Technical SEO
Canonical URL
The preferred version of a URL among duplicates, designated to consolidate ranking signals.
Definition
Technical SEOA canonical URL is the preferred version of a web page when multiple URLs contain identical or very similar content. It is designated using a canonical tag (rel="canonical") to tell search engines which version to index and rank, consolidating ranking signals to one URL.
Why it matters
Without canonicalization, duplicate pages split link equity and confuse search engines about which version to rank.
Example
A product page accessible at example.com/product?color=blue and example.com/product?color=red can canonicalize to example.com/product to consolidate signals.
Related terms
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