About the Issue
When you see the “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” issue in Google Search Console, it means that:
- Duplicate Content: This page is considered a duplicate of another page on your site.
- No Canonical Tag: Neither page has a specified canonical tag indicating which version should be preferred.
- Google’s Choice: Google has chosen another page as the canonical version and will not serve this page in search results.
Why Does This Happen?
This issue usually occurs because:
- No Canonical Tag: The pages do not have a canonical tag to indicate the preferred version.
- Similar Content: The pages have similar or identical content without having canonical URLs.
- URL Variations: The same content is accessed through different URLs (e.g., www and non-www versions) without having canonical tag.
How to Fix It
Here are some steps you can follow to fix the different types of reported URLs in this issue:
1) Add Canonical Tags
- Ensure Canonical Tags: Make sure each page has a canonical tag specifying the preferred version. This tells Google which page to index and display in search results.
- Example: If you have two similar pages, www.example.com/page1 and www.example.com/page2, add a canonical tag to both pages pointing to the preferred version, such as www.example.com/page1.
2) Make Content Unique
- Differentiate Content: If the pages have similar content, differentiate the content significantly so that Google doesn’t consider them duplicates.
- Example: If www.example.com/page1 and www.example.com/page2 have similar content, rewrite the content on one of the pages to provide unique information, insights, or additional details that distinguish it from the other page.
3) Remove Duplicate Pages
- Eliminate Unnecessary Pages: If you have truly duplicate pages and only one is needed, remove the unnecessary pages and set the canonical tag for the remaining one.
- Example: If www.example.com/page1 and www.example.com/page2 are duplicates and google choose page 1 as canonical, remove page2 and set the canonical tag on page1. Implement a 301 redirect from www.example.com/page2 to www.example.com/page1.
4) Handle Non-Indexable URLs
- Remove Non-Indexable URLs: For URLs that shouldn’t be indexed (like feed URLs), remove them from the source code.
- Example: If feed URLs are being reported as duplicates, remove these URLs from your source code to prevent them from being crawled and indexed.
- Make PDF Content Unique: For PDF files, make their content unique and add a canonical URL tag in the request header.
- Example: If duplicate PDF files are indexed, change the content to make them unique and add a canonical URL tag in the request header to specify the preferred version.
5) Add Redirections
- Consolidate URLs: If the same page is accessible through different URLs (e.g., www and non-www), set a preferred canonical URL and implement redirects to consolidate traffic to the preferred version.
- Example: If the same content is available on www.example.com/page and example.com/page, choose one URL as the preferred canonical and add a canonical tag to both pages pointing to this URL. Set up 301 redirects from the non-preferred URL to the preferred URL.
By following these steps, you can address the “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” issue and ensure that the correct pages are indexed and displayed in Google search results.
