February 2009 marks one of the select times where search engines help you index content yourself.
Earlier this month, Google told us “carpe diem on any duplicate content worries” in a blog over at Google Webmaster Central entitled “Specify Your Canonical”.
Before you go Googling “canonical” like I did, it means “reduced to the simplest and most significant form possible without loss of generality”. In this case, a “canonical” page is a page with the most authority, and the one you prefer to show up first in search results.
If Google tends to pick up several versions of the same page on your site, you can now use the following code on every version of the page to let them know which one is king.
<link rel=”canonical” href=”http://www.example.com/product.php?item=product-1″ />
Other variations of the URL (especially in an online store setting), might be:
http://www.example.com/product.php?item=product1&category=books
http://www.example.com/product.php?item=product1&trackingid=1234&sessionid=5678
By identifying the “canonical” page in the header of all these pages, Google lets you pick which one shows up in search results. According to the article, “Additional URL properties, like PageRank and related signals, are transferred as well.”
Oh, and despite our love affair with Google, we should also mention that Yahoo! and Microsoft are on board with this new structure.
Yoast.com has come up with some plugins/extensions for WordPress, Drupal, and Magento.
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Speaking of URL best practices…
Every landing page on your site should have a URL that is optimized for search. Your Rapid Conversion Landing Pages (aka Name Squeeze Pages) should especially have keyword-rich URLs and these new canonical link tags will help them show up above any articles you might have on your site with the same keywords.
Search engines tend to index dynamic URLs (the ones with all the ampersands and question marks) at a much slower pace than static URLs. When looking at your page in a search engine, a user is more likely to click a link that has a recognizable URL string, such as one with the title of an article in the URL than one with a question mark followed by some numbers.
Like users, search engines are not only bewildered by your missing keywords, but they also identify session tags and variables as “stop signs”, pull on the reigns and yell “woahhhhh nelly”. Or something to that effect.
For more information on URL best practices for your landing pages (and every page on your site), read these recent tips:
- URL Optimization for Search Engines
Why Google hates your question marks and ampersands - Good and Bad Vanity URLs
Vanity URLs should unique, relevant, and support your brand or message
To learn more about RCLPs and other landing page templates, download our Million Dollar Landing Page Templates white paper (Mequoda Daily members must log in first).
Coool site, greate design!