A Comprehensive Guide to Applying Canonical Tags in Web Design

A Comprehensive Guide to Applying Canonical Tags in Web Design

15 Dec 2023

canonical

Basics of Canonical Tags

The canonical tag in HTML is likely familiar to many. We can use this HTML tag to tell search engines that the canonical or “main” URL for a page is a certain one, avoiding issues with duplicate content. To implement properly, simply add the following code in the section of the web page:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.domain.com">

The href attribute points to the location of the primary version of the page.

Benefits of Using Canonical Tags:

1.Concentrates authority, avoids diluting traffic
For example, merging parameters from multiple product pages into one primary product page, or redirecting www and non-www versions to the same domain. This combines authority and prevents fragmenting traffic. The same concept applies to short links redirecting to main URLs.

2.Unifies mobile and desktop
Sometimes mobile sites have lower authority than desktop. Canonical tags can consolidate both versions onto one authoritative page.

3.Improves search engine assessment accuracy
Informing engines of the canonical URL aims to help them better judge the primary location of main site content, aiding SEO rankings. Though simple, proper implementation provides significant SEO assistance!

Canonical Concepts in CSS

While there are no canonical tags in CSS, optimization at various levels can still enhance SEO through CSS code:

Rational content styling: Use proper heading tags for content sections instead of DIVs/SPANs uniformly. Apply semantic class/ID names. Helps search engines correctly understand and label key data.

Mobile optimization: Catering the experience across devices, providing a seamless user flow improves engagement. Mixing long and short sentences also boosts appeal and readability. Media queries enable responsive designs. Controlling horizontal scrolls and sizing for screens are also key.

Performance and standards compliance: Minifying CSS/JS, deferred non-critical resource loading improves speed. Caching also accelerates. Closely meeting accessibility standards also benefits SEO through easier crawling.

Though not canonical tags themselves, these optimization steps significantly improve SEO.

In summary:

  1. Logical Content Styling
  • Use proper heading tags
  • Avoid DIV/SPAN only
  • Semantic class/ID names
  • Assists parsing of key data
  1. Mobile Optimization
  • Media queries for responsiveness
  • Avoid horizontal scrolls
  • Size for varying screens
  • Boosts mobile SEO
  1. Page Loading Performance
  • Minify CSS/JS
  • Async non-critical resources
  • Leverage caching
  • Faster speeds improve ranks
  1. Accessibility Standards Compliance
  • Color contrast and font sizes
  • Semantic HTML tags
  • WAI-ARIA attributes
  • Improves crawlability and SEO

Though CSS does not directly relate to canonicals, best practices positively impact SEO.

Reasons for Using Canonical URLs

As the saying goes: “Practice makes perfect”. But for site optimization, duplicate content is taboo, risking search engine penalties! To avoid trouble, canonical URLs are a must.

For example, a product page with:

Having multiple versions risks dividing authority and gets flagged as auto-generated content. If a product page has several parameter-based URLs, the canonical tag can consolidate power onto one URL.

For sites with multiple domain names, canonicals can also funnel authority to the main site. Content duplication like separate mobile and app versions can likewise be addressed.

Done properly, main page traffic and ranks stand to benefit. Failing to do so risks suboptimal results at best, indicating opportunities to better integrate site architecture.

While technical details like tags matter for optimization, taking a big picture view is key – evaluating page versions, designating core content, then standardizing. This gives sustainable SEO success.

Basic Canonical Implementation and Examples:

1.Directly in HTML Page Add link tag within <head>:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.domain.com/blog" />

2.Dynamically Generated via JS

Insert tag through JS:

var canonical = document.createElement('link');
canonical.rel = 'canonical';
canonical.href = 'https://www.domain.com/blog';
document.head.appendChild(canonical);

Suits JS rendered pages.

3.Generated in PHP Backend

Echo tag in PHP template:

<?php echo '<link rel="canonical" href="'. $canonicalURL .'">'; ?>

Set via PHP variable.

