What is canonicalization?
Answered across 4 episodes of The Best SEO Podcast
Ensuring pages are not counted more than once by making one URL version the default and redirecting all other versions to it, consolidating link juice.
How experts on the show define it
Ensuring pages are not counted more than once by making one URL version the default and redirecting all other versions to it, consolidating link juice.
The process of choosing one preferred version of a URL, for example deciding whether to use www or non-www, to avoid duplicate content issues before or during a site launch.
The problem of multiple URLs representing the same page, such as www and non-www versions, which splits link juice. A 301 redirect resolves this by pointing all versions to one preferred URL.
Server-level configuration that ensures non-www URLs redirect to www versions, and that pages with strong rankings are preserved through redirects during a site relaunch.
Episodes that cover this
Related answers
See the full SEO & AI search glossary.
Want this done for your site?
EWR Digital runs SEO, content, and AI-visibility programs for operators. Get a no-pitch audit of where you stand in Google and in AI answers.
Get an SEO & AI-visibility audit