Add self-referencing canonical tags on all pages. Prevent duplicate content issues from URL parameters, pagination, and filters.
Every page should have a self-referencing canonical tag, even if there's no duplicate. This is defensive SEO — it prevents issues before they happen, especially when other sites scrape your content.
Canonical tags are hints, not directives. Google may ignore them if the canonical page content differs significantly from the duplicate. Ensure canonical and duplicate pages have substantially similar content.
Crawl your site with Screaming Frog. Go to the "Canonicals" tab to see which pages have canonical tags, which are missing them, and which point to different URLs. Export and review in a spreadsheet.
Every indexable page should have <link rel="canonical" href="https://yourdomain.com/this-page/"> in the <head>. In WordPress, Rank Math and Yoast add these automatically. For custom sites, add them in your template's head section.
URL parameters create duplicate pages. Set the canonical to the clean URL without parameters. Example: ?sort=price&page=2 should canonicalize to the base category URL. In Rank Math: go to each page > Advanced > Canonical URL.
For paginated content (page 1, 2, 3...), each page should self-reference its own canonical URL. Do NOT canonical all pages to page 1 — Google deprecated rel=prev/next but still indexes paginated pages individually.
After implementing, re-crawl your site. Look for: missing canonicals, canonicals pointing to non-200 pages, canonical chains (A canonicalizes to B which canonicalizes to C), and canonicals pointing to noindexed pages.
Generate canonical tag implementation for my website: 1. A self-referencing canonical tag template for standard pages 2. Cross-domain canonical example (if I syndicate content) 3. Canonical handling for paginated content (page 1, 2, 3...) 4. Canonical handling for URL parameters (filters, sorting, tracking codes) 5. Common canonical tag mistakes and how to audit for them My CMS is [PLATFORM]. Provide implementation code/instructions specific to it.
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