A Canonical Link (or "Canonical Tag") is an HTML element used to signal to search engines like Google which URL is the "canonical" or preferred version of a webpage. It helps avoid issues with duplicate content when multiple URLs have similar or identical content.
If a website is accessible through multiple URLs (e.g., with or without "www," with or without parameters), search engines might treat them as separate pages. This can negatively impact rankings because the relevance and authority are spread across multiple URLs.
A canonical link specifies which URL should be treated as the main version.
The canonical tag is added in the <head>
section of the HTML code, like this:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://www.example.com/preferred-url" />
An online store has the same product available under different URLs:
https://www.store.com/product?color=blue
https://www.store.com/product?color=red
Using a canonical tag, you can declare https://www.store.com/product
as the main URL.
CPC stands for Cost per Click, a pricing model in online marketing, particularly for paid advertisements. In this model, advertisers pay a specific amount each time a user clicks on their ad.