Story Based Question
A travel blog recently launched a mobile-optimized version of its website. The owner was thrilled with the new design, but after a few weeks, the blog’s mobile traffic started to drop. They were concerned because they had optimized everything, and their desktop traffic was stable. The SEO specialist noticed that the blog had duplicate content on both mobile and desktop versions. The specialist explained, “We need to fix the canonical tags on the mobile site to make sure search engines know which version to prioritize.”
Exact Answer
Canonical tags on mobile sites help search engines understand which version of a page (mobile or desktop) is the preferred one. This prevents duplicate content issues by directing search engines to index the main version of the page, improving SEO and ensuring better rankings for the mobile version.
Explanation
Canonical tags are used to indicate the preferred version of a webpage when there are duplicate or very similar pages. For mobile websites, this becomes especially important when the desktop and mobile versions of a page contain similar content. Here’s how canonical tags work on mobile sites:
- Prevent Duplicate Content: When a website has both a desktop and mobile version (e.g., desktop.example.com and mobile.example.com), there’s a risk that search engines might treat them as separate pages with similar content. This can lead to duplicate content issues. Canonical tags tell search engines which version should be considered the “main” version, ensuring that the correct page gets indexed and ranked.
- Indicates the Preferred Version: If you have a separate mobile URL (like m.example.com), the canonical tag on the mobile page should point to the corresponding desktop page (like www.example.com). This tells search engines that the desktop version is the authoritative one, and the mobile version should be treated as a variation, not a separate page.
- Improves SEO: Without canonical tags, search engines might divide the ranking signals (like backlinks and engagement metrics) between the mobile and desktop versions of the page. By using a canonical tag, you consolidate these signals, which can improve the SEO performance of the mobile site and prevent ranking issues caused by duplicate content.
- Mobile-First Indexing: Since Google uses mobile-first indexing, it’s especially important to use canonical tags properly. Googlebot looks at the mobile version of the page first, and if the canonical tag points to the desktop version, it may affect how both versions are indexed and ranked. Proper use of canonical tags ensures that Google gives credit to the correct version of the page.
- User Experience: Using canonical tags properly also helps maintain a consistent user experience across devices. If a user sees different content on mobile and desktop, they might get confused or frustrated. By clearly indicating which page is the main one, you ensure that both desktop and mobile users are presented with the correct version of the content.
Example
The travel blog had identical articles on both its mobile and desktop versions, but the mobile pages weren’t ranking as well. After reviewing the site’s canonical tags, the SEO specialist noticed that the mobile pages were set to canonicalize to themselves, instead of pointing to the desktop version.
Once they updated the mobile pages to point to the desktop version using canonical tags, the blog’s mobile traffic began to improve. Google recognized the desktop pages as the primary content, and the mobile versions started to rank more effectively, boosting the overall SEO of the site.
Canonical tags are essential for mobile sites that share content with desktop versions. By properly directing search engines to the preferred version, you can prevent duplicate content issues, improve SEO, and ensure that both mobile and desktop versions perform well in search rankings.