If you’re on this page you’re no doubt familiar with Google Search Console. In our SEO Audits we do a deep dive on Google Search Console and it can provide a wealth of insights and action items for improving a website’s SEO.
One common issue we see and more and more since mid 2024 is a large number of pages in the “Alternate page with proper canonical tag” in the indexation section of GSC. It’s not technically an error but it is a problem because these are pages Google is crawling that it probably shouldn’t be in most cases as they are alternate versions of other pages.
Fixing pages that appear in this section of GSC will improve how Google crawls the site and in many cases by fixing canonical errors we can improve rankings often quite dramatically.
In this post we’re going to walk through the process of fixing these pages in GSC – click play on the video below to learn more.
Table of Contents
Understanding Canonical Tags
Before diving into the warning itself, let’s clarify what canonical tags are. In essence, a canonical tag is a way to tell search engines which version of a page is the preferred one to index when there are multiple versions with similar content. This is crucial because duplicate content can confuse search engines and dilute your site’s ranking potential.
You’re going to see this warning a lot with bigger sites and especially Woocommerce sites that by their very nature typically have multiple versions of a page due to things like product attributes or variations.
Common Causes of the Warning
The “Alternate page with proper canonical tag” warning typically arises when Google encounters duplicate pages on your site, but it can determine the preferred version based on the canonical tag. Here are some frequent culprits:
**-Query strings being crawled —Things like wp-login.php page being crawled —Search pages being crawled —In Woocommerce, add-to-cart, add-to-wishlist being crawled, product attributes —Marketing strings like UTM tags and Facebook FBCLID tags —Fix: update robots.txt to block these For Woocommerce: Disallow: add-to-cart= Disallow: attribute_ Disallow: /search/ Disallow: s= https://www.wpspeedfix.com/robots.txt **-The website loading on http AND https or www AND no-www —Fix here: load only over HTTPS —Enable HSTS, explainer video here https://www.wpspeedfix.com/hsts-reduc… —Only load from either WWW or no-WWW
- Query Strings: These are parameters added to URLs, often for tracking purposes or to filter content. Google might crawl these variations as separate pages, even though they essentially have the same content.
- Login pages being crawled: Wp-login.php or similar logon pages being crawled
- WooCommerce Issues: WooCommerce sites often generate dynamic URLs for actions like adding to cart or filtering products. These can trigger the warning if not properly managed.
- Search Pages: WordPress search results can create numerous URLs with duplicate content, especially if indexed by Google.
- Marketing Strings: UTM parameters used for tracking campaigns can also lead to duplicate content issues.
- Incorrect Canonical Tags: In some cases, the canonical tag itself might be set incorrectly, pointing to the wrong version of the page.
- Incorrect SSL Configuration: The website loading on both HTTP AND HTTPS
Addressing the Warning
Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to resolve this warning and improve your site’s SEO:
- Optimize Your robots.txt File: This file instructs search engines which pages to crawl. By adding specific rules, you can prevent Google from indexing unnecessary pages like those with query strings or search results.
- Fix Incorrect Canonical Tags: If the warning stems from incorrect canonical tags, ensure they are pointing to the correct, preferred version of the page.
- Address WooCommerce Issues: For WooCommerce sites, consider blocking unnecessary query strings and optimizing product filtering to minimize duplicate content. See the video below for more on this.
- Use 301 Redirects: If you have multiple versions of a page accessible through different URLs, implement 301 redirects to consolidate them to the preferred version.
- Fix SSL Redirect Issues & Enable HSTS: Ensuring all versions of URLs are loading via HTTPS and HTTP URLs redirect correctly will solve this issue and will also help improve site speed as http URLs cannot use the HTTP2 protocol. Getting HSTS enabled on your hosting or in Cloudflare will help even more!
- Validate Your Fix: Once you’ve implemented the necessary changes, use Google Search Console’s validation tool to confirm that the issue is resolved.
Robots File Specifically for Woocommerce
As above, WooCommerce sites are particularly prone to seeing this warning appear in Google Search Console. The video below walks you through a robots.txt file we’ve specifically developed for Woocommerce sites to resolve this error, boost SEO and performance.
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Need Help?
If you’re struggling with Technical SEO issues and wrangling with Google Search Console we can help. A good starting point is either our SEO Audit Service or alternatively our Google Search Console Audit service
If you head to our homepage and submit a FREE site audit along with some background about the problem you’re looking to solve or goals you’re looking to achieve, one of our team will review your site and come back to you with recommendations as to how we can help.