undefined
Skip to content
Moz logo Menu open Menu close
  • Products
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Pro Home
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Home
    • STAT
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Home
    • Compare SEO Products
    • Moz Data
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis
    • Keyword Explorer
    • Link Explorer
    • Competitive Research
    • MozBar
    • More Free SEO Tools
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
    • SEO Learning Center
    • Moz Academy
    • SEO Q&A
    • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • Case Studies
    • The Moz Story
    • New Releases
  • Log in
  • Log out
  • Products
    • Moz Pro

      Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

    • Moz Local

      Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

    • STAT

      SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

    • Moz API

      Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

    • Compare SEO Products

      See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

    • Moz Data

      Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis

      Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

    • Keyword Explorer

      Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

    • Link Explorer

      Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

    • Competitive Research

      Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

    • MozBar

      See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

    • More Free SEO Tools

      Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO

      The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

    • SEO Learning Center

      Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

    • On-Demand Webinars

      Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

    • How-To Guides

      Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

    • Moz Academy

      Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

    • MozCon

      Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
    Moz API

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

    Find your plan
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Small Business Solutions

      Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

    • Agency Solutions

      Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

    • Enterprise Solutions

      Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

    • The Moz Story

      Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

    • Case Studies

      Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

    • New Releases

      Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

    Surface actionable competitive intel
    New Feature

    Surface actionable competitive intel

    Learn More
  • Log in
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Dashboard
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Dashboard
    • Moz Academy
  • Avatar
    • Moz Home
    • Notifications
    • Account & Billing
    • Manage Users
    • Community Profile
    • My Q&A
    • My Videos
    • Log Out

The Moz Q&A Forum

  • Forum
  • Questions
  • Users
  • Ask the Community

Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

  1. Home
  2. SEO Tactics
  3. On-Page Optimization
  4. How to use canonical with mobile site to main site

Moz Q&A is closed.

After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

How to use canonical with mobile site to main site

On-Page Optimization
4
13
13.5k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as question
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
  • cbielich
    cbielich last edited by May 3, 2013, 1:52 AM

    I am pretty sure that the mobile version of the main site needs to be the same canonical link from what I understand. I am trying to find good docuementation that supports this. Even better if its from Google or Matt Cutts.

    I have a main domain like http://www.mydomain.com

    the mobile version of this is http://www.mydomain.com/m/

    Should my canonical be

    rel="canonical" href="http://www.mydomain.com"/>

    for both these pages?

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • giddygrafix
      giddygrafix @MikeTek last edited by May 19, 2015, 11:23 AM May 19, 2015, 11:23 AM

      That's all this information i needed, on one easy read guide... thank you 🙂

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • cbielich
        cbielich @MikeTek last edited by May 6, 2013, 4:41 PM May 6, 2013, 4:41 PM

        Now that was a good answer 🙂

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • MikeTek
          MikeTek @cbielich last edited by May 6, 2013, 4:41 PM May 6, 2013, 8:19 AM

          Sorry, Cesar - you're right, this thread went way off course.

          My notes on 301 as preferred vs rel=canonical were strictly focused on potential "duplication issues" brought up by Federico as related to Desktop URLs. The 301, you're right, is the wrong tool for the job when it comes to Desktop/Mobile.

          The page I linked to originally - here: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details#separateurls - has the instructions you'd want to follow under "separate URLs."

          To clarify with Google which page should be served to which search users (Desktop vs Mobile), you need 1) a rel=alternate tag pointing from Desktop to Mobile and 2) a rel=canonical tag pointing from Mobile to Desktop.

          Effectively if you will have the same canonical for both versions - the Desktop home page. Whether or not you have rel=canonicaled the Desktop back to itself (again this doesn't accomplish much but it won't hurt you), the Mobile home page (following the instructions from Google) will be rel=canonicaled back to the Desktop home page.

          And yes, if your Mobile home page has a lot of links pointing to it, using this setup should increase the overall authority and ability to rank of your Desktop home page. It will consolidate that link equity at the Desktop home page URL.

          Both pages will remain indexed, but Google (learning from the rel=alternate tag) will serve up the Mobile home page only for mobile search users.

