Canonical URL Checker
Enter a URL to fetch the page and extract its canonical link tag — see exactly what URL search engines are told to treat as the authoritative version.
Overview
The `<link rel="canonical">` tag is a critical SEO signal. It tells search engines which URL is the definitive version of a page when duplicate or similar content exists at multiple URLs (such as with URL parameters, HTTP vs HTTPS, or www vs non-www variants). Incorrect or missing canonical tags can lead to duplicate content issues that dilute your ranking signals.
This tool fetches any public URL and extracts its canonical tag, so you can quickly audit whether a page declares the right canonical — and catch misconfigurations before they affect search performance.
How It Works
- Enter the full URL you want to check.
- Complete the verification check if shown.
- The tool fetches the page and extracts the canonical tag from its HTML head.
- Review the declared canonical URL, or see a clear message if none is set.
Use Cases
Duplicate Content Auditing
Verify that paginated pages, filter URLs, or tracking-parameter URLs correctly canonicalize to a clean base URL.
Migration Validation
After a URL migration, confirm that old URLs point their canonical to the new destination — or that new URLs self-canonicalize correctly.
Tips
- A self-referencing canonical is the recommended best practice — every indexable page should explicitly declare itself as its own canonical, even when there are no duplicates.
- Google may choose to ignore your canonical hint if it detects strong signals that another URL is more appropriate. Check your GSC Coverage report if canonicals are not being respected.
FAQ
No — it fetches only the single URL you enter and reads its HTML head for a canonical tag. No further crawling is done.
The tool will clearly say no canonical was found. This is not necessarily an error — some CMS systems do not output canonical tags by default — but adding one is generally recommended.