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    1. SEO and Digital Marketing Q&A Forum
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    3. On-Page / Site Optimization
    4. Appropriate Use of Rel Canonical

    Appropriate Use of Rel Canonical

    On-Page / Site Optimization
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    • 678648631264
      678648631264 last edited by

      When I'm checking my page on SEOmoz should I use http://www. or http:// or www. or just keyword.com?

      And I get this for my check

      Appropriate Use of Rel Canonical

      Moderate fix

      <dl>

      <dt>Canonical URL</dt>

      <dd>XXX</dd>

      <dt>Explanation</dt>

      <dd>If the canonical tag is pointing to a different URL, engines will not count this page as the reference resource and thus, it won't have an opportunity to rank. Make sure you're targeting the right page (if this isn't it, you can reset the target above) and then change the canonical tag to reference that URL.</dd>

      <dt>Recommendation</dt>

      <dd>We check to make sure that IF you use canonical URL tags, it points to the right page. If the canonical tag points to a different URL, engines will not count this page as the reference resource and thus, it won't have an opportunity to rank. If you've not made this page the rel=canonical target, change the reference to this URL. NOTE: For pages not employing canonical URL tags, this factor does not apply.</dd>

      <dd>I have absolutely NO idea what this means 😞
      </dd>

      </dl>

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Andropenis_Australia
        Andropenis_Australia last edited by

        The tag is usually used to indicate you have duplicate/very similar content on the same site.

        So if you have the tag pointing to an offsite site/page it could be the reason you are getting the warning?

        678648631264 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • 678648631264
          678648631264 @Andropenis_Australia last edited by

          I don't understand what you said 😞

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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