          Hope that clarifies a bit. Disregard the discussion between Federico and I on the correct use of 301s in this thread, as it was off topic. In short, a 301 will not serve you well in this case. You want one of the three implementations recommended by Google on the page I linked to above (and in your case, the third option for separate URLs sounds best to me).

          Best,
          Mike

          cbielich giddygrafix 2 Replies Last reply May 19, 2015, 11:23 AM Reply Quote 4
          • cbielich
            cbielich @MikeTek last edited by May 6, 2013, 2:00 AM May 6, 2013, 2:00 AM

            I marked this as answered but as I read through it I realize that I am more confused.

            As I understand a 301 is geared towards telling Google that a page has moved to the new URL permanently.

            In my understanding if I were to 301 a mobile user to my mobile version of my homepage as a 301 then I am telling Google this has moved here permanently. Which technically is true for a mobile user but can this have an effect on ranking on the mobile side?

            Since there is way less content on the mobile site I am afraid this can impact me on the desktop side.

            To me is makes more sense to just redirect a user to the mobile version without a 301 so Google knows that this is simply a redirect and not a 301

            Now along with that my original question was more of increasing ranking for my homepage site.

            Since I have a separate canonical for both the desktop page as well as the mobile page, my original question was asking whether I should make the canonical on the desktop homepage the exact same as the mobile homepage. I noticed in Google that both desktop and mobile versions of my homepage are indexed. Is this normal?

            If I had the same canonical for both pages would that potentially increase the ranking overall for my homepage, since my mobile version is more popular than my desktop version?

            Hope that makes sense.

            MikeTek 1 Reply Last reply May 6, 2013, 8:19 AM Reply Quote 0
            • MikeTek
              MikeTek @cbielich last edited by May 5, 2013, 8:37 AM May 5, 2013, 8:37 AM

              This video from Matt Cutts has some good points on that.

              Granted we can't always run to the bank with Matt's advice. Google and Bing both handle rel=canonical pretty well these days, and most SEO/related tools have caught up and handle it properly as well. I've even heard some anecdotes from other SEOs that rel=canonical can work "even faster than a 301" in terms of passing page equity and getting alternate URLs dropped from the index.

              But a 301 is the established, recognized method for redirection - not just for search engines, but users as well. It's a web standard, whereas rel=canonical is just approaching that status. You'll still find some tools/scrapers that don't yet handle a rel=canonical properly, which can cause some confusion.

              Another potential though perhaps not terribly pervasive issue: for multiple home page URLs, for example, a canonical will mean users can still see/interact with the alternate versions, and therefor they can mistakenly link to those alternate versions. A rel=canonical, similar to a 301, loses a bit of PageRank/link equity in the pass. I'd prefer users see and link to one core version of my home page rather than rely on rel=canonical to pass the link value along.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • cbielich
                cbielich @MikeTek last edited by May 4, 2013, 5:17 PM May 4, 2013, 5:17 PM

                You have a source that supports the 301 over canonical as the preferred method?

                MikeTek 1 Reply Last reply May 5, 2013, 8:37 AM Reply Quote 0
                • MikeTek
                  MikeTek @FedeEinhorn last edited by May 5, 2013, 8:14 AM May 3, 2013, 6:42 PM

                  Hi Federico,

                  A 301 is still the preferred/recommended method to point alternative URLs with exactly the same content back to the core version.

                  A canonical can achieve this as well, but it's not the preferred, most foolproof method to consolidate link equity and avoid duplication.

                  A canonical of a URL to the exact URL itself, again, achieves nothing. I'm not suggesting it'll cause some kind of problem (Google/Bing have been able to handle this from the beginning without any "infinite loop" issues), just that this in itself doesn't solve anything.

                  What you'd want is a canonical tag on those other URLs pointing back to the preferred URL. If you have no way of serving up unique source code per URL variation, then a self-referential canonical would be acceptable. But a 301 would be my first choice.

                  Maybe splitting hairs a bit.

                  In the example here, we're talking about desktop vs mobile URLs and how to handle canonical/alternate tags between the two, so duplication issues are a bit off-topic.

