A canonical tag, often known as the "rel=canonical" tag, is an HTML element used to address issues of duplicate content on a website. This helps search engines understand the preferred or canonical version of a particular webpage when multiple versions of the same content exist.
This is how it works:
- Duplicate content issues: When the same or similar content appears on multiple URLs, search engines may have difficulty determining which version to index and display in search results.
- Canonical tag definition: The canonical tag is placed in the <head> section of the HTML code of a webpage and specifies the preferred or canonical URL for a particular piece of content.
<link rel='canonical' href='https://www.example.com/original-content-page' />
In this example, the canonical tag indicates that the specified URL is the preferred version of the content.
Benefits:
- Search engine rankings: The canonical tag helps search engines consolidate ranking signals for duplicate content, improving the chances of the preferred version appearing in search results.
- Avoiding penalties: This can prevent search engines from treating duplicate content as different and potentially penalizing the site for duplicate content issues.
use cases:
- URL variations: Different URLs pointing to the same content (for example, with or without a trailing slash, with or without parameters).
- Printer-friendly pages: If you have a printer-friendly version of a page, you can use a canonical tag to designate the original URL as the preferred version.
- Implementation: You need to add the canonical tag to the HTML <head> section of each page, specifying the canonical URL.
HTML
copy the code
<head>
<link rel='canonical' href='https://www.example.com/original-content-page' />
<!-- Other key elements go here -->
</head>
In short, the canonical tag is a tool used by webmasters to guide search engines in understanding the preferred version of content, which ultimately improves the search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience of the website.
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