Is 301 redirect the only way when using Vanity URLs?

[tejasbansode]

We have been using vanity urls for some of our pages. Mostly the pages that have a vanity URL have a long URL length. But now the problem is, the vanity URL is getting displayed on the search engine when the particular keyword related to the page is entered. I checked the google search console, the vanity URL is indexed and the original URL remains unindexed. What should I do?

Is adding 301 redirect to the vanity URLs are solution? Since some of vanity URLs are not redirecting to the original. Some of the original pages are not getting traffic.

Also, can using canonical tag help?

[jedireturns]

Hello,

You could also restrain access by setting up an endpoint on the vanity URLs.

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[seoelevated]

Typically, a "vanity URL" is an address you use in advertisements which is redirected to your actual page, sometimes along with some tracking parameters in the query strings portion of the URL. This is usually for the purpose of shortening the URL, or making it easy to remember, for use on radio, television, print, billboards, etc. So, in this context, yes a redirect (usually 301) takes care of sending the traffic (and the search engines if any happen to discover one of the vanity URLs) to the real page.

But the phrasing of your question makes me think you are not using "vanity URLs" in this context. If they are being indexed, I assume this mean you are creating actual copies of the pages, or possibly forwarding the page request without changing the URL. If this is the case, then using canonicals (one from the secondary to the primary page, and a self-referencing one on the primary page itself) can be of help to you here. But, I would first question why you are ending up with multiple URLs for one page in the first place.