4.Written to Response in ASP.NET C#

Response.Write("<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https://www.domain.com/blog\">");

Works for ASP.NET sites.

5.Set in Java Servlet Response Header

response.setHeader("Link", "<https://www.domain.com/blog>; rel=canonical")

Uses Link header.

6.Nginx Rewrite Rule with Response Header

rewrite ^ /page? break;
header append Link "<https://www.domain.com/blog>; rel=canonical";

7.Apache .htaccess Response Header

Header append Link "<https://www.domain.com/blog>; rel=canonical"

8.Flask Python Framework Backend

@app.route('/page')
def page():
    response = make_response(render_template('page.html'))
    response.headers['Link'] = '<https://www.domain.com/blog>; rel=canonical' 
    return response

Above covers main methods for implementing canonical tags based on different backend languages.

Checking Canonical Tag Implementation

Checking Canonical Tag Implementation

After setting up canonical tags, validation methods include:

1.Browser Plugin Checks

Common plugins are SEOquake, MozBar. Install, then visit page to directly see if canonical tags are implemented, with configured target URLs.

SEOquake: Visit page, bottom left corner shows: Canonical URL: https://www.youfind.hk/blog
Confirms standardized to main product page without parameters.

MozBar: Page visit also shows Purple Box on right. Opening reveals configured Canonical URL target.

Screaming Frog: Input sample page URL in Software, click Crawl Website. Ultimately outputs detailed canonical info list reports.

Ahrefs: In URL Explorer, input sample page and click inspect. Returns result shows Canonical URL column with target address.

Easy-to-use plugins and tools visually indicating canonical tag implementation status.

2.Online Tools

Like Google Search Console URL Inspection to check pages for canonical tags. Screaming Frog also inspects specified pages.

Recommended online tools:

Google Search Console URL Inspection:

Visit console, choose URL Inspection
Input page like https://www.domain.com/blog
Results show canonical tag information and target page
Screaming Frog SEO Spider:

Input site URL and click Crawl Website
Ultimately view Canonical column for each page
Ahrefs Site Audit:

In URL Explorer input page
Click Inspect URL
Canonical URL clearly displayed
Compare with configured target
Free or trial tools above quickly validate canonical setup.

3.Examining Page Source Code

Steps:

Open page needing inspection
Hit F12 to open Developer Tools and view Element panel
Check source code for:
Confirm href contains intended primary page URL
Alternatively, browsers can directly view source by prefixing page with view-source:. Presence of above tag and attributes indicates properly implemented canonical tags, with href showing declared authoritative page.

Common Canonical Tag Issues and Answers:

Q: Can canonicals be cross-domain?
A: Generally not recommended, mainly meant for internal duplicates. Some special cases may work like content site articles canonicaling to ecommerce product pages.

Q: How do search engines treat pages with canonicals? Impact on rankings?
A: Engines take canonical page as primary, others as copies. Long term this concentrates authority to benefit main page ranks.

Q: How to handle HTTP and HTTPS?
A: HTTP should canonical to HTTPS version. Necessary step.

Q: Any recommendations for AMP only?
A: Canonicals from AMP to corresponding desktop pages advised since AMP lacks full metadata.

Q: Feasible to auto-generate site-wide? Tradeoffs?
A: Possible but risky without evaluating necessity. Helps eliminate duplicates but prone to issues.

Q: What is the purpose of canonical tag in HTML title? Any considerations?
A: Informs search engine on standard URL when seeing identical titles. Cannot replace main link canonical, just supplemental.

Q: What factors matter for long content split across multiple pages?
A: Logic of splits, relationship between start/end and intermediate content pages, links to full content versions also necessary.

Q: What is the relation and difference between rel=“alternate” and canonical?
A: Alternate points to substitute versions, canonical tags point to main authority version. Complementary without conflict.

Q: Can mobile app web pages have canonical link? Limitations?
A: Universal Links can insert canonical metadata, but external link support in apps varies. Needs evaluation.

