Use of Canonicals

by 6 replies
7
So I was speaking to a SEO expert and he mentioned using canonicals but I don't really know what they are/what the benefit is of using them for SEO.

Currently I've been improving my URL structure and to prevent duplicates from my current understanding I can use a canonical to tell google what the correct content is? Is that right?

Hope you can help clear this up!
#search engine optimization #canonicals

  • Using canonicals will help you a lot to prevent having duplicates on your website. It's not something new but I think it will replace the 301 redirect command fully sooner or later IMHO.

    Rel=canonical helps to boost ranking given in this scenario, content originally from website A, website B wants to publish the content but wants to give link juice credit to website A, website B can add re=canonical command to website B header html and will pass link juice to website A.

    Same goes for your pages. If you created a page with content with the search term similar to the keyword you want to rank for, you can apply the canonical command to that page to redirect to your money page.

    While a 301 redirect will not let the reader see that page, as it will be automatically redirected, canonical will still let your readers see the page.

    You can insert this command at the head of your page:
    <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog" />


    PS: please correct me if my facts are wrong.
  • Canonical is used to avoid duplicate pages. In general it is used in case of forums, review pages. The pagination will given canonical to avoid duplicate pages. It is similar to a 301 redirect.
  • It's similar to a 301 redirect, and yes it helps a lot
  • M30jake,

    A canonical URL is used to instruct search engines which page of a site is the correct one to index.

    More on that here,

    Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Specify your canonical

    Best,

    Shawn
    • [1] reply
    • Now it doesn't really avoid duplicate content, now does it?

      You can avoid a lot of this stuff by just coding yourself,
      or get a better CMS (read: real), rather than WP.

      Nobody should really worry about this issue in 2013.

      There is no "correct" one to index.

      Paul
  • Banned
    I don't agree that the CMS is a duplicate content problem considering any CMS will only do what you (the webmaster) codes the CMS to do. As far as something like Wordpress, the webmaster is the one telling the CMS what to do or not do via their own WP theme or WP plugin.

    It's like walking into a burger joint & ordering from a menu board, you'll get the standard condiments on the sandwich unless you specifically tell someone what you want on the sandwich.

    People can't read minds, CMS can't read minds.

    My point is, you only start out with duplicate content/pages on the same domain because that's a choice you've made.
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    Use of Canonicals

    So I was speaking to a SEO expert and he mentioned using canonicals but I don't really know what they are/what the benefit is of using them for SEO. Currently I've been improving my URL structure and to prevent duplicates from my current understanding I can use a canonical to tell google what the correct content is? Is that right?