There’s a way to tell Google which is the most important URL within a group of similar URLs on your website. With this tag, you can not only prioritize your content, but also avoid possible duplicate content issues on Google. This tag is the canonical tag, and here I’ll walk you through what it is and how to use it.
What Are Canonical Tags?
Canonical tags are a mechanism you can use to avoid potential duplication issues and, at the same time, prioritize one URL within a set of similar URLs. I know, that can sound a little confusing, so here’s an example:
Let’s say you have a website that sells bikes of every type — road bikes, basic bikes, and mountain bikes. The funny thing is that each type of bike comes in different color variants, so, for example, you’d have red, white, black, and other colored mountain bikes.
You quickly realize you have the same bike in different colors, but with identical or near-identical content. That can be a serious problem as far as Google is concerned, since your site could get flagged for duplicate content — and that’s where the canonical tag comes into play. With this tag, you can easily let Google know that you’re aware there’s a group of similar URLs, but that you only want it to focus on one in particular — the most important one to you.
How do you know which one is the most important? In that case, you’ll need to look at business metrics — which specific bike brings you more visits or revenue — so you can figure out which one in that group is worth focusing on.
Once you’ve identified the most relevant URL, it’s time to implement the tag on your website.
How Do I Use Canonical Tags on My Website?
Nowadays you can add and change this tag pretty quickly, so here are the two most common ways to do it:
Using Plugins / Extensions / Add-ons
- Go to the URL you previously selected as the most relevant one.
- Once there, click “Edit” on the page.
- In the top-left corner, you’ll see an SEO option.
- Check the settings inside that tab and find the option to change the canonical.
- You’ll see a field where you should enter that same URL.
UNDERSTANDING CANONICAL TAGS
Once you’ve set this canonical, you’re telling Google that’s your most important URL… but what about the other URLs with similar content? What you need to do next is go to each of the duplicate URLs and set their canonical to point to the main URL you selected. This way, you’re doubling down on the fact that those URLs might be duplicate content, and that they aren’t the most important ones.
Keep in mind I just showed you how to set this tag up in WordPress — but you can search Google for a plugin or extension for your specific CMS that lets you edit canonicals however you like.
Now, if you feel like you have some basic HTML knowledge, here’s the other way to do it:
Pure HTML Code
To change a canonical tag through code, all you need is access to edit the HTML of the page in question (the most relevant one and its similar counterparts).
Let’s keep going with the bike shop example from before. From here, go to the most relevant URL, open the HTML editing options, and insert the following code inside the head tag. Note: just like I explained earlier, the option to edit HTML depends on the CMS you’re using, so I’d recommend searching Google for how to do it in your particular case.
When adding this tag, all you have to do is replace the URL between the quotation marks in the “href” attribute.
From here, you’ll need to make that exact same change (keeping in mind the considerations explained above) for each one of your duplicate URLs.
Keep in mind there should NEVER be more than one canonical tag per URL, so before implementing this tag in your HTML code, I’d recommend checking whether one is already active.
VIDEO: WHAT ARE CANONICAL TAGS
Final Tip
Check which canonical a specific URL has with this extension.
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Download another SEO extension for your browser — not quite as good as the first one:
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<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/main-article" />
