Rel: Canonical - checking advice provided by SEO agency
-
Hey all,
We have two brands one bigger and one smaller that are on 2 different domains. We are wanting to repost some of the articles from the smaller brand to the bigger brand and what was a bit of curve ball, our SEO agency advised us NOT to put a rel: canonical on the reposted articles on the bigger brands site.
This is counter to what i'm used to and just wanted to confirm with the gurus out there if this is good advice or bad advice.
Thanks
-
Hello,
When checking canonical advice from an SEO agency, ensure it aligns with best practices. Verify proper implementation, consistent URLs, and adherence to Google's guidelines to avoid potential SEO issues.
Thanks
-
"Rel: Canonical" is a meta tag used in SEO to specify the preferred version of a web page when there are multiple pages with similar or duplicate content. It helps search engines understand which page to prioritize in their rankings. When an SEO agency advises you to check "Rel: Canonical," they are suggesting that you ensure this tag is correctly implemented on your website to improve SEO and avoid content duplication issues.
(PMP Exam Prep) (project management methodologies)(Study abroad) (Canada PR)
-
The advice from your SEO agency not to use rel="canonical" on reposted articles from the smaller brand to the bigger brand is unusual but not necessarily bad. Rel="canonical" is typically used to signal the preferred version of duplicate content. In this case, they might be suggesting that the content should exist separately on both sites without indicating a preference for one over the other. It's essential to discuss this strategy with your SEO agency in more detail to understand their reasoning and how it aligns with your overall SEO and content strategy.
(Canada PR) ( list of documents required for Canada PR from India) (PMP Exam Prep) (Study abroad)
-
@Zehlm said in Rel: Canonical - checking advice provided by SEO agency:
@Redooo
Use rel canonical tag for indexing
Always use a rel canonical tag for indexing. For example if there is a rel canonical tag for: https://www.zehlm.com and I also want other pages showing up in search, then a rel canonical tag for: https://www.zehlm.com/seo.html would also be appropriate. The rel canonical tag should match the url of the page. If the rel canonical tag is omitted then it's visibility will be affected.
Omitting the canonical tag usually will diminish visibility on the page it is missing on because it takes away from the SEO score. Sacrificing the SEO score may not be the best decision if you still need the page visible in SERP. -
The advice you received from your SEO agency regarding the use of rel=canonical tags for reposted articles has generated a legitimate point of consideration. Let's break down the situation:
-
Rel=Canonical Purpose: The rel=canonical tag is primarily used to indicate the preferred version of a webpage when there are duplicate or very similar content across multiple URLs. It helps search engines understand which version to prioritize in their index to prevent duplicate content issues.
-
Reposting Content: When you repost articles from the smaller brand to the bigger brand, there's a potential for duplicate content if both versions exist on different domains. Using rel=canonical tags can help mitigate this issue by indicating the original source of the content.
However, there could be scenarios where using rel=canonical might not be the best approach:
-
Different Branding or Context: If the content is being reposted to the bigger brand but needs to maintain its own identity or context, using a rel=canonical might not be appropriate. Canonical tags suggest that one version is the same as another, which might not be true in this case.
-
Valuable Independent Content: If the reposted content is intended to stand alone and provide unique value to the bigger brand's audience, it might be more suitable to keep it as a separate piece without canonical tags.
-
Cross-Promotion Benefits: Reposting content from the smaller brand to the bigger brand could potentially be seen as cross-promotion or strategic content sharing. In such cases, you might not want to canonicalize the content, as each brand's website could benefit from its presence.
Given these considerations, the advice from your SEO agency might make sense if the reposted content is intended to serve a distinct purpose on the bigger brand's website. However, it's always a good idea to discuss the specifics with your SEO agency and get a clear understanding of their rationale behind this recommendation. They should be able to provide insights tailored to your brands' unique goals and the nature of the content being reposted.