Q: Any recommended ways for applying canonicals in CMS sites?
A: Many CMS platforms like WordPress have canonical plugins. Also customizable by modifying templates.

More Blogs

Featured Articles

Here is the English translation: What is an SEO landing page? Before getting into the topic, let’s explain what an SEO landing page is first. The main purpose of a landing page is to convert potential users into customers. And landing pages are designed for specific SEO purposes, which are directly related in search engine optimization. Because in many cases, visitors’ first interaction with your website is through these pages. If the relevance between your target page and the user’s search intention is low, then the chance of conversion will be greatly discounted. The importance of keyword research in selecting landing pages? Before selecting landing pages, we need to first analyze the keywords you need to do SEO. This is a very important step. We need to have a good understanding of the part of speech of the keywords. We will divide keywords into several major categories: Nouns: Words that describe products, services, industries, etc.Examples: moisturizer, SEO service, accident insurance, education, etc. Adjectives: Words that describe product and service attributes.Examples: lightweight, cheap, delicious, fast, etc. Verbs: Words that describe product functions or user behaviors.Examples: learn, book, buy, download, etc. Phrases: Words composed of multiple words.Examples: air cushion sports shoes, Huawei mobile phone case, tourist resort hotel, etc. Long-tail keywords: Longer groups of words that more specifically describe user search needs.Examples: durable, non-fading outdoor leisure shorts Personal names: Such as business names, industry celebrities, entertainment stars, etc. These names also become search terms for some users.Place names: Some place names or locations can also be hot search words, like scenic spots, city names, etc. Interrogative words: Questions or problems entered by users can also appear as keywords.For example: What is an…

1.What is YouFind Maximizer? YouFind Maximizer is an SEO optimization tool developed by YouFind company, which integrates all the optimizations needed by search engines based on over 10 years of SEO experience. It consolidates and streamlines SEO to help customers avoid the professional knowledge and staffing requirements traditionally required for optimization. The significance of Maximizer is to achieve the maximum optimization effect for the customer’s website with their minimum participation. You just need to install the Maximizer files and you can easily leave the SEO optimization within the site to us. Maximizer implements one-stop integrated optimization within the site in a unique “All-in-one” way, which has received wide acclaim from our customers. In order to assure customers of the safety of Maximizer, our company applied for a patent for it in August 2022. 2.What specific SEO optimizations can Maximizer do? 301 setting canonical setting SEO TD optimization content optimization website syntactic errors fixing multiple language setting GA / GSC setting image Alt tag fixing http protocol fixing page improve speed sitemap fixing 3.How to set up Maximizer? 3.1 PHP site setting steps example If the customer’s website supports PHP programs, you can directly load the maximizier program through the following process: Steps: 1.Back up the website Before making any changes to website files. It is strongly recommended to back up files! 2.Unzip the attachments and place the 4 files in the image above in the website root directory. All four files need writable permissions. Please set the permissions of the files to the highest level “777” 3.Upload path/check link:https://www.domain.com/yf.seo.api.php 4.After uploading, let the customer notify us. After we confirm there is no problem on our side, ask the customer to…

What Does KOL Mean? Unveiling KOLs: The Difference Between Internet Celebrities and Key Opinion Leaders

