If you manage a website, you've likely heard of the term "canonical URL." But what exactly is a canonical URL, and why is it important? In this blog post, we'll explain what canonical URLs are, why they're used, and how they can help improve your website's SEO.
A canonical URL is a way to tell search engines which version of a web page they should index and show in search results. 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 confusion and duplication, which can harm your website's ranking and visibility.
That's where canonical URLs come in. By using a canonical URL, you can tell search engines which version of a page is the "main" or "preferred" version. 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.
Using canonical URLs can have several benefits for your website's SEO. First, it can help prevent duplication and confusion, which can harm your website's ranking. Second, it 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, it can help consolidate any link equity that your page has earned, which can also improve its ranking.
In conclusion, canonical URLs are an important tool for managing and optimising 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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