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Expert Question About Canonical Tag - Losing Juice

by nik0 Banned
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Imagine this:

- we have a high PR domain
- we publish the full post to make the link to client or money site visible
- the full post also shows at category level
- the full post shows obvious at the post url.

Now we want to clean up so we use the canonical tag on the post level.

That means Google doesn't show the post on homepage and on category anymore in the index.

However cause it's not in the index will the homepage juice still flow through the link in the post to the money/client site?

Maybe stupid question as the homepage is still indexed but the homepage only features posts that have the canonical tag. Call me stupid if it applies
#canonical #expert #juice #losing #question #tag
  • Profile picture of the author Simon Walker
    If the link of the client site is still available on the homepage then it will transfer juice. Remember canonical has nothing to do with out bound links, its job is to tell Google which url should be indexed and which URLs should transfer the their backlink juice to other.
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    • Profile picture of the author nik0
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Simon Walker View Post

      If the link of the client site is still available on the homepage then it will transfer juice. Remember canonical has nothing to do with out bound links, its job is to tell Google which url should be indexed and which URLs should transfer the their backlink juice to other.
      Let's say we only feature posts on the homepage and nothing else, and we tell Google not to index those posts.

      Theoretically you could say that would lead to deindexing of the homepage.

      Or that the homepage wouldn't rank for a single thing.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Canonical tags do not prevent things from getting indexed.
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    • Profile picture of the author nik0
      Banned
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      Canonical tags do not prevent things from getting indexed.
      Hmm, lately I Google'd a sentence (within quotes) from Brian Dean's blog posts and the homepage didn't show up in Google, only the actual post.

      So although the homepage was obvious still indexed it doesn't rank for any of the words, phrases or complete sentences that appear there.

      So canonical tags kind of kill the opportunity to rank for your homepage when there's no content that can be used for that. (assuming we feature the posts at our homepage, but that's one of the reasons why we use canonical so it's definitely not my favorite option).
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

        Hmm, lately I Google'd a sentence (within quotes) from Brian Dean's blog posts and the homepage didn't show up in Google, only the actual post.

        So although the homepage was obvious still indexed it doesn't rank for any of the words, phrases or complete sentences that appear there.

        Are you sure the homepage was cached with that post on it?

        I probably already know the answer to that question.

        I use canonical tags all the time, and have no problem with the homepages showing up in the index when I search for a specific article that is on the homepage and cached by Google as being on the homepage.
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        • Profile picture of the author nik0
          Banned
          Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

          Are you sure the homepage was cached with that post on it?
          Not cached indeed as I took the first post, let's try with a cached one.

          Yes you are right, now it does show up in Google.

          But I thought that was the whole purpose of canolization, not showing the same content multiple times in the SERP's and/or not indexing it.

          Anyway, thanks for clearing that doubt!
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          • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
            Originally Posted by nik0 View Post

            Not cached indeed as I took the first post, let's try with a cached one.

            Yes you are right, now it does show up in Google.

            But I thought that was the whole purpose of canolization, not showing the same content multiple times in the SERP's and/or not indexing it.

            Anyway, thanks for clearing that doubt!
            No the purpose of the canonical tag is to tell Google where your preferred version of the content lies. If they are only going to show one version, make it this one. Also signals to them that there are multiple copies of this content on the site, but it resolves any duplicate content issues that might arise.

            Basically, you are saying you are not trying to game the system, but it is unavoidable to not have multiple copies of the content on the site.
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            • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
              Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

              No the purpose of the canonical tag is to tell Google where your preferred version of the content lies. If they are only going to show one version, make it this one. Also signals to them that there are multiple copies of this content on the site, but it resolves any duplicate content issues that might arise.

              Goood stuff Mike. People forget the kind of things that make FUll SEO service providers like yourself worth the extra cash. It ain't all about links.
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