                  Best,
                  Mike

                  cbielich 2 Replies Last reply May 6, 2013, 2:00 AM Reply Quote 2
                  • FedeEinhorn
                    FedeEinhorn @MikeTek last edited by May 3, 2013, 3:55 PM May 3, 2013, 3:55 PM

                    Hey Mike,

                    So basically if the page is unique and there's no other copy with another URL you shouldn't use the canonical tag in that unique page pointing to itself?

                    I know it's like saying "the original copy of this page is here" while "here" is the same page, but that solves lots of duplicate content issues that might arise while using URL rewrite.

                    MikeTek 1 Reply Last reply May 3, 2013, 6:42 PM Reply Quote 1
                    • MikeTek
                      MikeTek last edited by May 3, 2013, 2:46 PM May 3, 2013, 2:46 PM

                      Hi Cesar,

                      1. Adding a canonical tag to the home page pointing to itself does nothing. It can help if someone scrapes your site and republishes it (they will probably scrape the canonical tag too, rendering their scraped/published URL unable to rank and effectively passing any link juice back to you). Otherwise, no need to canonical a page to itself.

                      2. The best method to send Google the proper signals about the corresponding link between desktop and mobile versions of your pages is to do the following:

                      • Add a rel="alternate" tag on the desktop version that points to the mobile version
                      • Add a rel="canonical" to the mobile version that points to the desktop version

                      Google uses rel="alternate" to serve up pages uniquely suited to particular users. It's used for language/regional specific pages as well as mobile.

                      Documentation is here: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details

                      Best,
                      Mike

                      FedeEinhorn 1 Reply Last reply May 3, 2013, 3:55 PM Reply Quote 1
                      • FedeEinhorn
                        FedeEinhorn @cbielich last edited by May 3, 2013, 2:14 AM May 3, 2013, 2:14 AM

                        I guess not. What do you mean by "indexed differently"?

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • cbielich
                          cbielich @FedeEinhorn last edited by May 3, 2013, 2:12 AM May 3, 2013, 2:12 AM

                          What happens to ranking in the aspect by placing the canonical to both pages does that potentially boost my ranking for my main site if my mobile site was indexed differently this whole time?

                          FedeEinhorn 1 Reply Last reply May 3, 2013, 2:14 AM Reply Quote 0
                          • FedeEinhorn
                            FedeEinhorn last edited by May 3, 2013, 2:03 AM May 3, 2013, 2:01 AM

                            If the content is the same, within the desktop and mobile version yes. The rel=canonical only points the search engine about which page should be indexed. As the content is the same, indexing the main (desktop) page should do it, as you would need to redirect mobile traffic to the mobile version once they click in the result.

                            Hope that helps!

                            Here's a video from Matt Cutts about mobile content:

                            watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mY9h3G8Lv4k

                            cbielich 1 Reply Last reply May 3, 2013, 2:12 AM Reply Quote 0
                            • 1 / 1
                            1 out of 13
                            • First post
                              1/13
                              Last post

                            Got a burning SEO question?

                            Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                            Start my free trial


                            Browse Questions

                            Explore more categories

                            • Moz Tools

                              Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                            • SEO Tactics

                              Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                            • Community

                              Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                            • Digital Marketing

                              Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                            • Research & Trends

                              Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                            • Support

                              Connect on product support and feature requests.

                            • See all categories

                            Related Questions

                            • Voopoo

                              Can access my site using www

                              www to non www ssl

                              Hello, when I try to access my website using www i would like it to redirect to non www but instead it shows a sal error message.

                              On-Page Optimization | Nov 23, 2023, 10:59 AM | Voopoo
                              2
                            • kowston

                              What heading tag to use on sidebars and footers

                              Hello, I have some awareness of how to use H1, H2 and H3.
                              H1 only once per page as the main page heading.
                              H2's should be subheadings, H3's are sub-sub headings of the and so on. 
                              This structure gives hierarchy and opportunities to use additional keywords in an order of priority. I can clearly understand how this would work in an article but what about other content on the page such as global/frequently repeated elements like sidebars and footers? I see sites - and in particular, I have examed SEO focused sites - that use  H3, H4 and H5 in these instances seemingly giving themselves scope to use at least H2 tags as part of the page content and break out of the structure hierarchy when dealing with sidebars and footers. I suppose this could signal theses headings are sections of the page that are less relevant than the main article content but that is just an assumption. I don't know what is correct.

