Using the Canonical Tag, Page Experience and Busting SEO Myths

This article contains basic materials from a well-known SEO consultant on the correct use of the Canonical tag, debunking popular myths about SEO, and also discusses his views on optimizing page quality (Page Experience).

Don't rely on canonical tags

Canonical tags are a directive that Google doesn't always follow. It may choose a different canonical URL than the one you specified.

“Why then canonical tags?” - you ask. Canonical tags were introduced to prevent issues with duplicate content. This solution is intended for sites with CMS level restrictions that cannot properly manage the URL structure.

Canonical tags are generally acceptable, but there are a few things to consider:

• Make sure your site uses consistent paths, meaning it uses or doesn't use the trailing slash in the URL the same way.
• It is important to use consistent paths across different protocols (HTTP/HTTPS) and domains (WWW/non-WWW).
• Make sure that URLs such as mywebsite.com/hello and mywebsite.com/hello/ do not return HTTP 200 as different pages, which will cause confusion.
• Do not use the canonical tag for pagination pages if the content of those pages is different.
• Don't use canonical tags for dynamic URLs if they change the content. Instead, use robots.txt to control parameter indexing.

Check in Google Search Console to see if the following status occurs:

Duplicate, Google Jose Differ Canonical than User - this means that Google ignored your directive and chose a different canonical URL.

In addition, it is important to avoid other status:

Alternate page with proper canonical tag - Google indexes duplicate pages with canonical tags, resulting in unnecessary crawling. This is not a catastrophic problem, but requires attention to optimize indexing.

Busting SEO Myths

Let's answer a few common questions about SEO:

Merging multiple domains: is it worth doing to increase link mass?

Domain merging is a risky practice. The result depends on many factors, and in most cases Google will not bring you tangible benefits from this approach. At worst, you may lose link juice, and at best, you may see minor improvements. Often the consolidation of multiple domains results in Google starting to ignore sitelinks.

Myth: Merging domains will strengthen them.

In practice, merging domains does not always provide benefits. Google will make the decision based on its own criteria, and merging multiple domains usually doesn't lead to significant improvements.

What to do with links from “bad” sites?

Google does not have a blacklist of links. Links from sites that have lost traffic or sank will not have a harmful effect on your site. They simply won't do any good. However, if you choose to purchase such links, they will not have a significant effect.

Myth: Links from blacklisted sites lead to fines.

This might have been true a few years ago, but now Google doesn't penalize such links. It is important to understand that links from sites that have lost traffic will not harm you.

When to start link building for a new website?

There is no need to wait with link building. Trust in a domain is built gradually, and it is important to start attracting links as early as possible. Already existing links will help speed up the development of the new site.

Myth: Link building should only begin after the website is launched.

This is a misconception. Link building can and should be started before the launch of the site in order to quickly develop the domain and speed up its promotion.

Optimizing Page Experience

These recommendations are based on the experience of conducting many SEO audits.

• There's no point in compromising the user experience for the sake of perfect Core Web Vitals scores. This will not bring long-term benefits.
• Don't focus solely on PageSpeed ​​metrics if your site has issues with duplicate content, cannibalization, underperforming pages, or indexing issues.
• Good content that meets user needs is more important than optimizing Core Web Vitals metrics.
• CWV metrics are the last to be reviewed and generally have a negligible impact on the rating.
• Issues with Core Web Vitals can occur due to layout shifts (CLS). This is annoying for users and can negatively impact their experience on the site.
• Use CLS checking tools to avoid these problems.
• Choosing technologies that focus only on speed can lead to indexing problems and negative consequences. Sometimes it is better to choose a less “fast” but more stable platform.
• Make sure your site uses HTTPS by default and that all internal links also use this protocol.
• Don't block resources needed to render the page. This may lead to problems with the mobile version of the site.
• Speed ​​optimization is a complex process. Use specialists to configure the server, optimize images and reduce the number of requests.
• Never forget that user experience should always come first. Even if the page loads a little slowly, it should be user-friendly and understandable.
• SEO is about prioritizing. Address content issues first, then move on to technical aspects such as loading speed and CWV metrics.

If you have any questions or need advice on SEO, please contact the SEO studio "SEO COMPUTER" by email info@seo.computer.

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