Is Google indexing the wrong version of your pages?

When several URLs serve the same page, a canonical tag is how you tell search engines which one to keep. Missing, wrong or cross-domain canonicals quietly split your ranking across duplicates.

Reads the canonical tag on a set of key pages and compares it against the page URL. Saved to your account if you are signed in to a paid plan.

How this check works

Shipwork fetches a set of your key pages and reads each one's canonical declaration. It flags pages with no canonical, canonicals pointing at a different domain, and canonicals that resolve to a different URL than the page itself, each of which can move ranking away from the page you meant.

What the canonical check inspects

The canonical check reads the canonical link and robots directives from the HTML pages discovered during a bounded crawl. It reports when an indexable page has no canonical, when a canonical URL is invalid, when it points to a different URL on the same site, or when it points to another domain. It also follows canonical relationships among sampled pages to find chains and loops.

A page with noindex is not treated as competing for search, so the check avoids flagging its missing canonical. The result describes the markup returned by the pages it fetched. It does not ask Google which canonical it selected, and it does not certify every URL on a large site.

Missing or malformed canonical declarations.
Self-referencing canonicals and canonicals that name another URL.
Cross-domain canonical targets.
Canonical chains and loops among pages the crawl knows about.
A noindex plus self-canonical combination is not treated as a useful canonical finding.

How to read canonical findings

A self-referencing canonical is usually expected for the preferred version of a page. A same-site canonical to another URL may be intentional when the current URL is a duplicate or variant; confirm that the target is the version you want indexed. A cross-domain canonical hands the preference signal to another domain and should be deliberate. A chain or loop makes the intended destination harder for search engines to resolve.

A missing canonical is a warning, not proof that Google cannot index the page. Canonicals are hints, and Google may select a different URL based on other signals. If Search Console reports a Google-selected canonical that differs from the user-declared one, use URL Inspection and compare the declared tag with internal links, redirects and sitemap entries.

Prioritize unintended cross-domain targets and canonical loops.
For duplicate variants, point directly to the final preferred URL rather than another canonical hop.
Use Search Console URL Inspection to see Google’s selected canonical for a specific URL.

Fix duplicate or conflicting canonical tags

Find which theme, SEO plugin or app emits the canonical before editing. Two systems can each add a tag, leaving the browser with conflicting declarations. Remove the duplicate at its source and keep one absolute canonical URL in the page head. Verify that the destination is reachable, returns the intended page, and is not itself redirected or canonicalized somewhere else.

For the primary product URL, a typical tag looks like <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/products/blue-shirt">. Use the real preferred URL and preserve meaningful variant behavior. Do not canonicalize every paginated or filtered page to the first page without checking whether each page has distinct content.

Check raw page source for every rel=canonical tag, not just the visual page.
Use one tag and make its href an absolute URL on the intended host.
Check the destination for its own canonical to avoid a chain.
Rerun the canonical check and use the indexability check for noindex and crawl signals.

When a canonical check is useful

Run it after changing domains, URL handles, trailing-slash rules, product templates, SEO apps or duplicate-content settings. It is also useful when the wrong URL appears in search or when tracking parameters create multiple addresses for the same page. A clean sample confirms the fetched pages have coherent declarations; it does not prove Google has recrawled or accepted those signals.

Canonical tags should agree with redirects, internal links and sitemap URLs. If those point to different versions, fix the sources together. For Google’s actual indexing decision, compare the page’s declared canonical with URL Inspection and the Page indexing report.

Canonical tags explained: choosing which URL should win.
Duplicate content check: repeated titles and descriptions.
Indexability check: page-level noindex, robots and sitemap signals.

How to check canonical tags

A canonical tag is a hint naming the preferred URL among duplicate or similar URLs. Check the fetched HTML and compare the declared URL with the page you intend search engines to keep.

Enter your site and run the canonical check to inspect the pages this audit reaches.
Review findings for missing, duplicate, or cross-domain canonical tags and for canonicals that point away from the page.
Open an affected URL and confirm its HTML has exactly one rel="canonical" link in the document head.
For the primary version of a page, make the canonical an absolute URL that points to that same preferred page. Point variants to the preferred URL when that is intentional.
Re-run the check after changing the theme, template, or SEO app that emits the tag. Google can still choose a different canonical; confirm that separately in Search Console URL Inspection.

Errors this check finds, and their fixes

Duplicate without user-selected canonical: Why Google treats a page as a duplicate when you never chose a canonical
Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user: Why Google ignored the canonical you declared, and how to make it agree
Alternate page with proper canonical tag: Why Search Console lists these pages as not indexed, and when to leave them alone

Questions

What is a canonical tag?

A link element that names the preferred URL for a page. It tells search engines which version to index when duplicates exist.

Should the canonical point to itself?

Usually yes: a self-referencing canonical is the safe default. It prevents variants (parameters, trailing slashes) being treated as separate pages.

When is a cross-domain canonical wrong?

Almost always, unless you deliberately syndicate content. Pointing your canonical at another domain tells Google to credit that domain instead of yours.

How do I check canonical tags on my website?

Fetch the public HTML for important page types and inspect the document head for rel=canonical. Confirm that each indexable page has one valid URL pointing to the intended preferred version. Shipwork crawls a bounded set of pages and reports missing, invalid, cross-domain, non-self-referencing and chained declarations it finds. Use Search Console URL Inspection to see Google’s selected canonical for a specific URL.

Should every page have a self-referencing canonical?

A self-referencing canonical is the usual default for the preferred version of an indexable page. A duplicate URL can instead point to the primary version. The key is that the declaration, redirects, internal links and sitemap agree about which URL should represent the content. A noindex page generally does not need a canonical to itself.

Can a canonical tag point to another domain?

Yes, but it should be intentional, such as when syndicating content and asking search engines to prefer the original source. A cross-domain canonical on your own product page can tell search engines to credit a different site. Check the target URL and ownership before keeping it. Canonical tags are signals, not access controls or guaranteed indexing commands.

Why does Google ignore my canonical tag?

Google treats canonical declarations as hints and may select another URL when signals conflict or the target is unsuitable. Redirects, internal links, sitemap URLs, duplicate content, page availability and the canonical destination can influence its choice. Compare the user-declared canonical with Google’s selected canonical in URL Inspection, then make the site’s signals consistent.

What is a canonical chain or loop?

A chain occurs when one URL canonicalizes to another URL that points onward again. A loop occurs when the declarations eventually point back to a URL already visited. Both make the preferred destination unclear. Point every duplicate directly to the final preferred URL, and ensure that destination has a coherent canonical of its own.

Keep reading

What this reads

Reads public pages from outside your network, the way a crawler does.
No signup, and nothing is stored on the free checks.
One of 83 checks across discovery, content, markup, trust and catalogue data.

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Cool, just ran an audit and got some insights! Let’s see if I can fix them :)

Tenta Dev, @DevTenta

Whoah! this site is crazy, nothing to roast at all

Ainreek, @AinreekAI

cool as heck, tried it on my blog and the insights it gave are helpful and not bluff.

Refaat 🍉 (Mouse), @1Mouse__