correctly. You should avoid using them in places that search engines will not respect. For example, a canonical tag should only be placed in the head section of a page. If it is placed in the body, it could cause problems with rendering. You should also avoid adding a noindex tag to your canonical tag. If the noindex tag is placed on a canonical tag, it may not be respected by search engines.
Using canonical tags is not always an easy task. If your site uses dynamic code-driven websites or content management systems, the problem can become even more complicated. There are also many sites that automatically add tags and parameters to their URLs. While this is not bad, it can also make your site’s crawling process more complicated.
Google has made it clear that canonical tags are not mandatory. However, it is important to make sure that you do not miss out on the advantages of canonical tags. They can help improve your site’s overall SEO, provide a better user experience and prevent duplicate content from lowering your site’s rankings. If you do not have time to implement canonical tags on your site, you can also use the Semrush Site Audit tool to check for canonical tags and fix any errors.
If your site has multiple pages with similar content, you may want to consider canonicalizing each page separately. This way, Google can focus its crawl budget on just one version of your site and avoid wasting time on irrelevant versions. You may also want to consider using canonical tags if you have multiple versions of a product page.
Google recommends using self-referential canonical tags, which allow Google to know which page is the original publisher of the content. While self-referential tags are not mandatory, they are a great way to ensure that Google understands your content preferences. Using self-referential canonical tags is also important if you use content syndication. Content syndication is when one piece of content is published on another website, and then promoted on the original site. This will help to bring more visitors back to the original site.