“Duplicate without user-selected canonical” is an error message in Google Search Console (previously known as Google Webmaster Tools) that indicates that Google has found multiple versions of a page on your website and is unable to determine the preferred (canonical) version.
The canonical version of a page is the one that you want to be the authoritative version of search engines. Having multiple versions of the same page can lead to a number of issues, including confusion for search engines, which could lead to lower rankings, and dilution of page rank and link equity.
How to Fix:
The “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” error occurs when there are multiple versions of a page on your website, but you have not specified the preferred version using a rel=”canonical” link in the HTML code. In order to resolve this error, you need to specify the preferred version of the page using the rel=”canonical” link in the HTML head section of the duplicate pages.
What is “Alternate page with proper canonical tag” in Search Console & How to fix it
If you are seeing this error in Search Console, it is important to resolve it as soon as possible to ensure that search engines are indexing the correct version of your pages and to prevent any negative impact on your search engine rankings.
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The “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” error in Search Console indicates that Google has identified duplicate versions of a page on your website, but it is unable to determine which one should be considered the canonical (preferred) version. To resolve this issue, you need to specify the preferred version of the page by using the rel=”canonical” link element.
Here are the steps to fix this issue:
- Identify the duplicate pages: Use the Search Console report to identify the duplicate pages on your website.
- Choose the preferred version: Decide which page you want Google to consider as the preferred version (canonical).
- Add the rel=”canonical” link: Add a rel=”canonical” link to the head of the duplicate pages, pointing to the preferred version of the page. For example, if the preferred version of the page is “https://example.com/page-a“, add the following code to the head of the duplicate pages:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/page-a">
- Verify the changes: After adding the rel=”canonical” link, verify that the changes have been implemented correctly. You can use the Search Console Fetch as Google tool or any other tool such as the Chrome browser inspector to check the page source.
- Request re-indexing: Once you have verified that the rel=”canonical” link has been implemented correctly, request re-indexing of the affected pages in the Search Console.
By following these steps, you should be able to resolve the “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” error in the Search Console.