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Canonical tags in the body?
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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.
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Thanks Dirk!
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Google says to place the canonical tag in the HTTP header, and that to me, would suggest that this is where they look for it.
Someone else might have a work-around, but I don't don't think it makes for a good strategy.
-Andy
Edit - As Dirk said
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Hi,
It will not work when you put it in the body - check mistake 5 on this page: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.be/2013/04/5-common-mistakes-with-relcanonical.html
"When we encounter a rel=canonical designation in the , it’s disregarded. "
rgds
Dirk
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