Technical SEO FAQ · Indexing, Canonicalization & Duplicate Content
What signals influence Google's canonical selection?
Google may use several signals, including:
- redirects;
rel="canonical";- HTTPS preference;
- sitemap inclusion;
- content similarity;
- site architecture and internal links.
Canonicalization is Google's process of selecting a representative URL from duplicate or substantially similar pages.
A declared canonical is a strong signal, but Google can select a different canonical.
Related questions
- How do you determine why an important page isn't indexed?
- How do you investigate "Crawled - currently not indexed"?
- How do you investigate "Discovered - currently not indexed"?
- How do you validate whether an indexation fix actually worked?
- How would you identify index bloat?
- How would you manage indexation on a large e-commerce website?
- What happens when canonical and noindex signals conflict?
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- When should a page be canonicalized instead of noindexed?
