Shine Audit: Canonical Link is blank
Learn the importance of having a canonical link
Reena
Last Update 2 tahun yang lalu
What is a Canonical Link?
A canonical link, also known as a canonical tag or rel=canonical, is an HTML element used to indicate the preferred version of a web page with identical or very similar content.
Sometimes, multiple versions of a web page can exist due to different URLs, parameters, or other factors, which can lead to duplicate content issues. In such cases, search engines may not know which version to index or rank, which can negatively impact the page's visibility in search results.
A canonical link helps address this issue by specifying the preferred URL for a web page with similar content. By including a canonical link tag in the HTML code of a web page, website owners can signal to search engines which version of the page should be considered the primary version.
Search engines will then understand that the primary version should be indexed and displayed in search results, while other similar versions should be ignored or treated as duplicates.
Issue: Canonical Link is blank
If you don't have a canonical link, search engines may not be able to identify the preferred version of a web page with similar content, leading to potential duplicate content issues. This can impact your website's search engine visibility and rankings, as search engines may not know which version of the page to show in search results.
Without a canonical link, search engines may also crawl and index multiple versions of the same content, which can dilute the authority of each page and lead to confusion for both search engines and users.
Suggested Fix:
It's recommended to include a canonical link element in the HTML code of each web page with similar content. This will signal to search engines which version of the page should be considered the primary version and prevent potential duplicate content issues.
To add a canonical link to a web page, you can follow these steps:
- Open the HTML file for the web page you want to add a canonical link to.
- Locate the <head> section of the HTML file. This is usually near the top of the file, between the <html> and <body> tags.
- Within the <head> section, add the following line of code: <link rel="canonical" href="URL of the preferred version">
- Replace "URL of the preferred version" with the URL of the preferred version of the page. This should be the URL that you want search engines to consider as the primary version of the page.
- Save the HTML file and upload it to your website.
Once you have added the canonical link to the HTML file, search engines will understand which version of the page you prefer to be indexed and displayed in search results. This will help prevent potential duplicate content issues and ensure that search engines can effectively crawl, index, and rank the preferred version of the page.