SEO
Canonical URL Meaning
Canonical URL Meaning is a snippet HTML code that helps to prevent duplicate content issues in search engine optimization by specifying the “canonical” or “preferred” version of a webpage that should be indexed and appear in the search engine results pages (SERP).
What is Canonical URL?
A Canonical URL tag (rel=“canonical”) is a snippet of HTML code that defines the main version for duplicate, near-duplicate and similar pages. In other words, if you have the same or similar content available under different URLs, you can use canonical tags to specify which version is the main one and thus, should be indexed.
Why do We Need Canonical URL?
As a website grows having hundreds and thousands of pages, sometimes even more, making it hard to prevent webpages from becoming duplicates or near-duplicates of each other to the point they are competing each other for their spots within the search engine results pages. This can even cause a duplicate content issues. To solve this, you can select a preferred URL, this is what we call the canonical URL.
What are Canonical Tags and Canonical URLs?
Canonical tags often referred to as rel=”canonical,” canonical tags are a way of telling the search engines that a specified URL is the master copy of a page. They allow you to specify the canonical URL for a page. A canonical link allows webmasters to prevent duplicate content issues by specifying the “canonical” or “preferred” version of a web page.
What does a Canonical URL Look Like?
A Canonical URL tag is a simple syntax that appears within the <head> section of a web page:
<link rel=“canonical” href=“https://www.website-domain.com/sample-page/” />
Here’s what each part of that code means in plain English:
link rel=“canonical”: The link in this tag is the canonical version of this page.
href=“https://www.website-domain.com/sample-page/”: the canonical version can be found at this URL.