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Testing blog post

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April 25, 2025β€’1 min read

Canonical links (or canonical tags) are an important part of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and it's great that GoHighLevel includes this in their website builder. Here's a breakdown of what they are and how they're used:

βœ… What Are Canonical Links?

A canonical link (using the <link rel="canonical"> tag) tells search engines which version of a page is the "preferred" or "original" version when there are multiple pages with similar or duplicate content.

Example: If you have:

  • https://example.com

  • https://www.example.com

  • https://example.com/home

  • https://example.com/index.html

...and they all show the same content, a search engine might get confused and split ranking power between them.

To fix that, you pick one as the canonical (preferred) version, e.g., https://example.com, and put this tag in the <head> of all versions:

html

Copy<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com">

πŸ”§ Why Are They Important for SEO?

  1. Avoids Duplicate Content Penalties – Helps search engines understand which page to rank.

  2. Consolidates Link Equity – All backlinks and SEO signals go to the canonical page.

  3. Improves Crawl Efficiency – Search engines waste less time crawling duplicate pages.

πŸš€ How Are They Used in GoHighLevel?

If GoHighLevel offers a setting for canonical links:

  • You can set a canonical URL for each page you build.

  • This is especially useful if you create landing pages, A/B tests, or slight variations of pages.

  • You just enter the canonical URL (typically the main page you want to rank) in their SEO or advanced settings section for the page.

🧠 Quick Best Practices

  • Always use absolute URLs (e.g., https://yourdomain.com/page, not /page).

  • Each page should ideally self-canonicalize (point to itself), unless it's a duplicate.

  • Don’t confuse canonical tags with 301 redirects – canonical tags tell search engines about preference, but users still see the original page.

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