Are you sending mixed signals to Google? When canonicalisation, pagination, hreflang and mobile alternates aren’t implemented correctly, conflicting website signals will baffle search engines and leave them to make their own assumptions about your website and what’s important. In this talk, Rachel shares examples where a website’s signals can be ignored or overruled, leading to disastrous impacts on performance. Don’t leave anything to chance – be sure that the most important areas of your site are respected and given prioritisation when being indexed and shown to users.
9. WHAT WE’LL COVER
1. How Google handles website signals
and selects URLs
2. How you can test the signals your
website is sending
3. How to see Google’s interpretation of
signals and what it chooses to show
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds
10. *DISCLAIMER*
To anyone who’s not a fan of
Google’s John Mueller: this talk
might not be for you.
He will be referenced repeatedly.
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds
12. @rachellcostello SearchLeeds
301 REDIRECTION DOESN'T ENSURE THE FINAL
DESTINATION URL WILL BE INDEXED & SHOWN
A 301 redirect doesn’t mean that the final destination URL will be the page
that is favoured. You need to make sure all other signals are consistent.
John Mueller, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-january-9th-2018/#link10
13. The canonical tag is a signal, not a directive.
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds
14. Things to note about canonicalization...
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15. Any unique content on a page with an
accepted canonical tag will be ignored.
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16. Pages have to be very similar, if not
identical, for canonicalisation to work.
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17. Does Google process canonical tags in the
rendered version or the raw HTML?
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22. The end goal for all of this is to
avoid content duplication.
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23. @rachellcostello SearchLeeds
MANY TO ONE CANONICAL TAGS MAY BE IGNORED
Google will try to follow canonical directives by default, but they ignore
canonical tags if they think it’s a mistake i.e. if there are significant content
differences, or if a lot of URLs canonicalise to the same page.
John Mueller, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-thursday-17th-may/
24. @rachellcostello SearchLeeds
UPDATE INTERNAL LINKS TO CANONICAL URLS
Update internal links to canonicals to give Google a clean signal about which URL to index. If the
canonical is accepted, any links to canonicalised URLs will be associated with the canonical URL.
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-october-6th-2017/#link8
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-august-25th-2017/#link8
ALIGN LINKING & REL CANONICAL TO GET A PARTICULAR PAGE INDEXED
Ensure internal links and rel canonical are pointing to the preferred page for indexing to ensure
you aren’t giving Google conflicting signals.
26. @rachellcostello SearchLeeds
CANONICALS ARE CHOSEN BY GOOGLE USING XML SITEMAP URLS
XML sitemap URLs are used to help inform Google’s decision on which URL is chosen to be the
canonical.
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-january-9th-2018/#link1
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-november-14th-2017/#link12
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-july-7th-2017-2/#link11
URLS IN SITEMAPS ARE NOT GUARANTEED TO BE INDEXED
Google may choose not to index URLs in sitemaps that are very similar to ones already indexed or
if they differ to the ones linked internally.
INTERNAL & SITEMAP LINKS MAY OVERRIDE CANONICAL TAGS
Canonicalized pages may still be chosen to be shown by Google if you link to them internally and
in sitemaps.
28. Mixed signals waste Google’s time, your
site’s crawl budget and also delay indexing.
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds
29. @rachellcostello SearchLeeds
CANONICALIZING TO REDIRECTS CAN INCREASE TIME
TAKEN TO INDEX PREFERRED VERSION
Canonicalizing to redirects can increase the time taken for Google to
decide which version to index, especially if these pages aren’t identical.
John Mueller, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-january-23rd-2018/#link5
30. GOOGLE & WEBSITE SIGNALS
To summarise:
1. Google uses the following signals: canonicals,
internal linking, parameter handling, backlinks,
redirects and sitemaps
2. These signals are strongest when used in
combination
3. The purpose of these signals is to avoid content
duplication
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds
31. HOW TO TEST YOUR
WEBSITE’S SIGNALS
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32. KEY ELEMENTS TO TEST
1. Internal linking
2. Redirects
3. Noindex
4. Sitemap inclusion
5. Disallow
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33. Check for inconsistencies. Are there any
signals that don’t quite match up?
