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Canonical link and hreflang

Read what a content page tells search engines about its other addresses, and change it for one content item.

Needs Sites Metatag

Part of Sites Metatag.

Content that several sites show has an address on each of them. Two kinds of link in the head of the page say how these addresses relate.

The canonical link names the one address search engines should index. Each site decides where it points:

  • The content's canonical site, the default: Globex showing a page of Acme names the page on Acme.
  • This site: every site names its own page.
  • None (Sites adds no canonical link).

Under the default, a site's own version of the content names that site (Adjust content for one site). On sites with a region, the link stays within the site's region.

A platform administrator sets Canonical link and Region in the site's Identity section (SEO); the site's settings sections do not show them.

The hreflang alternates

The hreflang alternates name the translations of the content on the site the canonical link names, in the languages that site speaks. Where every site showing the content has a region, they name each site's version per language and region, like de-AT. An x-default alternate names the fallback, the version on the content's canonical site where the set has one.

A page carries the alternates on the site its canonical link names, or on every site when all of them have a region, and only when there are at least two.

Change them for one content item

Before you start

  • The content type has a meta tags field, which a platform administrator adds.

Steps

  1. Edit the content and open the meta tags field in the sidebar.
  2. Under Advanced, choose the Canonical URL:
    • Automatic (the site's setting), the default;
    • The site serving the page;
    • The canonical site of the content;
    • Deactivated (Sites sets no canonical link).
  3. Under Sites, set Hreflang alternates (Sites) to Automatic or Deactivated.
  4. Save the content.

Automatic follows the setting of the site serving the page; the other choices replace it for this content item. On pages that show no content item, Metatag's own tags apply.

The sidebar of an article form, scrolled to the Canonical URL choices in the Advanced group of the meta tags field: Automatic (the site's setting), The site serving the page, The canonical site of the content and Deactivated (Sites sets no canonical link).

The Canonical URL choices of a content item.