Need help with canonicals

Understanding Canonical Tags and Managing Duplicate Content in WordPress

In the realm of website development and SEO optimization, canonical tags play a pivotal role in indicating the preferred version of a webpage to search engines. Proper implementation ensures search engines index the correct URL, preventing issues related to duplicate content. Let’s explore a common scenario involving canonical tags and discuss best practices for managing duplicate pages on a WordPress site.

Scenario Overview

Imagine a website where the homepage is accessible via the primary domain, such as https://www.websiteexample.com. However, there’s also a duplicate page accessible at https://www.websiteexample.com/home. Both pages include the following canonical link in their HTML source code:

html
<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.websiteexample.com/home/" />

This setup indicates that both URLs are considered duplicates, but the canonical link points to /home/. The question arises: Is this configuration appropriate?

Analyzing the Canonical Setup

In this case, both the homepage (websiteexample.com) and the duplicate page (websiteexample.com/home) reference /home/ as the canonical URL. This configuration suggests that search engines should treat /home/ as the primary version of the content.

Best Practices for Canonical Implementation

1. Consistency in Canonical URLs

2. If your website’s primary homepage URL is https://www.websiteexample.com/, then the canonical link on this page should point to itself:

   html
<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.websiteexample.com/" />

3. The duplicate page at /home/ should also have a canonical link pointing to the homepage:

   html
<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.websiteexample.com/" />

4. Or, alternatively, you may choose to have /home/ canonical to itself if it is intended to be the primary page. But generally, the homepage is best represented by the root URL.

5. Avoid Conflicting Canonical Tags

6. Having conflicting or incorrect canonical tags can cause search engines to become confused, potentially diluting your SEO efforts or indexing undesirable URLs.

7. Use Redirects When Appropriate

8. If /home/ and the root URL serve identical content, consider implementing a 301 redirect from /home/ to /. This helps consolidate link equity and simplifies canonical signals.

9. **Implementing Canonicals