How to Use the Canonical URL Tag to Avoid Duplicate Content

1. The Canonical URL Tag How to Use the Canonical Tag to Avoid Duplicate Content Filters in Google, Yahoo & Live Helen M. Overland MsSEM.com Helen M. Overland

2. The Canonical URL Tag • Contents • Who Am I? • What is Duplicate Content and Why is it a Problem? • What is the "Canonical" Tag? • What are the Limitations of the Canonical Tag? • How to Add the new Canonical Tag to Your Website • Further Coverage Helen M. Overland

3. The Canonical URL TagWho Am I? • Director, Search Engine Marketing with non~linear creations – www.nonlinear.ca • Projects with large well-known brands • Proven Success: Demonstrated increases in sales and traffic year over year on large & small budgets • Over a decade of experience • Speaker at marketing conferences such as Search Engine Strategies, Search Marketing Expo, PodCamp Toronto Helen M. Overland

4. The Canonical URL TagWhat is Duplicate Content and Why is it a Problem? Search Engines visit your website and try to determine what pages you have If two pages are very similar, one of them might be flagged as “duplicate content” I love fresh, unique and quality content! Helen M. Overland

5. The Canonical URL TagWhat is Duplicate Content and Why is it a Problem? To Search Engines, these may all be DIFFERENT pages: http://www.example.com/ http://example.com http://www.example.com/index.php http://example.com/index.php?disp=home ... Even though these URLs are all just your single home page Which One is Right??? Helen M. Overland

6. The Canonical URL TagWhat is Duplicate Content and Why is it a Problem? So the search engine "guesses" which is the "right" page http://www.example.com/ http://example.com http://www.example.com/index.php http://example.com/index.php?disp=home I pick... uh... THAT one! Helen M. Overland

7. The Canonical URL TagWhat is Duplicate Content and Why is it a Problem? If the search engine only visits a few pages on your site, and most are duplicate URLs, some of your "real" pages might not get spidered http://www.example.com/ http://example.com http://www.example.com/index.php http://example.com/index.php?disp=home Whew... I'm done for the day here Helen M. Overland

8. The Canonical URL TagWhat is Duplicate Content and Why is it a Problem? So we use 301 Redirects to control where people go Redirect all people from: http://www.example.com/ http://www.example.com/index.php http://example.com/index.php?disp=home To: http://example.com Ah ha! I See! Helen M. Overland

9. The Canonical URL TagWhat is Duplicate Content and Why is it a Problem? But 301 redirects have limitations. What if you are a retailer who advertises through affiliate websites? http://www.example.com/products/white-runner http://www.example.com/products/white-runner?affiliate=123 Which link gets listed in search results pages? Now which one do I index? Helen M. Overland

10. The Canonical URL TagWhat is Duplicate Content and Why is it a Problem? And it's hard to make 301 Redirects handle unforeseen circumstances Consider the following somewhat unfortunate URL… Helen M. Overland

11. The Canonical URL Tag Oh dear. Helen M. Overland

12. The Canonical URL TagWhat is the "Canonical" Tag? On many CMS systems and websites, people can add on whatever additions to the URL they like, and the page will still work. If a URL returns a valid page, and is linked to enough times, or is linked to from a highly authoritative domain, the URL may be indexed. Hmm... that URL seems to be popular, I'll add it right now Helen M. Overland

13. The Canonical URL TagWhat is the "Canonical" Tag? Google, Yahoo and Microsoft realized this was a problem for people. So they created the new "Canonical“ tag The "Canonical" tag is a way for you to declare the "official" URL of the page – no matter what's extra in the URL The "Canonical" page is the “true“ URL of the page Here we come to save the day! Helen M. Overland

14. The Canonical URL TagWhat are the Limitations of the Canonical Tag? Search engines seem to be getting smart to spam tactics before they launch new features The canonical tag will only work on your domain The content of the canonical page must be very similar to the page that points to it You can't fool me this time, spammers! Helen M. Overland

15. The Canonical URL TagHow to Add the new Canonical Tag to Your Website The canonical tag is a simple tag that is added to the <HEAD> area of your webpages It looks like this: <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.example.com/products/white-runner" /> ..Just add the "real" URL to each page on your site by using this tag Helen M. Overland

16. The Canonical URL TagHow Does the Canonical Tag Help? Search engines will now have a hint as to which is the "real" page http://www.example.com/index.php http://www.example.com/index.php?unfortunate=link Which can help stop URLs you don't want from being indexed No, that's probably not right Helen M. Overland

17. Thank You! Helen M. Overland (a.k.a. semlady) helen@mssem.com MsSEM.com nonlinearcreations.com Follow me! twitter.com/semlady Get more information on the Canonical Tag here: mssem.com/library/url-canonical-tag.php That's One Smart Lady! Helen M. Overland