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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minute“Alternate page with proper canonical tag” is not automatically an error. Google uses this status when it groups a URL with duplicate or very similar pages and selects another URL as the representative. If that representative is the page you want indexed, the status may be expected. Investigate when the reported page should appear in Search on its own, or Google has chosen the wrong URL.
What the status means
Google selects a canonical URL—the representative it considers most useful—from a group of duplicate or very similar pages. Search Console labels another URL in that group an alternate. Your site can declare a preferred URL, but that declaration is a signal to Google, not a command; Google may choose a different canonical. See Google Search Console’s explanation of duplicate URLs and Google’s canonicalization guidance.
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Start by deciding whether the reported URL is meant to be a separate search result. If it is an intentional duplicate or alternate and Google selected the URL you prefer, there may be nothing to fix. If it should stand on its own, or Google’s selected canonical is not the right equivalent page, inspect the signals before changing WordPress.
Choose the right signal for the URL relationship
| Situation | Suitable signal | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Both equivalent URLs should remain accessible | rel="canonical" |
Point the alternate URL to the preferred equivalent page, and have the preferred page declare itself as canonical. |
| The duplicate URL is being retired | Permanent redirect | Send users and crawlers to the surviving equivalent URL. Do not redirect distinct content to an unrelated page. |
| You want to reinforce preferred URLs across a site | Sitemap | List preferred URLs consistently. Sitemap inclusion is a weaker signal than a redirect or canonical link. |
Google describes redirects and rel="canonical" as strong canonicalization signals, with sitemap inclusion weaker. Aligning these signals helps clarify the intended URL. Google also says that specifying a canonical preference is not required for a site to do well.
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Diagnose the affected URL before changing WordPress
- Check Google’s choice. In Search Console, inspect the affected URL and note both the user-declared canonical and Google-selected canonical. Decide whether the page is intentionally an alternate or should be indexed separately.
- Inspect the page output. Fetch the affected page and check its HTML source or rendered output. The canonical link should be in the document’s
<head>, use an absolute URL, and point to a page that is genuinely duplicate or very similar. The preferred page should point to itself. - Look for competing declarations. Check the theme, SEO plugin settings, custom code, HTTP response headers, and sitemap for multiple or conflicting canonical signals. Google recommends choosing one canonical-link delivery method; combining an HTTP header and an HTML link can create conflicting declarations.
- Check redirects and site URLs. Verify the WordPress Address and Site Address configuration and test what the affected URL actually does. WordPress’s
redirect_canonical()function can redirect incoming URLs toward a URL it considers proper based on the site URL; its presence alone does not mean this status needs a custom redirect. - Align internal links and sitemap entries. Link internally to the preferred canonical and include that URL consistently in the sitemap. These signals should not point Google toward a different representative.
WordPress documents rel_canonical() as outputting a canonical link for singular queries, with the URL obtained through wp_get_canonical_url(). That does not establish what a particular theme or plugin emits. Inspect the live output before adding another plugin or code snippet. See the WordPress rel_canonical() reference and WordPress redirect_canonical() reference.
Correct a canonical link safely
For an accessible duplicate that should remain available, the HTML link follows this pattern. Replace the example with the full URL of the preferred equivalent page:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/preferred-page/" />Place the link in the page’s <head>. The preferred page should also declare itself as canonical. First identify which part of the site currently generates the link; changing a plugin setting or adding code without that check can leave conflicting declarations in place.
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If the duplicate is obsolete, use a permanent redirect to its surviving equivalent instead of leaving the old URL available solely to signal a preference. Do not use a canonical link to consolidate pages that are meaningfully different.
Avoid fixes that send the wrong signal
- Do not use
robots.txtfor canonicalization. Blocking crawling does not tell Google which accessible page is canonical, and a disallowed URL may still be indexed without its content. - Do not use
noindexto choose a canonical within the same site. It prevents a page from appearing in Search rather than serving as a canonical-selection signal. - Do not let signals disagree. The canonical link, redirect destination, internal links, and sitemap should support the same preferred URL.
- Do not assume Google must honor a canonical tag. Google evaluates the signals and selects a representative; a declaration alone does not guarantee the choice.
- Do not add custom PHP or a plugin before checking existing output. WordPress core, themes, plugins, and server configuration may already provide canonical links or redirects.
Request a fresh evaluation
After correcting the relevant signals, use Search Console’s URL Inspection tool to request a fresh evaluation if appropriate. Google’s cited guidance does not promise a fixed time for a particular URL’s status to change, so do not treat an immediate status update as a requirement for a correct fix.
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