What is the canonical attribute and what does it look like?

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When creating and optimizing web pages, it is important to consider many factors, including their uniqueness, accessibility, loading speed and, of course, SEO parameters. One of the key tools that helps improve positions in search engines and prevent duplicate content is the canonical attribute. What it is and how it affects SEO optimization is important to know in order to correctly configure and use this important HTML element.

What is rel canonical and what is it for?
This is an HTML attribute that plays an important social media marketing service role in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) by helping webmasters and search engines determine the preferred URL of a page. This attribute points search engines to the main (canonical) URL of a page, which prevents duplicate content issues and improves understanding of the site structure.

How the canonical attribute affects SEO
The canonical attribute affects the ranking and visibility of pages in search results:

Focus on a single URL. Specifying a canonical URL helps search engines focus on a single primary URL for each page. This allows search engines to index and rank the page content correctly, reducing the risk of secondary URLs being indexed and rankings being distributed among them.

Improved user experience. A properly configured canonical tag helps ensure URL consistency and stability, which improves user experience. Site visitors can easily find and access the content they need without encountering duplicate or broken pages.
Improved analytics. Using the canonical attribute helps make data analysis more accurate and informative. Since all requests are directed to one main URL, tracking and analyzing traffic becomes easier and more reliable.

Reduced risk of penalties from search engines. Incorrectly managed duplicate content can lead to lower page rankings and even penalties from search engines. Using the canonical attribute helps avoid such problems by providing a clear indication to search engines about the preferred version of each page.



When to Set Up a Canonical Tag
When duplicating pages
When a site has multiple versions of the same page (e.g. due to different URLs), search engines may view this as duplicate content. The canonical attribute helps provide search engines with information about which version of a page is the primary one, thus preventing duplicate content from negatively impacting rankings.

On pagination pages
On paginated pages, where content is split into multiple pages to improve user experience and manage the amount of information, the canonical tag plays an important role. When page content is split into multiple parts to navigate results, search engines may treat each paginated page as a separate page. This can lead to duplicate content issues and incorrect ranking distribution.

Setting a canonical tag on pagination pages allows you to point search engines to the main page that contains the full set of content. This way, search engines will treat each pagination page as part of that content rather than as a separate page, which helps avoid duplicate content issues and distribute rankings correctly between pagination pages.

If the site has HTTPS, HTTP, www versions
If your site has different versions such as HTTPS, HTTP and www, you need to set up a canonical tag to prevent duplicate pages from being indexed and to correctly indicate the preferred version of your portal to search engines.

Setting a canonical tag helps maintain a single, consistent approach to indexing and ranking your site, which helps increase your site's authority and visibility.