Canonical URLs: How Does Google Pick the One?
Canonical URLs: How Does Google Pick the One?
In this episode of Ask Google Webmasters, John Mueller discusses how Google Search chooses a canonical URL from similar or duplicate pages.
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More information on canonicalization → https://goo.gle/2Lgif1O
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Content
0.53 -> [Music]
2.84 -> today we'll address Maria Kyra's
5.64 -> question about canonicalization you can
9.51 -> indicate your preference to Google using
11.7 -> these techniques but Google may choose a
13.59 -> different page as canonical than you do
15.63 -> for various reasons so what are these
18.539 -> reasons let's take a brief step back
22.5 -> it's quite common for a website to have
25.439 -> multiple unique URLs that lead to the
28.17 -> same content a really common one is when
31.199 -> the dub dub dub version of a site shows
33.54 -> the same content as the non dub dub dub
36.149 -> version of the website most websites are
39.45 -> set up in this way another common
41.94 -> configuration is when the home page is
44.129 -> accessible as index.html or when upper
48.239 -> and lowercase and URLs leads to the same
51.059 -> pages ideally we wouldn't even run
54.03 -> across any of these alternate versions
55.94 -> which is why we recommend picking one
58.68 -> URL format and using it consistently
60.949 -> across your website in practice life is
65.28 -> rarely perfect and we discover all sorts
67.65 -> of URLs leading to the same content for
71.159 -> search it doesn't make much sense to
73.38 -> index and show all of these versions so
75.659 -> we try to pick one and focus on that but
79.02 -> how does Google pick the chosen one the
81.75 -> canonical URL we try to pick the
85.29 -> canonical URL by following two general
87.99 -> guidelines first which URL does it look
91.47 -> like the site wants us to use so what's
94.079 -> the site's preference and secondly which
97.049 -> your L would be more useful for the user
100.369 -> when it comes to the site's preference
102.899 -> we look at a number of things that
104.78 -> includes the link rel canonical
107.549 -> annotation which sites can use but also
109.92 -> redirect internal linking which URL is
113.49 -> in a sitemap file we also prefer HTTP
116.219 -> URLs over HTTP URLs and try to pick
119.369 -> nicer looking URLs when we can for all
122.88 -> these we consider the factors involved
124.92 -> for each potential canonical URL and
127.68 -> then pick the one where more things come
130.86 -> together so if you're a site owner and
133.53 -> you have a
133.92 -> drawn preference regarding URLs that you
136.5 -> want to have shown to users in search
138.569 -> first of all you should make sure that
141.08 -> you use those preferences consistently
143.97 -> across your website
145.349 -> ideally search engines wouldn't even be
147.87 -> able to stumble across any of those
149.52 -> alternatives if you have a preference
151.98 -> and stick to it
153.86 -> along that line make sure that all of
156.81 -> the canonicalization factors that we
158.94 -> mentioned are similarly aligned make
162.06 -> sure that internal links use your
164.13 -> preferred URL format make sure that
165.93 -> sitemap files only lists prefered URLs
168.56 -> make sure that the rel canonical link
171.18 -> elements on these pages match the more
174.09 -> you can be consistent the more likely
176.459 -> Google systems will follow your lead and
179.1 -> use those two but what happens when a
182.97 -> different URL is chosen simply put it's
186.15 -> just the URL that's shown in search if
189.48 -> our systems pick a different URL as a
191.489 -> canonical it'll rank just the same in
194.01 -> search in the end it really just comes
197.13 -> down to your preference if you have a
199.109 -> preference regarding the URLs then let's
201.989 -> search engines no unmistakeably but if
204.78 -> not that's fine too and if a different
207.209 -> URL happens to be chosen from time to
209.549 -> time that's not going to negatively
211.95 -> affect the site either thank you for
214.62 -> watching and I'll see you again in one
216.15 -> of the next episodes of ask Google
218.43 -> webmasters
219.93 -> [Music]
225.14 -> you
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j_hxBw5B4E