Practical research for teams working with search visibility, SERP data and public-web intelligence.
There are certain aspects you must consider for your website in order to make it fully functional and ready to thrive in the SERPs (search engine results pages). And the rel=canonical function is among the features that you must enable and implement on your web page(s).
What Is Rel=Canonical?
Basically, rel=canonical is a function that allows you to set up a preferred URL for a specific page and even for all pages on your website, which can be accessed through multiple URLs. An example would be if, let’s say, you post an article on your blog or update a page/resource center and place it in many categories. This means you have different URLs pointing to the same page or article. It might look like this:
o http://blog.example.com/tablets/best-cheap-tablet/
o http://blog.example.com/android/best-cheap-tablet/
o http://blog.example.com/gadgets/best-cheap-tablet/
Take a close look at the example above. As it shows, all the above links point to the same article/resource with the same content, although they are different paths (URLs).
Setting Up a Preferred URL
Sometimes, you would want to point out to a preferred URL. If you want to set up a specific URL, you need to add a tag to thesection of the specific page(s) with the attribute rel=”canonical”. You can do it like this:
Or opt for a SEO plugin that helps you in that direction. For e.g., WP SEO by Yoast will point to a specific Rel=Canonical option in the bottom of your post in WordPress Editor. Ideally, we suggest having a preferred canonical URL displayed.
Image source: Blog Spot – Rel=canonical + attribute
Liked our article? Check out for more easy step-by-step how to’s on our blog. And don’t forget to share the knowledge!
