Hear From SEO Toronto Experts – Correct Use of Canonical Tags!

Are you new to the SEO Toronto World? You may or may not have heard of canonical tags. Many people mistake them as directives, exactly like Robots. Txt file. Canonicals are among many ranking factors which Google considers to rank a website. The canonical tags are responsible for telling search engines – ‘Which is the master version of a particular page?’ 

 

The canonical tags are HTML tags. They can be defined in two ways – User declaration & Google declaration. When a canonical is specified in the canonical tags, it is regarded as the user-declared canonical. But, a URL that Google selects to honor as canonical is categorized as Google declared canonical. 

 

There is a URL inspection tool in Google search console which can be helpful to view both the kinds mentioned above of canonicals. They must match, preferably. What if there comes out a variation? 

 

To deal with all the adverse cases related to canonicals, our today’s guide can be of great help. Here you’ll come to know –

• What are canonicals? 
• How to use them correctly? 
• Is there any substitute for canonical tags?
• Does Google define canonical on its own?
• How can canonicals increase your SEO score?

 

Last but not the least, we’ll also make you acquainted with some of the interesting facts of canonical tags. So keep reading till the end!

 

Which Technique Google Follows To Select An Ideal URL? 

During the crawling and indexing phase, Google assesses the chief content on the page. Google may find many similar pages. In that scenario, it’ll only choose the page representing the particular content better. If you do not want to leave that on Google, do it yourself. If you’ve already provided Google with a canonical URL, Google will consider that and won’t do it on its own. But that doesn’t mean that Google will not cross check whether what you’ve provided is right. Google will definitely check whether what you’ve provided is right or not. If it is not convinced with your choice, it’ll consider some other URL

 

What If I Have Internally Linked My Pages With Query Parameters? 

As per experts working in SEO agency Toronto, “If you have internally linked your pages with query parameters (/?some_parameter=xyz), there is a higher probability that Google will not consider your canonical meta tag. It will choose the URL with a query parameter attached as canonical.”

 

Pay Attention: Google crawls Rich Site Summary or RSS very smartly. It is suggested to ensure that canonicals and URLs in the RSS feed match. 

 

Are Canonical Tags Helps With Your SEO Efforts? 

Canonical tags are giantly helpful for all the sites, irrespective of their page count. Here is why: 

 

• Google considers, What you choose!

Google only selects the canonical on its own if you have referred to any. Otherwise, you always have the opportunity to choose canonicals. 

 

• No penalty for duplicate pages

Don’t misunderstand it: Google doesn’t suggest using canonicals for content copied from other sources. We’re using the word duplicate in a completely different sense. For example, you have mobile and desktop versions of a page. Both are supposed to have the same content with different layouts. Right? 

But if you don’t use canonicals, Google won’t understand your motive for having similar content on two pages. Canonicals are the only way to justify your reason. 

 

• Google finds Canonicals as credible

Google tends to consider canonical pages the most credible pages of the entire website. Also, the canonicals are crawled routinely, unlike non-canonical pages. 

 

• Help to craft an adequate crawl budget  

By using the canonicals appropriately, one can optimize the crawl budget. Since Google crawls the canonical pages more often than non-canonical pages, the crawl budget becomes more effective. But it can’t be considered a replacement for robot redirectives, redirects and no-index tags. 

 

• Integrate Link Signals

Canonicals help search engine bots integrate different pieces of information available on similar versions into an exclusive URL, which helps to increase the value.

 

What’s The Correct Way To Implement A Canonical Tag? 

Since we’ve gained enough information about the canonical tags, it’s high time to throw some light on their implementation. 

 

A canonical tag is not a lengthy piece of code. It is a simple line in the page’s <head> section. Toronto SEO experts say, “Pages must’ve self-referencing canonicals if they’re the best versions among the multiple duplicate pages. It helps to integrate HTTPS versions, metric tracking and mobile experiences.” 

 

If you need the proper knowledge to edit the HTML directly, you can get assistance from web development executives. 

 

Some Interesting Facts About Canonicals

 

• Canonicals work across different domains 

There is no shocker: ‘Canonicals can work for different websites or domains.’ For example, You own multiple websites, you want to publish the same blog on each one. In that scenario, canonicals will help you to signal to Google that you’re not violating any of its guidelines. You’re publishing the same blog on all your websites to ensure that the particular information reaches a greater audience. You’re doing anything to increase your SEO score. 

 

Besides, canonicals can also work if you’re copying content from a website you don’t own. You’re using canonicals to tell Google – ‘Your purpose of copying content from some other website isn’t to infringe any copyrights or violate Google’s guidelines. You don’t want to claim the information presented in that blog. Rather you’ve done what you’ve done to ensure that particular information reaches the maximum number of people.’ 

 

• Canonicals Pass Link Equity

Canonicals are believed to provide the link equity, But this doesn’t suggest you take canonicals as 301 redirects. They aren’t, don’t try to make them one. 

 

• These doesn’t support a common objective: Canonical Tag & No-Index Tag 

Experts in SEO company Toronto say, “You can’t just live in SEO with the rumor of choosing one tag among – Canonical or No-Index. No Index Tag is a directive. It directs Google not to index a particular page. But, a canonical tag is considered when you have multiple versions for the same piece of content and want to integrate them in an exclusive URL. 

 

• Google Is Not Bound To Respect The Selected Canonical 

Sometimes, google doesn’t comply with the canonical you’ve selected. You can get insights into the situation with the help of the  URL inspection tool in Google Search Console. But the question is – ‘Why won’t Google respect the user-selected canonical?’ Well, there can be multiple reasons behind it – 

• The tags may not have been implemented properly. 
• Site signals don’t support your choice of canonicals. 

 

Wrap Up!

The necessity of having canonical tags on a website is quite evident. You need it to justify your actions, or Google may penalize you. There needs to be more clarity about canonicals, their implementation and their uses. Some people were using it to convert their wrongs into rights, while others weren’t using it in situations demanding the use of the canonicals. Many others were mistaking canonicals as directives and were thinking of them as substitutes for 301 redirects and no-index tags. All this confusion has led to a great hustle and bustle in the SEO world. 

 

We’ve tried to sort out everything in this guide. We hope this article helps you get detailed insights into the meaning, uses and implementation of canonical tags. 

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Also Read: https://www.acuteblog.com/2022/11/05/get-a-seo-agency-to-gain-traffic-for-your-website/