Canonical URL Differs from Page URL — Is This Intentional?

What's the issue?

Your page's canonical URL (<link rel="canonical">) points to a different URL than the page being accessed. This tells search engines to index the canonical URL instead of the current one.

When this is intentional

A mismatched canonical is correct in these cases:

• Content syndication — Republished content pointing back to the original
• Parameterized URLs — /products?color=red canonicalizing to /products
• Tracking URLs — /page?utm_source=twitter canonicalizing to /page
• www vs non-www — Consolidating to a preferred version
• HTTP to HTTPS — Pointing to the HTTPS version

When this is a problem

A mismatched canonical is wrong in these cases:

• Accidental misconfiguration — Pointing to the wrong page entirely
• Template errors — All pages canonicalizing to the homepage
• Outdated URLs — Canonical points to a moved or deleted page
• Copy-paste mistakes — Canonical copied from another page

How to check

1. Visit the canonical URL — Does it exist and show the right content?
2. Is it the "main" version? — Should search engines prefer it over this URL?
3. Check other pages — Do they all have the same canonical? (That's a bug)

How to fix it (if it's wrong)

Make the canonical self-referencing:

<!-- If the current page URL is https://example.com/my-page -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/my-page" />

Best practices

1. Every page should have a canonical — Self-referencing if it's the primary version
2. Use absolute URLs — Full https:// URLs, not relative paths
3. One canonical per page — Multiple canonicals will be ignored
4. Keep it consistent — Canonical, og:url, and hreflang should align