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Digital Marketing

Google’s Advice on Canonical URLs: How to Guide Google to Choose the Right Page

Learn how to guide Google in choosing the right canonical URL with tips from Google's John Mueller. Discover effective methods like redirects, rel=canonical tags, and internal linking to ensure your preferred page is prioritized, and troubleshoot common canonicalization issues to improve SEO.

Google’s Advice on Canonical URLs: How to Guide Google to Choose the Right Page
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski / Unsplash

Google’s John Mueller recently addressed a common SEO question about canonical URLs on LinkedIn, providing insight into how Google selects canonical URLs and what SEOs and publishers can do to influence this decision.

What Is a Canonical URL?

When multiple URLs lead to pages with similar or identical content, Google chooses one URL as the “canonical” version—the preferred URL to represent all similar pages. This helps consolidate ranking signals and prevents duplicate content issues. Canonical URLs are especially useful on large sites with multiple URLs for similar content (e.g., http and https versions, or similar product pages).

Communicating Your Canonical Preferences to Google

Google provides specific methods for signaling which URL should be considered canonical, but none of these methods are absolute. Instead, they function as strong hints. Google evaluates various signals when choosing a canonical, and understanding these signals is key for publishers. Here are the main ways to specify the canonical URL:

  1. Redirect Duplicate Pages to the Preferred URL: A 301 redirect is one of the strongest signals that Google respects when choosing a canonical URL.
  2. Use the rel=canonical Link Attribute: Placing a rel=canonical tag in the <head> section of each page indicates which URL you prefer.
  3. Include the Preferred URL in the Sitemap: Adding the preferred URL to your XML sitemap serves as a hint, though it’s considered a weaker signal.

HTML Elements vs. Attributes: Understanding the Basics

To avoid confusion, it’s helpful to understand some basics of HTML. In this context:

  • HTML Elements: The building blocks of a webpage, like <link>.
  • HTML Attributes: Properties added to elements to provide additional information, such as rel=canonical.

According to authoritative documentation (e.g., Mozilla Developer Network), “link” is the element, while rel= is the attribute of the link element, not a separate “annotation” as it’s sometimes casually referred to in Google’s documentation.

Addressing Common Canonical Issues

Even after implementing Google’s recommended methods, publishers may still find that Google selects a different canonical URL. This often raises questions, as one user on LinkedIn asked, “Why do some URLs in the sitemap still appear as ‘Duplicate without user-selected canonical’?”

John Mueller responded by explaining that Google uses additional signals beyond what is officially documented, including internal linking structure.

Internal Linking as a Canonical Signal

Internal linking can reinforce which URL Google should prioritize as canonical. Mueller emphasized that when you have a strong preference for a URL, it’s important to make that choice obvious throughout your site. This involves ensuring:

  • Consistent rel=canonical tags in the <head> of all relevant pages.
  • Linking to the preferred URL in all internal links, especially in navigational and content links.
  • Avoiding redirects that might confuse Google, such as a 301 redirect to an unintended page.

If Google still isn’t choosing the preferred URL, it may help to conduct a site-wide crawl (e.g., with tools like Screaming Frog). This can reveal internal links pointing to outdated URLs, or unexpected redirects that may dilute Google’s understanding of which URL to prioritize.

Google’s documentation also suggests that external links can affect canonicalization. If other websites link to the wrong page, it could impact which URL Google chooses. For sites facing persistent canonical issues, reviewing both external and internal links may provide additional clarity and lead to better results.

Key Takeaways for Fixing Canonical Issues

To maximize control over canonical URLs:

  • Make your preferred URL evident through rel=canonical tags, redirects, sitemaps, and consistent internal linking.
  • Audit internal links and redirects to ensure they support the canonical preference.
  • Check external links if unexpected pages are chosen as canonical.

If standard practices aren’t working, look for internal or external linking inconsistencies that could be undermining your preference. As Mueller noted, increasing internal links to the preferred URL may help signal Google to choose that page.

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