What is a canonical tag?
A canonical tag tells search engines which URL is the main version of a page when the same content is reachable at several URLs.
A canonical tag is a <link> element in the page head that names the preferred URL for the content:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/pricing">
It helps search engines consolidate duplicates, such as URLs with tracking parameters, http and https versions, or trailing-slash variants.
Common mistakes
- Pointing every page's canonical at the homepage.
- Pointing canonicals at a staging or old domain.
- Using a canonical on a page that also has
noindex, which sends mixed signals.
Related
- Why is my page not indexed? A noindex and robots.txt checklist
A step-by-step checklist for pages missing from Google, covering noindex tags, X-Robots-Tag headers, robots.txt blocks, canonicals, sitemaps and server errors.
- Noindex and indexability checker
Free indexability checker. Find accidental noindex tags and X-Robots-Tag headers, robots.txt rules that block Google, missing sitemaps, off-site canonicals and broken pages.
- What does noindex mean?
Noindex is a directive in a robots meta tag or X-Robots-Tag header that tells search engines not to show a page in search results.