Do your canonical tags point to the page itself?
Canonical tags point to the page itself. Indexes consolidate signals onto the canonical URL.
What the check looks at
The check reads each page's <link rel="canonical"> and compares it to the URL fetched. A canonical that points elsewhere hands the page's standing to another address; a missing one lets duplicate URLs compete.
Why it matters
Indexes consolidate signals onto the canonical URL. A page that says "the real copy is over there" loses its own standing; a page with no canonical can be indexed under several URLs (with and without www, with tracking parameters) that split its weight.
How to see it on your own site
View source, find rel="canonical", and check that it is the same URL you are on — same host, same scheme, same path.
How to fix it
- Set a self-referential canonical on every page, absolute URL, one host.
- Redirect the alternates (http → https, non-www → www) so there is one address per page.
- On WordPress most SEO plugins do this; check that the canonical is not pointing at a staging domain.
What the agent does: the agent names the page and where its canonical points; the tag lives in your template.
Related checks
Part of the 23 checks · group: Crawler access — robots.txt, CDN/bot filter, login walls, noindex, HTTP status, sitemap, canonical.
Questions people ask
My blog is syndicated — should the canonical point to the original?
On the syndicated copy, yes. On your own original, it points to itself. The check flags only pages whose canonical points away from the page it was fetched from.
Start with the free check. Then tell the agent what you need.
The free check runs the 23 checks on your public pages. Nothing is installed, nothing changes until you press it.
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