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What is Canonical URL?

An HTML element that tells search engines which URL is the preferred version of a page when duplicate or similar content exists at multiple URLs.

The canonical tag (link rel="canonical" href="...") consolidates SEO signals when the same content is accessible via multiple URLs. Common scenarios include HTTP vs HTTPS, www vs non-www, trailing slashes, URL parameters (sorting, pagination, tracking), and syndicated content. Without canonical tags, search engines may split ranking signals across duplicates or choose the wrong version to index. Self-referencing canonicals (pointing to the current URL) are best practice for all pages. Canonical URLs should be absolute (not relative), consistent with the sitemap, and match the URL returned by redirects. They are a hint, not a directive — search engines may override them.

Related Terms

Server-Sent Events
A server push technology that enables a server to send real-time updates to a browser over a single HTTP connection.
Lazy Loading
A technique that delays loading non-critical resources until they are needed, improving initial page load performance.
Web Caching Strategies
Techniques for storing copies of web resources at various levels to reduce server load, bandwidth, and response times.
WebSocket
A communication protocol that enables full-duplex, real-time data exchange between a browser and server over a single connection.
JSON
JavaScript Object Notation — a lightweight data interchange format that is easy for humans to read and machines to parse.
Structured Data (Schema.org)
A standardized vocabulary for marking up web content so search engines can understand and display it as rich results.
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