Google recently attempted to try and make the problem less difficult, for those that still don’t quite understand Rel=Canonical, but…failed miserably.
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.c...nical.html
Thankfully Google’s Rel=Canonical document is a lot more useful, for those that need the information.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/an...hl=en&rd=1
Now, if You Don’t Mind — Let Me Provide You With Something That Makes a Little More Sense, In English. :)
What Does Rel=Canonical Do?
In english, the Rel=Canonical tag tells Google that one URL is equivalent to another URL.
What’s all the talk about and why is something like this so important — what does this have to do with SEO anyways?
Example:
Let’s say that your website is generating the following URL’s for one single web page:
By simply using the Rel=Canonical tag (Inserting a line of code) you can resolve the duplicate content issue and start benefiting from all the hard work you’ve put into creating your web page.
Example:
Rel=Canonical Code:
Warning: Take Caution When Using The Rel=Canonical Tag…
1) Can Someone Else Rel=Canonical My Pages And Cause Me Harm?
There’s been questions circulating internet marketing and SEO forums from webmasters who’re asking one another whether or not another webmaster can perform negative SEO on their site by using the Rel=Canonical tag, along with other strategies.
As far as Rel=Canonical tags go, you’re the only one who can control the pages of your site.
I’ve seen cases where website admins will create a backend account for guests (Guest Bloggers) and other people, and depending on the plugins, etc that you use, it is possible that a guest can do harm to your site, while fooling around with the Yoast SEO plugin, etc.
It’s up to you to not allow others to go playing around in your site’s backend. Nine times out of ten, the only damage you’ll see come from the Rel=Canonical tag will be self-inflicted.
2) Would A Non-Canonical Web Page Be Indexed By Google Then?
From any SEO point of views, the non-Canonical pages show no real value and aren’t indexed by Google. I’ve personally never seen a case where a non-canonical page is to be found in ste: search or any other index.
3) Would A Rel=Canonical Page Pass PageRank/Authority?
Something like this would be extremely difficult to measure. A Rel=Canonical is very similar to a 301 redirect.
4) Is Rel=Canonical Really Necessary?
The simple answer is…no. Yet in todays search world it is appropriate and helps your site as well as search engines to better understand what is going on within a website/page.
5) How Should We Handle PPC Landing Pages And A/B Testing?
When it comes to PPC landing pages and A/B testing, unless they cross over into useful pages and might attract links, It’d probably be more correct to just go ahead and META NOINDEX them.
There’s some pretty sweet A/B testing tools out there that manage duplicates or don’t create separate URLs, but if you do happen to create new URL’s or pages, then rel=canonical is a great idea. This will allow your visitors to see the real test URLs, while Google will know to ignore them.
6) Should Rel=Canonical Be Used For Pagination?
If you happen to wind up with a lot of paginated search results (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6… n) —- these should be considered as “thin”, when being looked upon from a standard SEO point of view.
Should I really rel=canonical webpage “N” back to webpage 1?
The answer is… no – Google doesn’t really recommend this via their guidelines. Google recommends that you either rel=canonical to a “View All” page (if having all results on one page is viable) or that you use rel=prev/next. Rel=canonical can be used in conjunction with rel=prev/next to handle search sorts, filters, etc., but that gets complicated fast.
7) Is It Ok To Use Rel=Canonical Cross-Domain?
In the later part of 2009, Google mentioned that they’d be providing support for cross-domain use of rel=canonical. This is normally used for syndicated (shared) content, and or when you’re worried about content duplication and only want one version of the content to be allowed for ranking.
8) Should I Use A 301 Redirect Or A Rel=Canonical?
While both a 301 redirect and a rel=canonical are very similar, they aren’t interchangeable. While a 301 redirects the user to the correct page, a rel=canonical doesn’t.
9) Should I Use Rel=Canonical On My Entire Site?
The short answer here is……Yes. Though please always be very cautious with the Rel=Canonical tag —- making absolutely sure to use it correctly, not pointing your visitors to the wrong pages, etc.
10) Can I Rank My Duplicate Pages Instead Of Just One Of The?
The short answer here is….no.
Have More Questions About Rel=Canonical Issues?
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.c...nical.html
Thankfully Google’s Rel=Canonical document is a lot more useful, for those that need the information.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/an...hl=en&rd=1
Now, if You Don’t Mind — Let Me Provide You With Something That Makes a Little More Sense, In English. :)
What Does Rel=Canonical Do?
