Google Clarifies Cross-Domain Canonicals Guidance For Non-News Content

 

Syndicated content refers to the practice of distributing the same content on many websites. Google has updated its advice on cross-domain canonicals for syndicated content. By using the canonical link element, you can indicate to search engines that a given page is a duplicate and should not be ranked as highly. It also includes a link to the definitive version of the article (the "canonical page").

The recent update to Google's page on addressing canonical issues has deleted advise on cross-domain canonicals and added fresh recommendations. Cross-domain canonicals are discouraged in the revised recommendations for syndicated content. The best way for collaborators to prevent content duplication is to prevent indexing.

Google News' treatment of syndicated news content has not changed as a result of this update. Google has not altered their recommendation that news publishers who syndicate their material keep using cross-domain canonicals.

The Term "Cross-Domain Canonicals" Is Defined

When a duplicate page exists on two different websites (domains), it is considered a cross-domain canonical. Using the canonical link element, you can specify that the material first appeared on a news site, even if it has since been reprinted elsewhere on the Internet.

Cross-domain canonicals are used primarily for one reason: to prevent problems with duplicate material. Duplicate content can harm search engine rankings and confuse consumers who are looking for unique material. Publishers can direct search engines to the most authoritative version of their information by using cross-domain canonicals.

New Google Update

Due to Google's recent update on cross-domain canonicals for syndicated content, the recommendation to use cross-domain canonicals to avoid duplicate content has been deleted from the Crawling and Indexing Guidance. Using cross-domain canonicals for syndicated content is discouraged, as the update clearly notes. It is not advised to utilize a cross-domain canonical because the pages that syndicate the material are typically extremely different.

If a publisher wants to prevent Googlebot-News from crawling and indexing content that was syndicated to another website, the content's syndication partner should utilize the "noindex" meta robots tag directive. Googlebot-News should only crawl and index articles from the original news source.

How to prevent duplicate articles in Google News is covered in Google's guidelines for news publishers. When dealing with news that has been syndicated, there are two options: Both internal and external news material syndication are considered "news syndication." The "rel=canonical" tag allows publishers to specify that a given page is the canonical version of another. The second choice requires publishers to instruct their syndication partners to employ the "noindex" meta robots tag directive so that the syndicated information published on third-party websites is not crawled and indexed by Googlebot-News.

Effect on Webmasters and Search Engine Optimizers

Website administrators and search engine optimizers dealing with syndicated content should consider the implications of the new guidance on cross-domain canonicals. Website owners will need to reevaluate their strategies for dealing with duplicate content on third-party sites now that it is no longer recommended to employ cross-domain canonicals for syndicated content that is not news.

According to Google's recommendations, one solution is to employ the noindex meta robots tag directive. By using this tag, you can tell search engine spiders to skip a page and therefore avoid any duplicate content issues. This method, however, necessitates the participation of external websites, which is not always feasible.

Instead of merely republishing current content, another alternative is to develop original material specifically for syndication partners. This can be useful for preventing duplicate content issues and giving syndication partners more for their money.

The new recommendations for cross-domain canonicals stress the significance of keeping an eye on and controlling duplicate material for SEOs. SEOs have a responsibility to monitor their clients' websites for signs of duplicate content and address these concerns accordingly.

Publishers of syndicated news content can continue to use cross-domain canonicals as directed by Google's current guidelines, which have not changed.

The updated recommendations for cross-domain canonicals emphasize the significance of managing syndicated material effectively to prevent duplicate content concerns. To avoid receiving duplicate content penalties, website owners and SEOs should carefully study the recommendations and take necessary action.

Canonicalizing syndicated content? Check out Google's latest recommendations.

https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/canonicalization-troubleshooting#syndicated-content

https://support.google.com/news/publisher-center/answer/9606800