Have you ever owned a website but sometimes, you might have noticed that some pages don’t even show up in the search results, why does it happen? This might happen because of a technical issue called “duplicate without user-selected Canonical.”
It might sound complex, but don’t worry! We’ll break it down and make it easy. You’ll get to know what it is and how you can fix it.
What is Duplicate without user-selected canonical?
Duplicate without user-selected canonical how to fix is when different or slightly different URLs lead to the same web page, but doesn’t show which URL is the real one. But, two different URLs leading to the same page might seem confusing; The same happens with search engine bots. When they find two different URLs leading to the same page, they get confused as well.
They get confused about “which one to rank first” and might not rank any. This can’t be a great loss for your website. Even the users get confused and find it hard to trust either of them.
You might wonder why this happens. Some reasons that this issue exists are-
- Some website-building tools make it hard to post content.
- People aren’t trained or taught about how to post content and select the version.
- Accessing the same page through different search engines or platforms results in this.
But, every problem has a solution.
What’s a Canonical?
Canonical means the one who tells you which page is the original one. Terms like “canonical tag” or “canonical URL” are the terms that give you information about the original page or the original URL. They help the search engines in finding the correct URL and giving it the credit.
Canonical tags are just some simple codes that you need to insert in your posts or web page when you’re about to upload them. It helps users trust you and let the search engines crawl to your web page through the correct URL.
Why You Might See “Duplicate Without User-Selected Canonical”
If you haven’t told Google which page is “the boss” for your posts, you’ll see this message in Google Search Console. It means Google found duplicate content but couldn’t figure out which one you wanted to be indexed.
Duplicate without user-selected canonical tags may confuse many. Here’s why it happens-
- People don’t know about it.
- Some website builders make it easy to post content but they forget about canonical tags.
- When people share your content or a web page link without informing you or neglecting the original URL, syndication happens.
- It happens when search engine bots make mistakes while showing it to the users and through plugins.
How to Fix It
Fixing Duplicate Without User-Selected Canonical tags can feel complex but on the real side, it isn’t. Let’s see how we can fix it!
There are two ways to do it – on WordPress and HTML Websites.
WordPress
Firstly, choose a reliable SEO plugin such as Yoast SEO and install it on WordPress. It has a simple interface and features which make it easy for even beginners to fix this issue.
Next, go to the settings of the SEO plugin and choose the domain format of your website – whether it’s www or without it. It helps you recognise how your URLs are being shown.
Then, when you create a post or edit it, you need to scroll down to the SEO setting to set the canonical URL and the source of content. You see the option to set both of them, and you need to make sure that the tags are pointing towards the original content.
To check if it’s working, you’ll have to schedule regular audits. This helps you get to know all the possibilities when your content can be duplicated and saves you from missing the opportunity to rank on SERPs.
HTML Website
Firstly, you’ll have to go to the website management tool or the text editor and open the HTML code for the web page. Find the <head> section and insert the canonical tag by using
<link rel=”canonical” href=”https://www.example.com/original-page“>”
[ Replace https://www.example.com/original-page with the original URL of the web page]
To check if it’s implemented, use Google Search Console and make sure that Google is prioritizing it over the duplicated content.
If your website has an XML sitemap, you need to make sure that the URL is of your website.
By following these steps, anyone can easily fix this issue on WordPress as well as on HTML websites. By fixing this, you help the search engines prioritize your original web pages and allow your website to shine.
