A canonical URL in WordPress is like the main address for a piece of content on your website.
It’s used to tell search engines which version of a page they should prioritize when there are multiple versions of the same content. This is essential for SEO because it helps prevent duplicate content issues, which can hurt your website’s search engine rankings.
Now, let’s talk about the importance of canonical URLs in SEO.
When search engines crawl your website, they may encounter duplicate content, such as when a single article appears on multiple pages. This can confuse search engines, leading to lower rankings for your pages.
By specifying a canonical URL, you’re essentially saying, “This is the primary version of the content, so please consider it for indexing.” This can help improve your SEO by ensuring that search engines understand which version to rank and display in search results.
Yoast SEO, a popular WordPress plugin, automatically adds canonical-URLs to your website for content that should be indexed by search engines. In most cases, you won’t need to make any changes to these canonical URLs because the plugin takes care of it for you.
However, there might be situations where you want to modify the canonical-URL. Perhaps you have a specific reason for pointing to a different version of your content as the primary one. In such cases, the Yoast SEO Plugin provides you with the means to change the canonical URL, which we are going to see in this article.
How to change the Canonical URL in WordPress?
Take the following actions to modify the canonical URL:
- Login to your WordPress Dashboard.
- Go to Posts > All posts, next locate the post you wish to edit, then click on it to open the editing page.
- Once you are in the editing screen, go down till you see the ‘Advanced’ section in Yoast SEO.
- Fill up the “Canonical URL” column with the whole canonical-URL, including http/s, www, and non-www.
- After that’s done, click on the Publish button and you’re done.
Benefits of Using Yoast SEO as Canonical URLs
The strategic pairing of Yoast SEO and Canonical URLs offers numerous advantages to WordPress users and website owners:
- Improved SEO Performance: By guiding you in optimizing your content and resolving duplicate content issues, this combination enhances your site’s visibility in search engine rankings.
- User-Friendly Navigation: Canonical URLs help search engines understand your site’s structure, which, in turn, improves user experience through better navigation.
- Avoiding Duplicate Content Penalties: Canonicalization ensures that your content isn’t flagged as duplicate, which could otherwise lead to lower search engine rankings.
- Consistency Across Social Media: Yoast SEO ensures that when your content is shared on social media platforms, it looks professional and is consistently branded.
Conclusion
Combining the power of Yoast SEO and Canonical URLs is a strategic move for anyone looking to maximize their website’s SEO potential.
With the ability to manage on-page SEO elements and prevent duplicate content issues, this dynamic duo provides an essential toolkit for WordPress users. By following best practices and regularly optimizing your site, you can ensure a higher ranking on search engine results pages and offer a better experience for your website visitors.
FAQs About Canonical URLs
1: What happens if I don’t set Canonical URLs for my WordPress site?
Without Canonical-URLs, you risk having duplicate content issues, which can lead to lower search engine rankings and potentially harm your site’s visibility. Setting Canonical-URLs helps search engines understand your content hierarchy and display the right pages in search results.
2: Is Yoast SEO the only plugin for managing Canonical URLs in WordPress?
While Yoast SEO is a popular and comprehensive SEO plugin that includes Canonical-URL management, there are other plugins available, such as All in One SEO Pack and Rank Math, that offer similar features. The plugin you select will rely on your unique requirements and tastes.
3: Can I use Canonical URLs to cross-reference pages on different websites?
Canonical-URLs are primarily used to specify the preferred version of a page within a single website. To cross-reference content on different websites, consider using backlinks or structured data markup like schema.org.
