Canonical URL

The representative URL a search engine selects from a set of duplicate or very similar pages. A site can express its preferred canonical with redirects, a `rel="canonical"` link element or HTTP header, sitemap inclusion, and consistent internal links. Google treats these as signals and may choose a different URL, so a canonical declaration is not an instruction that must be followed.

Why it matters: Canonicalization can simplify reporting, reduce unnecessary crawling of duplicate variants, and help search systems consolidate signals around a preferred URL. Duplicate content is common and is not automatically a spam violation or “duplicate-content penalty.” Choose an accessible, indexable, absolute HTTPS URL; keep redirects, canonicals, sitemaps, internal links, and hreflang signals consistent; use a redirect when an alternate URL no longer needs to remain available; and check the Google-selected canonical in URL Inspection.