# 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.

## Sources

- [Google Search Central — Canonicalization](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization)

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Answered by Abhinav Krishna (https://www.theseocentral.com/author/abhinav-krishna)
Source: https://www.theseocentral.com/technical-seo-faq/what-signals-influence-google-s-canonical-selection