In the era before the internet, information dissemination was very “one-way”. The information we were exposed to came mainly from mass media – news was received by reporters, digested, organized and reported, and finally conveyed to the public. But in today’s internet age, information dissemination has become “multi-directional”, like a spider web that interconnects. Individuals and groups can communicate freely. From the public’s perspective, Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) play a particularly important role. Their evaluations published on social media not only attract a lot of fans’ eyeballs, but also influence many people’s consumption decisions. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why many brand owners and advertisers are striving to find excellent KOLs to achieve advertising effects. So what does KOL mean in Chinese? KOL (Key Opinion Leader) literally translates to “key opinion leader”. It refers to influential people on the Internet. They usually open accounts on online social platforms like Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram, regularly post content on specific topics, and gradually accumulate a large number of followers. Some KOLs involving consumer goods attract companies to cooperate with them for advertising. So what conditions should an excellent KOL have? Does high popularity necessarily mean influence? In fact not. Both popularity and influence are important indicators, but they are not necessarily proportional. A KOL with high popularity may have a lot of fans or followers, but may not be able to influence their consumption decisions. On the contrary, an influential KOL may not be well-known, but his few fans will listen to him. Evaluating KOL’s Quality and Quantity Indicators Going further, what factors should marketing professionals consider when evaluating how to select the right KOLs? Based on our team’s accumulated…

The Complete Guide to Choosing the Right SEO Company

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial for improving your website’s visibility and traffic from search engines. But SEO requires specialized skills and extensive effort to be effective. That’s why most businesses rely on an experienced SEO company to handle their search optimization and achieve real results. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about choosing the right SEO company for your business, including: What Does an SEO Company Do? Key Benefits of Hiring an SEO Company SEO Company Services to Look For Warning Signs of Bad SEO Companies Step-by-Step Process for Choosing an SEO Company Questions to Ask SEO Company Candidates Tips for Assessing an SEO Company’s Track Record Red Flags to Avoid When Selecting an SEO Company What Does an SEO Company Do? SEO companies are service providers that use various techniques to improve websites’ organic search engine rankings, traffic, and conversions. Their expert SEO service agents focus on areas like: On-page optimization Optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, content, etc. Keyword research Identifying high-value search terms. Link building Earning high-quality backlinks from other sites. Technical SEO Improving site speed, security, mobile optimization. Content creation Producing blog posts and other assets to attract visitors. Local SEO Optimizing for searches within specific geographic regions. Reporting & analysis Tracking keyword rankings, traffic, ROI of SEO efforts. Key Benefits of Hiring an SEO Company There are many advantages to hiring an SEO company over attempting DIY SEO: Get access to SEO expertise They stay current on best practices. Save time Don’t distract your in-house team with constant SEO work. Increase organic traffic Earn higher search rankings and visibility. Unbiased insights SEO companies provide an outside perspective. Improved efficiency SEO firms have…

The effects of Google SEO promotion can be explained from the following aspects: I. Origin of the position I used to be a foreign trade businessman, experienced the dividend period and depression period of Alibaba platform, and a new position of Alibaba platform operation emerged during the rise of Alibaba international station. This operation is mainly about operating the backstage of international station, supervising data, releasing information, optimizing internal pages and so on, which has a much lower threshold compared to Google SEO promotion. At the same time, some companies with international station operations have more than one platform. Some operators also handle independent stations while taking care of international stations, which makes the difference very obvious: A large number of duplicate elements in products. Almost every product has duplicate elements, resulting in a lot of duplicate page elements, which also affects customer experience. If Google Search Console is bound, it will be found that many products are excluded and not indexed by Google. Lack of basic SEO norms. The operation rules of international station are different from those of Google. If the rules of international station are followed to operate independent station, the effect will also be very limited. Due to the abuse of H tags and the large amount of keyword stacking, the website may be punished due to excessive optimization in the early stage. In summary, if the thinking of international station is used to operate independent station, the effect of Google SEO promotion is unlikely to achieve the best optimization. II. Development of the position In the past few years of doing agency operation business, I have also come into contact with many peers through work…

Meeting the needs of businesses, one solution at a time! Choose wisely: SaaS or WordPress - the power is in your hands!

