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Despite your champion effort to instrumentality canonical tags, Google won’t ever take the aforesaid URL to show successful hunt results. How tin this beryllium fixed?
This taxable is addressed by Google Search Advocate John Mueller successful a Reddit thread connected the r/TechSEO forum.
An idiosyncratic asks wherefore Google is displaying the incorrect URL successful hunt results, adjacent though they’re making each effort to bespeak which leafage should beryllium displayed.
In summation to canonical tags, this idiosyncratic is utilizing hreflang tags, and sitemaps, and has the close settings configured successful Google Search Console.
Google continues to show a antithetic URL successful hunt results.
Mueller archetypal explains wherefore Google isn’t displaying the intended URL and describes what tin beryllium done to get Google surfacing a antithetic page.
Canonical Tags: Why Isn’t Google Displaying The Correct URL?
A canonical tag sends a awesome to Google indicating which URL is the close 1 to amusement successful hunt results erstwhile you person akin pieces of content.
In this peculiar example, the Reddit idiosyncratic notes they’re dealing with a brand’s website that has aggregate state codification top-level domains (ccTLDs).
Instead of displaying brand-name.ca successful Canadian hunt results, for example, Google is displaying brand-name.co.uk instead.
There are aggregate reasons wherefore this is happening.
Duplicate Content Leading To Wrong Canonicals
The Reddit idiosyncratic believes the pages crossed domains are antithetic capable to not beryllium seen arsenic duplicate content. However, Mueller informs him otherwise.
Mueller says Google sees the pages arsenic duplicates and indexes lone 1 mentation successful hunt results, dropping the others from its index.
“What’s happening present is that these pages are wide importantly similar, truthful that Google de-duplicates them by indexing a canonical version. However, with the hreflang annotations, the close URL is inactive shown successful the hunt results (at slightest wherever the hreflang is recognized, etc).”
Interesting to larn hreflang is what helped guarantee the close URL was shown successful definite cases.
Page Titles Leading To Wrong Canonicals
Mueller notes the mode the Reddit idiosyncratic has their leafage titles written could beryllium confusing to Google.
When dealing with a website that has aggregate ccTLDs, Mueller suggests keeping the domain hold retired of leafage titles.
“One confusing portion present is that your leafage titles usage compantyname.TLD. This means the URL shown is the .com.au version, but the rubric includes .co.uk. You tin hole that by changing the leafage titles to conscionable usage Companyname.”
How Do You Fix An Issue With Wrong Canonicals?
There’s nary casual hole to this one. It’s not simply a substance of adding much tags oregon changing leafage titles.
If you privation to forestall Google from de-duplicating your pages successful hunt results past you person to marque the contented significantly different.
Mueller states successful the Reddit thread:
“If you wanted to alteration the indexing / canonicalization here, you’d person to marque definite that the pages are importantly different, not conscionable a spot different.”
Is This A Major Problem?
While it whitethorn beryllium distressing to spot Google displaying the incorrect URL successful hunt results, Mueller says this is not an urgent problem.
There’s nary disadvantage erstwhile it comes to hunt rankings, and Google Search Console reports are the aforesaid arsenic they would beryllium if your preferred URL was selected.
“Despite what Search Console says, the position, impressions, and clicks of these URLs volition beryllium fine. They volition look the aforesaid mode arsenic if the existent URL were besides selected arsenic canonical. There’s nary ranking disadvantage to things being indexed similar this — and there’s an vantage of determination being less URLs that request to beryllium crawled & refreshed crossed your sites (faster inventory updates, etc).”
To beryllium clear, The supra connection applies to domain properties you own.
If you privation Google to scale and show your chosen canonical URL, the solution is to marque the contented antithetic from the leafage Google is choosing to show instead.
When it comes to fixing the issue, Mueller suggests it mightiness not beryllium worthy the effort.
“Given that the hunt results would fundamentally beryllium the same, I don’t cognize if that’s truly worthwhile for you — astatine slightest it astir apt wouldn’t beryllium an urgent occupation to solve.”
Source: Reddit
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