Remember, SEO is often contextual, and what works for one situation might not be ideal for another. Always prioritize the user experience and providing valuable, unique content to your audience while making informed decisions about canonicalization based on your specific scenario.
-
-
@Redooo
Use rel canonical tag for indexing
Always use a rel canonical tag for indexing. For example if there is a rel canonical tag for: https://www.zehlm.com and I also want other pages showing up in search, then a rel canonical tag for: https://www.zehlm.com/seo.html would also be appropriate. The rel canonical tag should match the url of the page. If the rel canonical tag is omitted then it's visibility will be affected. -
Para que quieres poner un rel canonical de un sitio totalmente diferente a otro. No tiene sentido. Deberías de spinear el texto para que no genere contenido duplicado y copiado.
Un saludo.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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.
Related Questions
-
Redirection of 100 domain to Main domain affects SEO?
Hi guys, An email software vendor managed by a different area of my company redirected 100 domains used for unsolicited email campaigns to my main domain. These domains are very likely to get blacklisted at some point. My SEO tool now is showing me all those domains as "linking" to my main site as do-follow links. The vendor states that this will not affect my main domain/website in any way. I'm highly concerned. I would appreciate your professional opinion about this. Thanks!!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | anagentile0 -
Strange Traffic Movements
Hi there, I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on this... I'm working with a client whose website is experiencing some odd organic traffic patterns. See screenshot attached. As you can see, there was a sudden cliff fall about a month ago, and then it recovered (almost) entirely. Then, a month to the day later, the same thing happened again. What is the likelihood that this is a data glitch vs an algorithm thing? Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated. Thanks,
Search Behavior | | mhenshall
Marc
Screenshot 2023-08-18 at 09.37.26.png image url)0 -
How to Get a New Organic SERP Image Pack
I have been doing a little on-page SEO on our site today and came across the following images embedded within organic SERPs, please see the screenshot. Obviously the users eye is drawn to these and therefore they are likely to result in more clicks. It would be great to know what they are called and how to go about getting these for our own results? If we managed to implement these across our site it would make a big difference for us, as working in the travel space, images are so strong when painting a picture of the destination. Thanks
SEO Tactics | | wildernessscotland
Ben 0073280b-3daa-4558-b5fd-3cbde422d623-image.png0 -
Is page speed important to improve SEO ranking?
I saw on a SEO Agency's site (https://burstdgtl.com/search-engine-optimization/) that page speed apparently affects Google ranking. Is this true? And if it is, how do I improve it, do I need an agency?
On-Page Optimization | | jasparcj0 -
Off-page SEO and on-page SEO improvements
I would like to know what off-page SEO and on-page SEO improvements can be made to one of our client websites http://www.nd-center.com Best regards,
Technical SEO | | fkdpl2420 -
Rel=Canonical being ignored?
Hi all, We have a toys website that has several categories. It's setup such that each product has a primary category amongst the categories within it can be found. For example... Addendum's primary url is http://www.brightminds.co.uk/childrens-toys/board-games/addendum.htm but it can also be found here http://www.brightminds.co.uk/learning-toys/maths-learning/addendum.htm. Hence, in the for that url it has a rel=canonical that points to the first url. For some reason though seomoz ignores this and reports duplicate page content. It doesn't seem to record the canonical tag either. Any ideas what's going on? Thanks, Josh.
Technical SEO | | joshgeake_gmail.com0 -
Advice on SEO for videos on a streaming server
I am looking for some advice on video SEO when the video file is housed on a streaming server. An example page is below. The onlyvideo element on the page is a script reading in the filepath to the streaming server so I am not sure what the best course of action is. Currently, none of our videos are indexed. http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/webinars/Making-Agile-Work-for-You.cfm
Technical SEO | | SEI0 -
Proxy servers and SEO
I read somewhere that reverse proxys can cause issue for search engines. Our server is using SQUID. What potential issues there might be?
Technical SEO | | Jani1