Does Google always use the canonical URL you declared?

 

No, Google does not always use the canonical URL you declare. In some cases, Google may choose to use a different URL, such as the URL that is most popular or the URL that is most likely to be relevant to the user's search query.

Here are some of the factors that Google considers when choosing a canonical URL:

• The presence of a canonical tag. If you have a canonical tag on your page, Google will give it more weight than other factors.
• The popularity of the URL. Google will also consider how popular the URL is, as measured by factors such as the number of backlinks it has.
• The relevance of the URL to the user's search query. Google will also try to choose the URL that is most relevant to the user's search query.

If you are concerned that Google is not using the canonical URL you declared, you can use the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console to verify the canonical URL for each page. You can also use the tool to see if Google has chosen a different canonical URL for any of your pages.

If you are still having problems with canonicalization, you can contact Google Search Console support for help.

Here are some additional tips for declaring canonical URLs:

• Make sure that you have a canonical tag on all of your pages.
• Use the same canonical URL for all of the different versions of a page, such as the desktop and mobile versions.
• If you have a page that is available in multiple languages, you can use hreflang tags to specify the canonical URL for each language.
• If you are unsure how to declare canonical URLs, you can contact a web developer for help.