Canonical URL Tag Usage

[dwebb007]

I have a large website, almost 1500 pages that each market different keywords for the trucking logistics industry. I don't really understand the new Canonical URL Tag USAGE. They say to use it so the page is not a duplicate but the page that MOZ is call for to have the tag isn't a duplicate. It promotes 1 keyword that no other page directly promotes. Here is the page address, now what tag would I put up in the HEAD so google don't treat it as a duplicate page.

http://www.freightetc.com/c/heavyhaul/heavyhaul.php

1.

Number 1 the actual page address because I want it treated like its own page or do I have to use #2 below?

2.

I don't know why I would use #2 as I want it to be its own page, and get credit and listed and ranked as its own page. Can anyone clarify this stuff to me as I guess i am just new to this whole tag usage.

[Igor.Go]

You should work on your structure and you won't have to worry about it. Let me show you an example on your website with this URL of yours.
Your URL:
1. https://www.www.freightetc.com**/c/heavyhaul/heavyhaul.php - shows info about heavy haul.
2.** https://www.www.freightetc.com/****c/heavyhaul/ - not set up properly
3.**** https://www.www.freightetc.com********/c/ - not set up property********

Then you also have this thing: http://i.imgur.com/BmwLfeD.jpg

SPECIALTY TRUCKING - OVERSIZE – this should be your category. and your URL should look like this:
www.freightetc.com**/specialty-trucking-oversize/heavyhaul/** www.freightetc.com/specialty-trucking-oversize/machinery/
www.freightetc.com/specialty-trucking-oversize/equipment/

Now you have a category (specialty trucking oversize) you can set it as canonical for your heavy haulers and machinery if content on those pages is similar.
Your category will be indexed which is better. So when I search for "heavy haulers" I will end up on your category page (specialty trucking oversize) where I can pick what I need, a hauler or equipment. It's also easier to rank with a category page.

Your website is actually full of errors. the basic ones. I would hire a specialist or if you can fix all of that stuff, run your website through some seo-audit soft like Screaming Frog or Netpeak Spider. It will show you the mistakes on your website that you should fix.

[dwebb007]

Thank you for your response. So I really like what you had to say. So currently my structure is built around heavy haul for this section. Check this out.

www.freightetc.com/c/heavyhaul/   (c is for category as I have several)

I have 6 or 7 pages for this section targeting big keywords.

Heavy Haul, Heavy Haul Companies, Heavy Haulers, Heavy Hauling, Heavy Haul Quotes, Oversize Hauling and Oversize Haulers.  So the difference in what you said above is I use /heavyhaul/ instead of /specialty-trucking-oversize/

So how would I change this? As you can see on the main page I have www.freightetc.com/c/heavyhaul/heavyhaul.php I have it with a related pages bottom right that connects to the rest of the above pages.

PS Errors? Can you give me a few examples? I am downloading screaming frog as I write this. Your feedback is very valuable. Possibly consult me on some stuff occasionally for a fee because I can do most of the ground work myself just need guidance. Look forward to your response for all of the above.

[Igor.Go]

Thanks for the offer, but I'm not an SEO-specialist, and it's a big responsibility.
Once you run your website through Screaming Frog you'll get a list of errors with explanations, start with that and address a proper specialist, whom you can trust, or even an agency. To keep the price down, contact any agency in eastern europe and order site audit. They should do it for you for a on-time payment and it's cheaper than what you'll pay in US. Plus there are a lot of really good specialists here.

Just a sidenote. If you have a folder in your URL like site.com/c/ it should be accessible and provide information, so whatever purpose it serves make sure that people can use it.

If you have several categories, make a page where you list them, for example: site.com/our-services/ Make it a real page instead of just a lift-off point, list your categories and short descriptions there there, break them into subcategories if necessary.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Rel=canonical is the one thing that can really mess a site up, so please do be careful.

Basically, what is does, is helps you tell Google if you have pages that are similar, are useful to your visitors, but you don't want to remove to avoid duplication.

For example, if you have a page: www.freightetc.com/c/heavyhaul/heavyhaul.php and www.freightetc.com/c/heavyhaul/heavyhaul-trucks.php, and both are similar but www.freightetc.com/c/heavyhaul/heavyhaul.php is the main page you want to appear in Google, you would set the rel=canonical tag on www.freightetc.com/c/heavyhaul/heavyhaul-trucks.php to point back to www.freightetc.com/c/heavyhaul/heavyhaul.php.

Screaming frog will help you make some sense of everything on your site, but the free version stops at 500 pages, so you won't get to see everything.

-Andy

[dwebb007]

My problem Andy, is yes they are similiar, but they each promote their own keywords.

Heavy Haul

Heavy Haulers

Heavy Haul Companies

Heavy hauling

so I want  them all listed in google. What do I do in this  case?

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Google is pretty good at delivering pages for similar terms, so try not to worry about that. They will know that Heavy Haul and Heavy Haulers are one in the same.

My thought in this circumstance would be to have a page Heavy Haul Companies (it it lists other companies) and then rel=canonical all of the others to this one.

However, if they are so similar and only there to try and gain extra traffic, then I would be taking all of the content from each similar / duplicate page, pulling it into one fantastic page and then removing the others.

Without seeing everything, I wouldn't be able to advise if they should be 404 or 301, but it isn't good practice to have so much duplication / similar pages on the site.

-Andy

[dwebb007]

So probably right now I should take HEAVY HAUL page and Combine with HEAVY HAUL QUOTES. Maybe do  ao shared title

Heavy Haul | Heavy Haul Quotes

and then just have 2 sections to the page? Is that kind of what you mean. So I would hope to get listed individually for each phrase still.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

In a roundabout way, yes, that is the general idea.

Decide on the page, create a title that suggests the objective of the page (Learn about Heavy Haulage | Freight Etc Inc).

Google is very good at understanding that Haulage will also mean Haul, Hauliers etc, so try to fill the page with lots of related information. Talk about transporting of abnormal loads, types of trailers, training required, etc. Make the page as informative as possible.

When it comes to finding the keywords to use and research, look for what others talk about that are doing well in Google and then give your own spin on this - although I don't mean spin the content. Spend some time making your content better than the sites above you.

-Andy