Semrush logo
  • Products

    Start Here

    • Semrush One
    • Enterprise
    • Features
    • Request a Demo
    • Talk to Sales

    Find the Right Tools

    • AI Visibility Toolkit
    • SEO Toolkit
    • Traffic & Market Toolkit
    • Content Toolkit
    • Local Toolkit
    • Social Toolkit
    • Advertising Toolkit
    • PR Toolkit

    Platform

    • Integrations
    • App Center
    • API
    • Data Sources

    Top Apps

    • AdClarity
    • Exploding Topics
    • Other apps
  • Pricing
  • Resources

    Grow with Semrush

    • Blog
    • Knowledge Base
    • Academy
    • Success Stories
    • AI Visibility Index
    • Webinars
    • News

    Explore Free Tools

    • AI Visibility Checker
    • SEO Checker
    • Website Traffic Checker
    • Keyword Tool
    • Backlink Checker
    • Top Websites by Traffic
    • Explore Other Free Tools

    About Semrush

    • About Us
    • Stats and Facts
    • Integrations
    • Affiliate Program
    • Contact us
  • Enterprise
Log InSign Up
  • News
  • Data & Insights
  • Company News
  • Product News
  • Press Kit
Search icon
Semrush logo
  • Products
  • Pricing
  • Resources
  • Enterprise
  • News
  • Data & Insights
  • Company News
  • Product News
  • Press Kit
Log InSign Up

Start Here

  • Semrush One
  • Enterprise
  • Features
  • Request a Demo
  • Talk to Sales

Find the Right Tools

  • AI Visibility Toolkit
  • SEO Toolkit
  • Traffic & Market Toolkit
  • Content Toolkit
  • Local Toolkit
  • Social Toolkit
  • Advertising Toolkit
  • PR Toolkit

Platform

  • Integrations
  • App Center
  • API
  • Data Sources

Top Apps

  • AdClarity
  • Exploding Topics

Grow with Semrush

  • Blog
  • Knowledge Base
  • Academy
  • Success Stories
  • AI Visibility Index
  • Webinars
  • News

Explore Free Tools

  • AI Visibility Checker
  • SEO Checker
  • Website Traffic Checker
  • Keyword Tool
  • Backlink Checker
  • Top Websites by Traffic
  • Explore Other Free Tools

About Semrush

  • About Us
  • Stats and Facts
  • Integrations
  • Affiliate Program
  • Contact us
Main page /Product News

Site Audit: Canonical Tag Checks

October 23, 2017
Site Audit: Canonical Tag Checks
Giving search engines the right instructions will improve link and ranking signals for your content available through multiple URLs or via syndication, Google says.

Today we’re excited to facilitate the checking part of this routine for you — the Site Audit tool now allows you to check if you’ve implemented canonical tags correctly on your website in a flash.

What Is the Canonical Tag?

If you have similar or the same content available across multiple URLs or even multiple websites, it’s confusing for a search engine to decide which page to show.

This is when you would want to implement the rel=”canonical” element in your webpage markup — it’s basically a tag that will inform search engines which version of a page should be displayed in search results.

Using canonicalization the right way helps you control similar or duplicate content on your website without harming your rankings, so be sure you’ve implemented it correctly.

How to Identify Canonicalization Issues with Site Audit

First, go to one of your projects for which you’ve set up the Site Audit tool. If you don’t have any, head to the Project Dashboard, create a new project and set up the tool.

Next, go to the ‘Issues’ tab and click on ‘Select an Issue’ button to find out if canonicalization checks have been triggered for your website.
lord.com.png

Broken Canonical Link

This check is triggered if a rel=”canonical” link specified by you is broken and thus leads to nowhere. It’s important to detect this issue, as a broken link complicates the process of crawling and indexing your content by search engines, which can lead to crawl budget waste.

Click on the check’s name to get a list of your pages that have a broken canonical link.
6pages.png
On the right you’ll find the HTTP status code of the canonical link URL. Learn how to fix this issue in the ‘Why and how to fix it’ section.

Multiple Canonical URLs

This check is triggered if you’ve specified more than one rel=”canonical” link in your page’s markup. Seeing multiple canonical URLs, search engines can’t identify which URL is the actual canonical page, and will likely ignore all the canonical elements or pick the wrong one.

Click on the check’s name to get a list of your pages that have multiple canonical links.
urls.png
We’ll display the first canonical link URL from your page’s markup in the table. Don’t forget to check out how to fix this issue in the ‘Why and how to fix it’ section.

What do you think about this handy enhancement? Let us know your thoughts by dropping us an e-mail at site-audit-feedback@semrush.com.

About Semrush

Semrush is a leading online visibility management SaaS platform that enables businesses globally to run search engine optimization, pay-per-click, content, social media and competitive research campaigns and get measurable results from online marketing. Semrush offers insights and solutions for companies to build, manage, and measure campaigns across various marketing channels. Semrush, with over 91,000 paying customers, is headquartered in Boston and has offices in Philadelphia, Trevose, Austin, Dallas, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Belgrade, Berlin, Limassol, Prague, Warsaw, and Yerevan.

Download as

PDF
DOCX

Share

Relevant news

Semrush Introduces LLM Gap Analyzer to the App Center

The LLM Gap Analyzer app helps marketers understand how and why their content appears in large language models, and just as importantly, why it does not.
Product News
April 21, 2026

Voice Assist Added to the Semrush App Center

Semrush has expanded the App Center offering with Voice Assist, an AI voice assistant developed by CallRail.
Product News
April 20, 2026

An Extended Keyword Database for Israel Is Available – Only via Our Premium Partner Adactive

This article is an updated version of a post from August 2020
Product News
April 17, 2026

Get started with Semrush today

Try Semrush free for seven days. Cancel anytime.

Start free trial
  • Semrush One
  • Features
  • Pricing
  • Free Trial
  • Compare Semrush
  • Success Stories
  • Stats and Facts
  • Affiliate Program
  • Enterprise SEO
  • Enterprise AIO
  • Enterprise SI
  • Insights24
  • Mfour
  • App Center
  • Top Websites
  • Free Tools
  • Sensor
  • About Us
  • News
  • Careers
  • Partners
  • For Investors
  • Semrush Select
  • Global Issues Index
  • Contact us
  • Knowledge Base
  • Academy
  • API
Community
  • Semrush Blog
  • Webinars
  • Ambassador Program
LinkedInInstagramTikTokYouTubeFacebookX
© 2008 - 2026 Semrush. All rights reserved.
Privacy PolicyTerms of ServiceCookies Settings
Semrush