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Imagine you're doing some research at your local library,

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and in the aisle, there's multiple books with the same content

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and author, but different covers.

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You might end up confused on which one's the right book for you,

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and why would the author even have two similar books on

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the same subject?

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The same thing happens online when one website targets a specific

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topic or keyword with multiple pages or URLs.

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Having duplicate or near duplicate pages can actually hurt

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your SEO performance, because it can confuse search

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engines and make it hard for them to know which page to rank.

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It often leads to keyword cannibalization,

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meaning pages from the same domain compete against each other in

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search engine rankings.

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That's why it's important to use canonical URLs to tell search

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engines which version of the page you prefer to rank.

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In this case, SEO tools use a tag called canonical tag that allows

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you to define the primary version of a page.

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In this lesson, you'll learn some canonical best

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practices and how to set up canonical to avoid keyword

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cannibalization.

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A canonical URL is a preferred version of a web page that search

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engines choose to index and rank.

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It's basically the main version of a page.

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Some examples of pages that should be canonicalized are American English

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and British English versions of the same page, filter

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or paginated pages,

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content pages that target the same keyword,

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news pages that cover the same story,

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and mobile and desktop versions of the same page.

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In order to decide which page should be the canonical or primary

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version of a page, you should consider the page that

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already has the best performance for the chosen keyword

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or the page with the most valuable and updated content.

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It's important that you only specify one canonical

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URL per page.

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Otherwise, you'll confuse search engines. And make sure to reference

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your canonical URL correctly by including the right URL structure,

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HTTPS and domain protocol.

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For example, let's look at this search query for Pet trends.

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In this case, both pages target pet trends even though they are

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written from different angles, but it makes search engines get

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confused around which page gives users what they need.

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In this case, the primary page would be pet trends for 2024,

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and the secondary page would be pet trends for 2023.

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Since the first one better satisfies of searcher's intent

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and is more current, the canonical page should

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be the primary page.

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Now that you know which pages should be canonicalized,

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let's set them up in WordPress using the Rank Math SEO plugin.

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Open any page or post on WordPress that should have a canonical tag.

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Go to the Rank Math sidebar menu.

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Open the advanced tab and find the canonical URL field where you can

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specify the page's canonical URL.

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Input the canonical URL for the primary page.

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Remember, this is the URL that you want to rank for that keyword.

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Click "Update" and you've now set up a canonical tag.

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Repeat this process on every duplicate page if you have

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multiple pages that discuss the same topic.

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Now you know how to use canonicals and why they're important to avoid

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keyword cannibalization.

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I encourage you to audit all your keywords and URLs to find where

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you have duplicated content targeting the same keyword.

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Go ahead and set canonical tags for those pages that are not the

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primary page for that keyword.

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You'll see the difference in rankings in a couple of weeks.

