Google: Self-Referential Canonicals Help Clean Up Small SEO Mistakes

Sep 21, 2021 - 7:11 am 0 by

Google Sweep Clean

Google's John Mueller said that using self-referential canonicals is a good way to clean up small SEO mistakes. He was asked about it on Reddit, about the difference between self-referential canonicals and normal canonicals.

When it comes to self-referential canonicals, John said "since you don't know how people link to your pages, a self-referential one helps to clean up small mistakes."

A normal canonical is in the format of link rel="canonical" href="b.html" and John said "if this is on a.html, then it's just a normal canonical (technically canonical link element), if it's on b.html, then it's a self-referential one."

John added "Since you don't know how people link to your pages, a self-referential one helps to clean up small mistakes. For example, if a link goes to b.html?utm=cheese , then usually the server just shows b.html, and a self-referential canonical link element there would then encourage search engines to just use "b.html" instead of "b.html?utm=cheese"."

You have to go with the cheese example here.

Also, a while back, John said self referential hreflang is optional but good practice.

Forum discussion at Reddit.

Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Succos.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 4, 2025

Jul 4, 2025 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google June 2025 Core Update, Search Volatility, Insights Report, Ads & More

Jul 4, 2025 - 8:01 am
Bing Search

Bing Search Tests Zoomable & Sticky Related Searches

Jul 4, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google

Google AI Mode Can Respond In Non-English Languages

Jul 4, 2025 - 7:41 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests Local Place Listings In Green

Jul 4, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Merchant Center Gains Automatic Shipping Updates

Jul 4, 2025 - 7:21 am
Previous Story: SEO Work Colleagues Birthday Balloons Written With "JohnMu Loves You"