If you manage a website, you may have heard of the term "canonical URL." But is it mandatory to use canonical URLs on your website? The short answer is no, using canonical URLs is not mandatory. However, there are some good reasons why you may want to consider using them.
A canonical URL is a way to tell search engines which version of a web page is the "main" or "preferred" one. This is important because sometimes a website can have multiple versions of the same page, each with a different URL. For example, a page might be accessible via both www.example.com/page and example.com/page.
Having multiple versions of the same page can create problems for search engines, as they have to decide which version to index and show in search results. This can lead to duplication and confusion, which can harm your website's ranking and visibility.
To avoid these problems, you can use canonical URLs to tell search engines which version of a page is the preferred one. This helps search engines understand which version to index and show in search results, and it also helps prevent duplication and confusion.
To use canonical URLs, you simply need to add a tag to the HTML of your web pages. The tag looks like this: <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/page" />. This tells search engines that the page with the URL https://www.example.com/page is the preferred version of the page.
While using canonical URLs is not mandatory, there are some good reasons why you may want to consider using them. First, as mentioned above, they can help prevent duplication and confusion, which can harm your website's ranking. Second, they can help search engines understand which version of your page is the most important, which can improve its ranking and visibility in search results. Finally, they can help consolidate any link equity that your page has earned, which can also improve its ranking.
In conclusion, while using canonical URLs is not mandatory, they can be a useful tool for managing and optimizing your website's content. By using canonical URLs, you can tell search engines which version of your pages is the preferred one, which can help improve your website's ranking and visibility in search results. If you're not currently using canonical URLs on your website, it's worth considering implementing them to help improve your SEO.
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