As an expert in search engine optimization services. YouFind offers a wide range of services including saas website development, international trade promotion, and SEO promotion. Our primary goal is to provide our clients with professional and top notch service experiences that help them achieve their business objectives and improve their competitiveness in the market. Allow me to provide more information about these valuable services: International trade promotion is a service designed to aid clients in exploring overseas markets. By strategically positioning and planning their products and utilizing effective international trade promotion techniques. We assist clients in establishing their brand presence and sales channels in foreign markets. SEO promotion is a crucial online marketing strategy that enhances a websites ranking on search engines. With the ever-growing significance of online marketing in todays’ internet-driven world. Businesses are recognizing the importance of SEO as one of the key techniques in this field. Saas website development is a cutting edge website building system based on open source technology. With Saas as its core technology—a CSS preprocessors which simplifies complex CSS styles for developers. Most often Saas website development is built on WordPress—a powerful open source content management system that provides an excellent platform for developers to swiftly construct high quality websites. One of the main advantages of Saas website development lies within its flexibility and customization capabilities. Because of Saas’ adaptability. It can cater to various design requirements and yield fully customized website designs. Moreover. Saas based WordPress websites inherit the benefits offered by WordPress itself such as robust content management capabilities, user friendly backend interface, and an extensive library of plugins and themes. A notable advantage of Saas website development is its ability…

Introduction to Google SEO Optimization: 8 Important Factors to Improve Google SEO

If you are involved in social media network marketing, you may have noticed that the market seems to be getting more challenging. Engagement rates are decreasing, ads are becoming saturated, and you may be spending a significant amount of money without achieving your desired results. Instead of relying on short-lived advertising strategies, it’s better to focus on solid and effective website SEO. This time, we will introduce you to Google SEO optimization, which is highly valued for both overseas and local SEO. With Google SEO, you can achieve satisfactory exposure without having to spend a fortune. What is SEO? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. In different search engines like Yahoo, Baidu, and Google, when you enter certain keywords, websites are displayed in a specific order. The higher a website ranks, the better its SEO is considered to be. As users tend to click on the first to third search results, optimizing your website to appear in the top positions of search engine results can attract more visitors to your site and generate business benefits. To excel in SEO, several factors need to be considered, such as website optimization, UX (User Experience), backlinking, keyword placement strategies, and more. The following section will provide detailed explanations of these aspects. The difference between Google SEO and Baidu SEO: If your website can provide high-quality and unique content (attractive text, images, videos), even if the website design is simple, and other users share your website articles, you may still achieve higher rankings on Google. Baidu, on the other hand, has different requirements for SEO content and focuses more on keyword optimization and external links to the website. However, it doesn’t mean that content…

Guide to Optimizing Google SEO Rankings: Focus on These 3 Key Points for Better Results!

To achieve high rankings in Googles search engine a methodical and progressive approach is necessary. Developing a comprehensive optimization plan is essential to master the art of Google SEO ranking. Generally. The optimization process involves three main aspects: off page SEO, on page SEO, and technical SEO. In the following sections. We will provide practical strategies and helpful advice for each of these areas. Optimizing Technical Aspects for Google SEO Ranking Apart from on page and off page optimization attention should also be given to technical aspects of SEO. This includes addressing the following key points: Website Code Structure: Is the websites’ code clean and well organized? Mobile Compatibility: Does the website work seamlessly on mobile devices? Is it designed with responsiveness in mind? According to Google responsive websites tend to rank higher. Website Server Configuration and Bandwidth: Is the website server properly configured? Can the entire site load within 5 seconds? Page Compression: Are web pages compressed for faster loading? CDN Acceleration: Is your website utilizing Content Delivery Network (CDN) acceleration? SSL Certificate: Does your website have an SSL certificate? Google emphasizes that websites with SSL certificates have a better chance of being prominently displayed. On Page SEO Strategies for Better Google Rankings On page optimization focuses on optimizing individual web pages by strategically placing keywords and more. Here are some key considerations: Keyword Integration: Ensure that your page title and description incorporate relevant keywords for better visibility. Utilize Heading Tags (H Tags): Give your web pages clear content hierarchy by using well structured heading tags. 3.Breadcrumb Navigation: Facilitate search engine crawling by implementing breadcrumb navigation throughout your website. High Quality Content: Provide valuable solutions to users’ problems through…