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Definition
A canonical URL is the preferred version of a web page when multiple URLs serve the same or very similar content. The rel="canonical" link tag tells search engines which URL to index and rank, consolidating SEO signals and preventing duplicate content issues.
Duplicate content is a common issue on the web. The same page might be accessible at: example.com/page, www.example.com/page, example.com/page?ref=twitter, and example.com/page/. Without canonical tags, search engines must guess which version to index, potentially splitting ranking signals across duplicates.
The canonical tag is placed in the
section: . This tells search engines: "This is the authoritative URL for this content. Index this URL and ignore the others." All link equity (backlinks, social signals) from duplicate URLs is consolidated to the canonical version.Canonical tags are also critical for: syndicated content (articles republished on other sites should point canonical back to the original), paginated content, filtered/sorted product pages (e.g., /shoes?color=red should canonicalize to /shoes), and HTTP/HTTPS or www/non-www variations. Self-referencing canonicals (every page points to itself) are a best practice that prevents unexpected issues.