In the last episode I mentioned a method for dealing with duplicate content which was canonicalisation. In this installment of my SEO tips from a toddler's bedroom I discuss canonical tags, what they are, how to apply them and how to check them.
Plus don't miss the bloopers at the end where the perils of working in a toddler's bedroom are included for your entertainment.
How to apply canonical tags
Canonical tags are a way to inform search engines of your preferred URL for indexing if you have more than one page with the same/similar content.
To implement a canonical tag you need access to the HTML of your webpage.
- The canonical tag is a snippet of code that looks something like this: <link rel='canonical' href=" "/>
- The canonical tag will point to your preferred version of the URL.
- Whilst Google may crawl both URLs, it will only index one so you won't be penalised for having duplicate content.
How to check canonical tag implementation
- To view page source - right click on your webpage
- Control F and search for 'canonical'
- Check that the url part of href= is the URL of the page you would prefer to be indexed
