Technical SEO
Canonical Tag Checker
Fetch any page and check its <link rel="canonical"> for self-referencing or mis-canonicalization.
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The Canonical Tag Checker fetches any URL and reports the canonical link tag declared in its HTML — perfect for spotting wrong, missing, or self-referential canonical issues.
What is the Canonical Tag Checker?
A canonical tag tells Google which version of a page is the master copy. Wrong canonicals cause rankings to silently move to the wrong URL, or worse, deindex perfectly good pages. This tool fetches the page and shows you exactly what canonical it declares.
How to use the Canonical Tag Checker
Steps
- Paste the URL you want to inspect.
- Click Check.
- Compare the returned canonical to the URL you tested — they should match for self-canonical pages.
Benefits
- Catch wrong canonicals before they hurt rankings.
- Verify every page is self-canonical when intended.
- Audit cross-domain canonicals.
Use cases
- Migration QA.
- Investigating ranking drops.
- Auditing translated or paginated pages.
Pro tips
- Most pages should be self-canonical.
- Use canonicals — not 301s — for parameter URLs.
- Never canonical to a 404 or noindex page.
Frequently asked questions
Should every page have a canonical?
Yes — even self-canonical tags help Google avoid confusion.
Can canonicals point to other domains?
Yes — but use sparingly and only for syndicated content.
Do canonicals affect crawling?
They affect indexing and consolidation, not crawling.
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