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42. @rachellcostello SearchLeeds
DISALLOWED URLS MAY SHOW IN SEARCH DUE TO INTERNAL LINKING
If you’re seeing disallowed URLs showing up in search results, it may be because of internal
linking to these pages.
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-april-4th-2017/#link2
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-november-4th-2016/
GOOGLE MAY CHOOSE A REDIRECTED URL INSTEAD OF THE TARGET
Even in the case of a redirect, Google might still choose to index the redirect source instead of the
target if it is judged to be the canonical.
43. @rachellcostello SearchLeeds
DON'T USE NOINDEX ON CANONICAL PAGES
Don’t use a noindex on canonical pages because if Google accidentally picks a noindexed page
as the canonical, nothing will show up in search results.
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-september-9th-2016/
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-august-11th-2017/#link1
GOOGLE TAKES CANONICAL TO BE A MISTAKE IF PRESENT WITH NOINDEX
If a canonical and noindex are both used, Google judges the rel canonical to be a mistake and the
noindex as being used to force a canonical.
44. Nothing appearing in search - the biggest
canonicalisation disaster you can get!
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds
45. Make sure your site’s signals are aligned
and pointing in the same direction.
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds
46. TESTING YOUR WEBSITE SIGNALS
To summarise:
1. Examine the following areas: internal linking,
redirects, noindex, sitemap inclusion, disallow
2. Check each of these areas for inconsistent URL
focuses
3. Having aligned signals is the key to getting
content indexed by Google
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds
47. HOW TO TEST GOOGLE’S
URL SELECTION
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48. @rachellcostello SearchLeeds
YOU CAN SEE WHICH CANONICAL GOOGLE HAS
CHOSEN IN THE NEW SEARCH CONSOLE
In the new Search Console you can select individual URLs which takes
you to the info query showing you the canonical that Google has chosen.
John Mueller, Google Webmaster Trends Analyst
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-january-9th-2018/#link6
53. GSC REPORT MEANING
Google chose different canonical
than user
“This page is marked as canonical, but
Google thinks another URL makes a
better canonical which has been
indexed instead.”
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds Source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203
56. GSC REPORT MEANING
Alternate page with proper
canonical tag
“This page is a duplicate of a page that
Google recognizes as canonical. This
page correctly points to the canonical
page, so there is nothing for you to do.”
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds Source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203
59. GSC REPORT MEANING
Submitted URL not selected as
canonical
“The URL is one of a set of duplicates
without an explicitly marked canonical
page. Google did not index this URL.
Instead, we indexed the canonical that
we selected.”
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds
Source:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203?authuser=0#submitted_url_not_selected_as_c
anonical
62. GSC REPORT MEANING
Duplicate page without canonical
tag
“This page has duplicates, none of
which is marked canonical. We think
this page is not the canonical one. You
should explicitly mark the canonical for
this page.”
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds Source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203
64. CHECKING RESULTS IN GOOGLE
The best way to see Google’s
URL selection for yourself is
through the
info query and cache.
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds
66. @rachellcostello SearchLeeds
USE THE INFO QUERY IN GOOGLE TO FIND CANONICAL URLS
Search for a URL with an “info:” query to see if a different URL has been indexed instead.
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-april-4th-2017/#link4
Source: https://www.deepcrawl.com/blog/news/google-webmaster-hangout-notes-january-9th-2018/#link8
INCORRECT GOOGLE CACHING SUGGESTS A DIFFERENT CANONICAL HAS
BEEN CHOSEN
If the cached content from a different page is displayed, this could be because Google has
determined duplication and has canonicalised one.
67. TESTING GOOGLE’S SELECTION
To summarise:
1. Despite your website signal implementation,
Google has the final say in what is indexed
2. Check Google Search Console canonicalization
reports
3. See the live results in the SERPs by checking
what appears for “info:” queries and caching
@rachellcostello SearchLeeds