P0Issue #25
Canonicals : Canonicalised
❓ What does it mean?
❓ What does it mean?
A page is considered Canonicalised when it contains a rel="canonical" tag pointing to another URL instead of itself.
This tells search engines:
👉 “This page is a duplicate or variation, and the preferred/primary version is the canonical URL.”
Example:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/product/shoes" />
Here, the current page is telling search engines:
⚠️ “Don’t index me directly, index example.com/product/shoes instead.”
🚨 Why is it important for SEO?
🚨 Why is it bad for SEO (if misused)?
Canonicalisation is not always an error—it’s often intentional (to handle duplicates like UTM-tagged URLs or faceted navigation).
But wrong usage can cause:
Ranking Loss → If the wrong URL is set as canonical, your actual valuable page won’t rank.
Indexing Issues → The canonicalised page may get dropped from Google’s index.
Diluted Link Equity → Backlinks to canonicalised pages may not consolidate properly.
Confused Crawlers → Inconsistent canonical signals can confuse search engines about the “master” page.
✅ How to Fix It
✅ How to Fix It
Use Self-Referencing Canonicals (when needed)
If the page is unique and should be indexed, the canonical should point to itself.
❌ Bad Example (Wrong Canonicalised Page):
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/home" />
(But the page is actually /about — this wrongly canonicalises About page to Home.)
✅ Good Example (Self-Canonical):
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/about" />
Only Canonicalise True Duplicates
Use canonical tags for parameters, duplicates, or sorting/filter pages.
Example:
URL: https://example.com/shoes?color=red
Canonical: https://example.com/shoes
Ensure Canonical and Redirects Align
Don’t point a canonical to a URL that redirects → Google may ignore it.
Avoid Conflicting Signals
Don’t set canonical pointing to A but sitemap, internal links, or hreflang pointing to B.
❌ Bad Example
📌 Example
❌ Bad (Misused Canonical):
URL: https://example.com/blog/seo-tips-2025
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/blog" />
(Search engines will ignore the article and only index the blog homepage.)
✅ Good Example
✅ Good (Correct Canonical):
URL: https://example.com/blog/seo-tips-2025
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/blog/seo-tips-2025" />
(Search engines correctly index the article page.)
⚡ Result
⚡ Result of Fixing
Preserves correct ranking page
Consolidates link equity across variations
Prevents duplicate content issues
Improves crawl efficiency