The Most Popular Extension Builder for Magento 2

With a big catalog of 224+ extensions for your online store

How to Add Canonical Tags for Magento 2 Stores?

Canonical is a tag used by Seoer and this is considered a decent tag and helps us get a lot of work in the process of doing SEO. Let’s learn about canonical tags to see the effect of tags on SEO.

A canonical tag is an attribute in HTML code, which allows webmasters to prevent duplicate content by defining canonical or preferred tags.

A canonical tag is a tool that helps you tell Google what the original URL needs. Also, transmit the full value of URLs that are not indexed to the original URL, which increases the reputation and ranking of the indexed pages.

canonical tag

If the content of your website has the same article, then Google will evaluate the content as not quality and thus reduce the ranking of your website. Therefore, you must have a canonical card to reduce the duplication of content on the page, this is an on-page SEO tip that needs to be noted.

What is the effect of canonical tag?

Canonical created and used to prevent the duplicate content of a Website. It will help the webmasters inform the search engine of the original content, quality content on the Website. This is an effective solution to deal with duplicated contents.

  • Content Consolidation: The canonical tag specifies the preferred version of a web page when similar or identical content exists across multiple URLs. It helps search engines understand which version of the content is the original or primary one.

  • SEO Benefit: By indicating the canonical URL, this tag helps search engines consolidate link equity (ranking signals) to the preferred page. It prevents the dilution of ranking power caused by duplicate content across various URLs, which can improve the page’s search engine optimization (SEO) performance.

  • URL Optimization: The canonical tag helps prevent the appearance of multiple versions of the same content on different URLs. This aids in enhancing SEO performance by consolidating SEO strength onto a single URL, preventing the dispersion of SEO value. Example:

Non-optimized URL:

https://example.com/products?page=2&category=shoes

After optimization with the canonical tag:

https://example.com/products/shoes

What the search engines use the canonical tag to do

  • Using the canonical tag to reduce the storage of unnecessary data, or poor value without bringing valuable, useful information to the user.

  • The site meets well-designed SEO standards, designers will help you do this section, while the SEO of website owners can hardly interfere with the Code. For sites with too much duplication of content, Google also underestimated the reputation. For sites with too much duplication of content, Google also underestimated the reputation.

  • Identify the Preferred URL: When multiple URLs have similar or identical content, search engines look for canonical tags to determine the preferred or canonical version of that content.

  • Avoid Duplicate Content Penalties. Recognizing the canonical tag allows search engines to understand the intent of webmasters in specifying the primary version of content and differentiate it from duplicate versions.

canonical

Harmful hazard if the use of canonical tag is not correct

What happens if you declare canonical cards indiscriminately. For example, if you have two pages with different content, you need SEO for both pages, but Page A declares the canonical of page B. As I mentioned before, page A will not be indexed by Google anymore. And then, no matter how hard you try, search engines will not rank your page. Some people even confuse that, the use of the canonical tag to emphasize a content page they need SEO, this is completely wrong. Incorrect use of the canonical tag can lead to several detrimental effects on a website’s SEO:

  • Duplicate Content Issues: Failure to implement the canonical tag correctly may result in impact SEO rankings and visibility.

  • Keyword Cannibalization: If canonical tags are not used properly, it might result in keyword cannibalization, where multiple pages compete for the same keywords, make down the authority of individual pages, and can confuse search engines about which page to prioritize in search results.

When do we use the canonical tag

On your website, content duplication occurs, so obviously you will need to use canonical tags to solve this. If you are sure that your website does not have duplicate content, you may not use it. You can use the canonical tag for the following cases:

  • Similar Content Across Multiple URLs: Even when content is not identical but shares significant similarities across various URLs, employing the canonical tag can help signal the preferred version to search engines

  • Parameterized URLs: E-commerce sites, blogs, or other dynamic websites often generate multiple URLs with parameter variations (e.g., sorting options, tracking parameters) that lead to the same content.

  • Session IDs or Tracking Parameters: Websites that append session IDs or tracking parameters to URLs might inadvertently create multiple versions of the same content.

  • Syndicated or Republished Content: For websites that syndicate content or have republished content from other sources, using canonical tags on the republished content pages can help attribute the original source and avoid potential duplicate content issues.

Some caution when using the canonical tag

In most cases of the path change, you can use canonical to handle duplicate content. However, in the case below, you need to be really careful when using it. For pagination indexes (many pages), there are usually path changes as follows:

Page 1: Imgur

Page 2: Imgur

Page 3: Imgur

Page n: Imgur

In this case, changing the paths along with the change of content. Therefore, the use of canonical to treat pages 2, page 3, …, page n is a copy of page 1, this indicates that you are wrong in using.

How to add a canonical tag in Magento 2?

The rel=”canonical” attribute is inserted into the <head> tag of a page’s HTML. Typically, implementing canonical tags involves code editing, but not in Magento.

Similar to other content management systems (CMS), Magento permits the addition of canonical tags for products and categories through its admin panel.

Navigate to Stores > Configuration > Catalog > Catalog > Search Engine Optimization and activate the respective options for products and categories.

Search engine optimization

After you enable canonical tags for categories and products, check it on your website by pressing Ctrl + U to view your page source, then use Ctrl + F to find canonical tags.

Check on your website

What about contact pages, blogs, CMS pages, and the homepage?

Regrettably, default Magento doesn’t encompass this functionality. To include canonical tags on these pages, consider using the Magento 2 SEO Extension. This extension facilitates the addition of canonical tags within Magento by enabling specific options.

To integrate canonical tags in Magento 2 using this extension, visit Stores > Configuration > Mageplaza > SEO and turn on canonical tags for the pages that you want.

SEO

How to Add Custom Canonical Tags in Magento?

If you wish to modify certain canonical tags or establish them for pages that do not have default canonicals, the SEO Extension provides that capability. Within Magento, you can incorporate custom canonical tags using the SEO rules.

Create new SEO rule

These custom canonical tags in Magento 2 encompass various pages, including those with filterable results, contact pages, and any other page within your store. Simply define the Canonical URL along with the URL of the specific page you intend to apply it to. It’s as straightforward as that.

Canonical tags in Magento 2 represent just a small part of the broader SEO strategy. Numerous other SEO-related functionalities necessitate attention in your store.

Nevertheless, taking gradual steps is an effective approach. Explore the SEO extension’s live demo to identify the subsequent optimizations to focus on.

Conclusion

The canonical tag is the most important HTML tag in the important matters of the on page website, you need to fully set up the canonical tags and the correct safety criteria outlined in the article. Besides that, you should avoid duplicating the content of the articles and on your website to have a standard website on page and Google standard. Another use case of canonical tags is to combine with hreflang tags for multilingual websites. If you dont’t know how to set up hreflang tags, checkout this article: Step by step SEO tutorial for Magento

Above is some useful information about the canonical tag as well as its use in SEO. It will actually bring about significant effects if used properly. However, if used incorrectly, you will quickly see the results of the wrong use. The most obvious point of misuse is that the index number of your website will be significantly reduced. Therefore, find out how to use it before using it.

Website Support
& Maintenance Services

Make sure your store is not only in good shape but also thriving with a professional team yet at an affordable price.

Get Started
mageplaza services
x
    Subscribe

    Stay in the know

    Get special offers on the latest news from Mageplaza.

    Earn $10 in reward now!

    Earn $10 in reward now!

    comment
    iphone
    go up