--- title: "Overview of Canonical Tags" description: "If you manage a website, you've probably heard of canonical tags. But what are they, and why are they important?" author: "Drishan Vig" published: 2022-09-21 canonical: https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/83858/overview-of-canonical-tags category: "seo" tags: ["search engines", "canonical tags", "website's click-through rate", "duplicate content issues", "html element", "benefits of using canonical tags"] reading_time: 5 minutes --- # Overview of Canonical Tags If you manage a website, you've probably heard of **canonical tags.** But what are they, and why are they important? - **Canonical tags** are HTML tags that tell **search engines** which version of a piece of content is the **'master' copy**. They help **search engines** understand which content is duplicated, and which is the original. - They can help **prevent your website** from being penalized by search engines for [duplicate content](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/161677/what-is-duplicate-content). They can also help improve your **website's** [**click-through rate**](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/83824/does-number-in-your-title-affect-click-through-rate) **(CTR)** from search results. - In this article, we'll explain what **canonical tags** are, and how to **use them on your website.** ### What are canonical tags? - If you're a blogger, you've probably heard of canonical tags. A canonical tag is an HTML element that tells search engines which version of a piece of content is the original. It's used to avoid **duplicate content issues**, and it's a good way to make sure [your blog posts](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/32136/mention-some-tricks-that-can-drive-more-traffic-to-your-blog-posts) are getting the credit they deserve. - Here's how it works: when you publish a new blog post, you can add a canonical tag to it. This tells **search engines** that this particular post is the original, and any other versions of it (such as ones that might be posted on other websites) are not to be given as much weight. - **Canonical tags** are a good way to [ensure that your](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/23198/3-steps-to-ensure-that-your-client-portal-is-impeccable) content is being credited properly, and they can help you avoid **duplicate content issues**. If you're a blogger, be sure to use **canonical tags** on your blog posts ### How do canonical tags work? - A **canonical tag** is an **HTML element** that helps webmasters prevent duplicate content issues on their websites. The **canonical tag** is placed in the head section of a web page, and it looks like this: - The **canonical tag** tells **search engines** that the page with the **canonical URL** is the **'master' page**, and that all other pages with duplicate content should be ignored. This is especially useful if you have **multiple pages** on your website with similar content. - For example, let's say you have a website with two pages: - **Page A:** http://example.com/page-a.html - **Page B:** http://example.com/page-b.html - Both pages contain the same article, but **Page B** also has a few extra paragraphs at the end. You want **search engines** to index only **Page A**, and to ignore **Page B.** - To do this, you would add the following **canonical tag to Page B:** ### What are the benefits of using canonical tags? - The **canonical tag** is an **HTML element** that helps webmasters prevent duplicate content issues on their websites. By specifying the **'canonical' or 'preferred' version** of a web page, you can tell **search engines** which content is the original and which is duplicated. This helps[**search engines**](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/83764/what-are-search-engine-crawlers-and-how-does-it-work) index your content correctly and avoid any penalties for **duplicate content.** - **Canonical tags** are also useful for social sharing, as they can ensure that when someone shares your content on a [social network](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/12698/how-to-use-social-networks-to-sell-more-at-christmas), the correct version of the page is shared. This is especially important if you have **different versions of the same page** (for example, a mobile version and a desktop version). - Using **canonical tags** can give you more control over how your [website appears](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/95669/my-website-appears-different-in-firefox-and-different-in-chrome-how-do-i-solve-this-problem) in search results and can help you avoid any penalties for duplicate content. If you have multiple versions of the same page on your website, **canonical tags** can help ensure that the correct version is indexed and shared. ### How to use canonical tags - If you're running a website, you want to make sure that **search engines** can find and **index your content.** One way to help with this is to use [**canonical tags.**](https://neilpatel.com/blog/what-are-canonical-tags/) - **Canonical tags** are a way of telling search engines which version of a piece of content is the original, or the **'canonical' version.** This is important because sometimes there can be multiple versions of the **same content on the web.** - For example, let's say you have a blog post that gets syndicated on other websites. If those other websites don't use **canonical tags,** then search engines could get confused about which is the **original version of the content.** This could hurt your **website's [ranking in search](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/99289/what-is-crawling-indexing-and-ranking-in-search-engine-optimization) results.** - To avoid this, you can use **canonical tags on your website.** This will tell **search engines** which version of the **content** is the original, and should be **indexed higher** than any other versions. - To use **canonical tags**, simply **add a tag to the section** of your **page's HTML code**. The tag should look like this: '**https://example.com/sample-page/** #### Conclusion **Canonical tags** are a great way to ensure that your content is being properly attributed and credited. By using **canonical tags,** you can avoid having **duplicate content on your site,** which can lead to search engine penalties. If you're looking for a way to **improve your [SEO](https://www.mindstick.com/services/search-engine-optimization)** and ensure that your content is being properly credited**, canonical tags** are a great option to consider. --- Original Source: https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/83858/overview-of-canonical-tags Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.