Smart Traffic SEO Tip #63 – Disadvantage of Rel=Canonical
We all know that rel=canonical is an alternative way of dealing with duplicate pages instead of using a 301 redirect. But incorrect use of canonicalization can badly hurt your website’s presence in search results. Here are examples of inappropriate use of rel=canonical and its negative impact:
•Wrong declaration of canonical value. Having the duplicate URL use as canonical value instead of the correct canonical version end up with more duplicate pages.
•Rel=canonical doesn’t make duplication and messy URL structures GOOD. Consequences are search engines may still hit/index those pages and having many duplicate URLs can confuse your visitors. There’s a chance also that other sites may link to any of your duplicate URLs and same with the internal linking resulting to wrong passing of authority which is a waste.
•Although some search engines support rel=canonical, still each of them sees it differently. Like Google treats it as ALMOST like a 301 redirect but other search engines like Bing and Yahoo sees it as “hint” only and not a command. Therefore there’s inconsistency in cross-search engine support for rel=canonical.
Therefore, it is better to use rel=canonical as a last resort only. Still the use of 301 redirection is highly advisable.