                              On-Page Optimization | May 10, 2020, 7:53 AM | kowston
                              0
                            • bedynamic

                              Using h2 for category on ecommerce website

                              Hi, I am working on an ecommerce site and the main category - lets call them car widgets - is using a h1 at the top of the page which is great.  There are 4 sub categories on the page - lets call one of them red widget.  The only content on the page is the sub category name and an image.  Should the sub category red widget use a h2? Thanks S

                              On-Page Optimization | Feb 14, 2018, 4:58 PM | bedynamic
                              0
                            • GTAMP

                              On Site Question: Duplicate H2...

                              Hi All A few on-site audit tools pull information on duplicate H2 tags on pages.  This implies it's a bad thing and should be fixed - is that the case? On one of my sites the tag-line is in H2 in the header, so appears on every page... Just wondering if this is something worth fixing. Thanks

                              On-Page Optimization | Jul 5, 2016, 5:07 PM | GTAMP
                              0
                            • Whittie

                              Canonical tags in the body?

                              Hi there, Does anyone know if placing canonical tags in the body instead of the header of a page will still "take"? The system we are on means that making an editable header is no easy business and I was just wondering how big of a difference it makes to have it in a different area. Thank you in advance.

                              On-Page Optimization | May 21, 2015, 6:56 AM | Whittie
                              0
                            • ArthurRadtke

                              HTML Site SEO (NO CMS)

                              I have got a client site, which is dated (2007) and has not been shifted to any recognised CMS yet. It is HTML based. Is it possible to SEO on such a site? Is it even worth it? If it is possible to do SEO on this, any suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thank you.

                              On-Page Optimization | Nov 28, 2014, 6:09 AM | ArthurRadtke
                              3
                            • jorgeapartime

                              Multilingual site with untranslated content

                              We are developing a site that will have several languages. There will be several thousand pages,  the default language will be English.  Several sections of the site will not be translated at first, so the main content will be in English but navigation/boilerplate will be translated. We have hreflang alternate tags set up for each individual page pointing to each of the other languages, eg in the English version we have: etc In the spanish version, we would point to the french version and the english version etc. My question is, is this sufficient to avoid a duplicate content penalty for google for the untranslated pages? I am aware that from a user perspective, having untranslated content is bad, but in this case it is unavoidable at first.

                              On-Page Optimization | Mar 20, 2014, 4:17 PM | jorgeapartime
                              0
                            • dealblogger

                              How do I remove a Canonical URL Tag?

                              Some of my report cards say I have too many canonical URL tags. However, there is no information no how to delete one. Can someone give me a link or explain? Thanks.

                              On-Page Optimization | Apr 29, 2013, 5:42 PM | dealblogger
                              0

                            Get started with Moz Pro!

                            Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                            Start my free trial
                            Products
                            • Moz Pro
                            • Moz Local
                            • Moz API
                            • Moz Data
                            • STAT
                            • Product Updates
                            Moz Solutions
                            • SMB Solutions
                            • Agency Solutions
                            • Enterprise Solutions
                            Free SEO Tools
                            • Domain Authority Checker
                            • Link Explorer
                            • Keyword Explorer
                            • Competitive Research
                            • Brand Authority Checker
                            • Local Citation Checker
                            • MozBar Extension
                            • MozCast
                            Resources
                            • Blog
                            • SEO Learning Center
                            • Help Hub
                            • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                            • How-to Guides
                            • Moz Academy
                            • API Docs
                            About Moz
                            • About
                            • Team
                            • Careers
                            • Contact
                            Why Moz
                            • Case Studies
                            • Testimonials
                            Get Involved
                            • Become an Affiliate
                            • MozCon
                            • Webinars
                            • Practical Marketer Series
                            • MozPod
                            Connect with us

                            Contact the Help team

                            Join our newsletter
                            Moz logo
                            © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                            • Accessibility
                            • Terms of Use
                            • Privacy

                            Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.