In english, the Rel=Canonical tag tells Google that one URL is equivalent to another URL.
What’s all the talk about and why is something like this so important — what does this have to do with SEO anyways?
Quote:By inserting a single line of code to the <head> section of your website, you can force search engines to ignore duplicate content, by resolving duplicate web page URLs to a single page.
Example:
Let’s say that your website is generating the following URL’s for one single web page:
Code:
http://www.mywebsite.com/page.php
http://www.mywebsite.com/page.php?afftracking=86342
http://www.mywebsite.com/page.php?affiliate=911By simply using the Rel=Canonical tag (Inserting a line of code) you can resolve the duplicate content issue and start benefiting from all the hard work you’ve put into creating your web page.
Example:
Rel=Canonical Code:
Code:
<link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.mysite.com/page.php” />Warning: Take Caution When Using The Rel=Canonical Tag…
1) Can Someone Else Rel=Canonical My Pages And Cause Me Harm?
There’s been questions circulating internet marketing and SEO forums from webmasters who’re asking one another whether or not another webmaster can perform negative SEO on their site by using the Rel=Canonical tag, along with other strategies.
As far as Rel=Canonical tags go, you’re the only one who can control the pages of your site.
I’ve seen cases where website admins will create a backend account for guests (Guest Bloggers) and other people, and depending on the plugins, etc that you use, it is possible that a guest can do harm to your site, while fooling around with the Yoast SEO plugin, etc.
It’s up to you to not allow others to go playing around in your site’s backend. Nine times out of ten, the only damage you’ll see come from the Rel=Canonical tag will be self-inflicted.
2) Would A Non-Canonical Web Page Be Indexed By Google Then?
From any SEO point of views, the non-Canonical pages show no real value and aren’t indexed by Google. I’ve personally never seen a case where a non-canonical page is to be found in ste: search or any other index.
3) Would A Rel=Canonical Page Pass PageRank/Authority?
Something like this would be extremely difficult to measure. A Rel=Canonical is very similar to a 301 redirect.
4) Is Rel=Canonical Really Necessary?
The simple answer is…no. Yet in todays search world it is appropriate and helps your site as well as search engines to better understand what is going on within a website/page.
5) How Should We Handle PPC Landing Pages And A/B Testing?
When it comes to PPC landing pages and A/B testing, unless they cross over into useful pages and might attract links, It’d probably be more correct to just go ahead and META NOINDEX them.
There’s some pretty sweet A/B testing tools out there that manage duplicates or don’t create separate URLs, but if you do happen to create new URL’s or pages, then rel=canonical is a great idea. This will allow your visitors to see the real test URLs, while Google will know to ignore them.
6) Should Rel=Canonical Be Used For Pagination?
If you happen to wind up with a lot of paginated search results (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6… n) —- these should be considered as “thin”, when being looked upon from a standard SEO point of view.
Should I really rel=canonical webpage “N” back to webpage 1?
The answer is… no – Google doesn’t really recommend this via their guidelines. Google recommends that you either rel=canonical to a “View All” page (if having all results on one page is viable) or that you use rel=prev/next. Rel=canonical can be used in conjunction with rel=prev/next to handle search sorts, filters, etc., but that gets complicated fast.
7) Is It Ok To Use Rel=Canonical Cross-Domain?
In the later part of 2009, Google mentioned that they’d be providing support for cross-domain use of rel=canonical. This is normally used for syndicated (shared) content, and or when you’re worried about content duplication and only want one version of the content to be allowed for ranking.
8) Should I Use A 301 Redirect Or A Rel=Canonical?
While both a 301 redirect and a rel=canonical are very similar, they aren’t interchangeable. While a 301 redirects the user to the correct page, a rel=canonical doesn’t.
Quote:If you’re wanting to permanently consolidate two pages and remove any duplications, use a 301-redirect. If you’re wanting to keep both of the pages available for your visitors, but only have one of them appear within search results, then use rel=canonical.
9) Should I Use Rel=Canonical On My Entire Site?
The short answer here is……Yes. Though please always be very cautious with the Rel=Canonical tag —- making absolutely sure to use it correctly, not pointing your visitors to the wrong pages, etc.
10) Can I Rank My Duplicate Pages Instead Of Just One Of The?
The short answer here is….no.
Have More Questions About Rel=Canonical Issues?