{ "title": "Canonical URL", "seo_title": "Canonical URL: definition, canonical tag and WordPress", "h1": "Canonical URL", "description": "Canonical URL: why content ends up with several URLs, how to tell Google which version to use and what WordPress already does for you.", "lead": "The canonical URL is the address a search engine keeps as the reference version when the same content is available at several URLs. Site owners indicate it with a rel=\"canonical\" tag, a redirect or the sitemap, but Google remains free to choose another version.", "language": "en", "locale": "en-US", "type": "definition", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/", "canonical": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/index.md", "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/index.json", "published": "2026-10-28T08:00:00+00:00", "modified": "2026-10-28T20:14:17+00:00", "site": { "name": "WP Masquerade", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/" }, "translations": [ { "language": "en", "hreflang": "en-US", "title": "Canonical URL", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/index.md", "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/canonical-url/index.json" }, { "language": "fr", "hreflang": "fr-FR", "title": "URL canonique", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/fr/definitions/url-canonique/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/fr/definitions/url-canonique/index.md", "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/fr/definitions/url-canonique/index.json" }, { "language": "es", "hreflang": "es-ES", "title": "URL canónica", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/es/glosario/url-canonica/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/es/glosario/url-canonica/index.md", "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/es/glosario/url-canonica/index.json" }, { "language": "de", "hreflang": "de-DE", "title": "Canonical-URL", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/de/glossar/canonical-url/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/de/glossar/canonical-url/index.md", "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/de/glossar/canonical-url/index.json" }, { "language": "it", "hreflang": "it-IT", "title": "URL canonico (tag canonical)", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/it/glossario/url-canonico/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/it/glossario/url-canonico/index.md", "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/it/glossario/url-canonico/index.json" }, { "language": "pt", "hreflang": "pt-BR", "title": "URL canônica", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/pt/glossario/url-canonica/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/pt/glossario/url-canonica/index.md", "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/pt/glossario/url-canonica/index.json" }, { "language": "nl", "hreflang": "nl-NL", "title": "Canonieke URL", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/nl/woordenlijst/canonieke-url/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/nl/woordenlijst/canonieke-url/index.md", "json": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/nl/woordenlijst/canonieke-url/index.json" } ], "headings": [ { "level": 1, "text": "Canonical URL" }, { "level": 2, "text": "How to specify the canonical URL" }, { "level": 2, "text": "Best practices" }, { "level": 2, "text": "For WordPress" } ], "body": "The same content is often reachable at several URLs without anyone intending it: with and without `www`, over `http` and `https`, with tracking or sorting parameters, as a printable version. For the search engine, these are separate pages with identical content. Rather than showing them all, Google groups them and picks one, the canonical page; the others are treated as duplicates and crawled less often. What's at stake for you: making sure the version it keeps is the one you want to see in the results.\n\n## How to specify the canonical URL\n\nGoogle describes several signals of varying strength:\n\n- **A [permanent redirect](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/301-redirect/)**: a strong signal, to use when the old URL no longer has any reason to exist (moving to HTTPS, choosing the domain with or without `www`).\n- **The `rel=\"canonical\"` tag** in the HTML head, or the HTTP `Link` header for a PDF: a strong signal, when the variants need to stay accessible to visitors.\n- **Inclusion in the [sitemap](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/xml-sitemap/)**: a weak signal, but one that points the same way.\n\n```\n\n```\n\n![On the left, four duplicate variants of the same page: http://example.com/guide/, https://www.example.com/guide/, the same URL with ?utm_source=newsletter and with ?sort=price. On the right, the canonical URL https://example.com/guide/, set by rel=canonical, 301 redirect and sitemap, the only version shown in the results and the one that receives the signals of the variants. Note: these methods state your preference, Google has the final say.](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/media/2026/10/variantes-url-canonique-en.webp)\n\n*One page, several URLs: the canonical URL is the one Google keeps.*\n\nA key point: Google reminds us that your stated preference is a hint, not a rule. If your signals contradict each other (canonical pointing to A, sitemap and internal links pointing to B), it may choose a different URL from yours. The URL Inspection tool in Search Console shows both the user-declared canonical and the one Google selected.\n\n*Video: “Canonical URLs: How Does Google Pick the One?” (Google Search Central)*\n\n## Best practices\n\n- **An absolute URL** in the tag, with the protocol and domain.\n- **A self-referencing canonical on the canonical page itself**, pointing to its own URL.\n- **A single markup method**: the HTML tag or the HTTP header, not both.\n- **Consistent signals**: internal links, the sitemap and [hreflang](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/hreflang/) tags should all point to the canonical URLs.\n- **No [robots.txt](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/robots-txt/)** to handle duplicates, and no `noindex` to choose the canonical within a site: Google explicitly advises against both.\n\nThe broader issue of identical or very similar pages is covered in our definition of [duplicate content](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/).\n\n## For WordPress\n\nWordPress automatically adds a canonical tag to individual content (posts, pages, custom post types), a feature that has existed since version 2.9. It doesn't do so for archives, categories or the posts page: SEO plugins fill that gap and let you set a custom canonical for a given page, which is useful when an article is republished elsewhere. Also check that the site address (Settings > General) uses the right protocol and domain: it is the basis for the generated canonicals.\n\nChanging the URL of technical files or masking WordPress doesn't affect the URLs of your content, and therefore not their canonicals either. Special cases, such as images served from a different URL, are covered in [our article on masking and SEO](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/hide-wordpress-seo-impact/).\n\n## Related terms\n\n- [Duplicate content](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/)\n- [301 redirect](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/301-redirect/)\n- [XML sitemap](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/xml-sitemap/)\n- [Hreflang](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/hreflang/)\n- [Indexing](https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/indexing/)\n\n\n## Sources\n\n- [Google Search Central : qu’est-ce que la canonicalisation](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization)\n- [Google Search Central : indiquer une URL canonique](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls)\n- [WordPress Developer Resources : rel_canonical()](https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/rel_canonical/)", "definition": "The canonical URL is the address a search engine keeps as the reference version when the same content is available at several URLs. Site owners indicate it with a rel=\"canonical\" tag, a redirect or the sitemap, but Google remains free to choose another version.", "group": "SEO and marketing", "aka": [ "canonical tag", "rel canonical", "canonicalization", "canonical page", "self-referencing canonical" ], "related": [ { "title": "Duplicate content", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/duplicate-content/index.md" }, { "title": "301 redirect", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/301-redirect/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/301-redirect/index.md" }, { "title": "XML sitemap", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/xml-sitemap/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/xml-sitemap/index.md" }, { "title": "Hreflang", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/hreflang/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/hreflang/index.md" }, { "title": "Indexing", "url": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/indexing/", "markdown": "https://www.wp-masquerade.com/glossary/indexing/index.md" } ], "sources": [ { "title": "Google Search Central : qu’est-ce que la canonicalisation", "url": "https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization" }, { "title": "Google Search Central : indiquer une URL canonique", "url": "https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls" }, { "title": "WordPress Developer Resources : rel_canonical()", "url": "https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/rel_canonical/" } ], "format": "application/json" }