Duplicate content is a major drain for search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies. It confuses indexing systems, dilutes the power of your links, and can lead to your own content battling it out in the search results, harming your overall rankings. But there are cases when duplicate content is hard to avoid, so what do you do?
Our digital marketing experts are here to tell you all about the canonical tag and why it’s the answer to your duplicate content woes.
What is a Canonical Tag?
Also known as a rel=canonical, a canonical tag is a snippet of HTML code used specifically for duplicate content. Essentially, it pinpoints your ‘master’ page - your main webpage for the content - helping search engines understand what to rank and what to ignore.
What is an Example of a Canonical Tag?
Let’s say you have an eCommerce business selling shoes. For a pair of shoes, you might have different URLs for each shoe size, giving you 12 URLs for the same item. All other content across the pages remains the same, creating 12 pages of duplicate content that confuses search engines.
To combat the problem, you attach a canonical tag to each duplicate page that points to the main page - the URL without a size, for instance. All the other URLs now send search engine crawlers directly to the main URL so that it’s the only page to be indexed and ranked.
Do Canonical Tags Affect SEO?
If you have duplicate content, canonical tags are a brilliant way to prevent SEO damage. They bring a number of search-related perks, including:
- Stopping content from slipping down the ranks: By pointing crawlers to your main URL, you avoid issues around dilution of your SEO strategy. This helps retain all the ranking power of your content for a stronger SEO strategy.
- Preventing content from being missed: Search engines have a limited crawl budget, and if they're spending time crawling multiple versions of the same page, they may not discover your strongest content. Canonical tags help guide crawlers to preferred content, making it easier for them to focus on the right pages.
- Power over search results: By pointing crawlers in the right direction, you take control over the content you actually want to appear in search results. You can focus efforts on the most impactful, relevant, and SEO-driven pages, ignoring the less relevant duplications.
How Do I Add a Canonical Tag to a Page?
Adding a canonical tag requires a level of technical coding know-how and understanding of your site’s back-end. To place one in your website code, here’s what you need to do:
- Head into the back-end of your website and find all your duplicate content URLs.
- In these pages, go to the <head> section of the HTML, and add a <link> element with the attribute rel=“canonical”.
- The link element should also include a link to your main page of content (the page you want search engines to crawl).
Make sure not to touch any other part of your code, as this could affect your entire front-end.
Work With Our SEO Experts
Not sure about coding or don’t have the time to deal with duplicate content? That’s exactly why we’re here. Our team at KAU Media Group provides comprehensive SEO services, and we’ll take care of all your canonical tags and duplicate content so you don’t have to worry.
