[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"glossary:\u002Fglossary\u002Falternate-page-with-proper-canonical-tag":3,"glossary-related:\u002Fglossary\u002Falternate-page-with-proper-canonical-tag":618},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"body":7,"bottomLine":557,"cluster":558,"cta":559,"date":560,"definition":561,"description":562,"draft":563,"extension":564,"factChecker":565,"faq":566,"image":565,"meta":582,"meta_description":583,"meta_title":584,"navigation":585,"path":586,"related":587,"reviewer":565,"seo":588,"sitemap":589,"sources":590,"stem":609,"summary":610,"takeaways":611,"term":260,"tier":550,"updated":565,"__hash__":617},"glossary\u002Fglossary\u002Falternate-page-with-proper-canonical-tag.md","What Does \"Alternate Page With Proper Canonical Tag\" Mean?","sebastian",{"type":8,"value":9,"toc":545},"minimark",[10,15,26,70,85,98,102,110,172,190,194,207,330,336,339,357,361,414,418,432,448,452,513,521,525],[11,12,14],"h2",{"id":13},"what-alternate-page-with-proper-canonical-tag-means","What \"Alternate page with proper canonical tag\" means",[16,17,18,19,23,24],"p",{},"The status sits in the \"Not indexed\" group of the Page indexing report. Google's description is three sentences: the page is marked as an alternate of another page; it correctly points to the canonical page, which is indexed, so there is nothing you need to do; and alternate language pages are not detected by Search Console. ",[20,21],"cite-ref",{"n":22},"1"," The examples Google gives for an alternate are an AMP page with a desktop canonical, a mobile version of a desktop canonical, or the desktop version of a mobile canonical. ",[20,25],{"n":22},[27,28,29,42],"table",{},[30,31,32],"thead",{},[33,34,35,39],"tr",{},[36,37,38],"th",{},"Part of the label",[36,40,41],{},"What Google found",[43,44,45,54,62],"tbody",{},[33,46,47,51],{},[48,49,50],"td",{},"Alternate page",[48,52,53],{},"The page is one of a set of pages that share the same primary content.",[33,55,56,59],{},[48,57,58],{},"Proper canonical tag",[48,60,61],{},"The page declares a canonical URL, and Google accepted that URL as the canonical.",[33,63,64,67],{},[48,65,66],{},"(Not indexed)",[48,68,69],{},"Google indexed the canonical URL and left this one out.",[16,71,72,73,76,77,79,80,84],{},"The URL Inspection tool describes the same situation from the page's side. A page that is one of a set of alternate pages should declare its canonical explicitly, while a page that is not an alternate can leave the \"User-declared canonical\" field at \"None\". ",[20,74],{"n":75},"4"," Inspecting a URL in this status returns the verdict \"URL is an alternate version\", and the indexed URL appears as the Google-selected canonical. ",[20,78],{"n":75}," Read together, the two help pages cover more than AMP and mobile pairs: a filtered, sorted or tracking variant that carries a ",[81,82,83],"code",{},"rel=\"canonical\""," link to the clean URL is an alternate pointing at an indexed canonical, and it is reported here as well.",[16,86,87,88,91,92,94,95],{},"Behind the label is canonicalization, Google's process of selecting the representative URL for a piece of content. When Google finds multiple pages whose primary content is the same or very similar, it clusters them and marks the one it judges most complete and useful for search users as the canonical. ",[20,89],{"n":90},"2"," With this status, your ",[81,93,83],{}," link did its job. Google ranks it as a strong signal that the specified URL should become canonical, second only to a redirect, while sitemap inclusion is a weak one. ",[20,96],{"n":97},"3",[11,99,101],{"id":100},"when-to-fix-it-and-when-to-leave-it","When to fix it and when to leave it",[16,103,104,105,107,108],{},"Google's own guidance has no fix step. Duplicate or alternate pages should not be indexed, and having a page marked duplicate or alternate is usually a good thing, because it means Google found the canonical page and indexed it. ",[20,106],{"n":22}," Its usage guide adds that non-indexed URLs can be fine. ",[20,109],{"n":22},[27,111,112,122],{},[30,113,114],{},[33,115,116,119],{},[36,117,118],{},"Situation",[36,120,121],{},"Action",[43,123,124,132,140,148,158],{},[33,125,126,129],{},[48,127,128],{},"The canonical target is the URL you want ranking (a clean URL over its parameter variants)",[48,130,131],{},"Leave it. The report is doing its job.",[33,133,134,137],{},[48,135,136],{},"The listed page should rank on its own (a distinct product canonicalized to a sibling by a template)",[48,138,139],{},"Remove the canonical that points elsewhere, add a self-referencing canonical, make the content differ substantially, and request indexing.",[33,141,142,145],{},[48,143,144],{},"The canonical points the wrong way between two similar pages (the weaker page is indexed, the stronger one is the alternate)",[48,146,147],{},"Reverse it: canonical from the weaker page to the stronger, self-referencing on the page you keep.",[33,149,150,153],{},[48,151,152],{},"The alternate has no job of its own (a retired duplicate that still resolves)",[48,154,155,156],{},"Use a 301 redirect instead. Google ranks a redirect as a strong signal that its target should become canonical. ",[20,157],{"n":97},[33,159,160,163],{},[48,161,162],{},"Two similar pages are both indexed and both appear for the same query",[48,164,165,166,171],{},"Not this status. That is ",[167,168,170],"a",{"href":169},"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-is-keyword-cannibalization","keyword cannibalization",", and it never reaches the Page indexing report.",[16,173,174,175,179,180,184,185,189],{},"The last row is the one that costs traffic. This status means Google folded the variant into the canonical; cannibalization means two pages too different to fold are both indexed and ",[167,176,178],{"href":177},"\u002Fblog\u002Finternal-keyword-cannibalization","trading positions for the same query",". The ",[167,181,183],{"href":182},"\u002Fkeyword-cannibalization-checker","Keyword Cannibalization Checker"," reads Search Console data and lists the page pairs that compete on the same queries, with a merge, canonical, de-optimize or differentiate recommendation for each; ",[167,186,188],{"href":187},"\u002Fblog\u002Fmerge-or-redirect-competing-seo-pages","merge or redirect competing pages"," explains how to choose between them.",[11,191,193],{"id":192},"example-one-product-page-five-urls","Example: one product page, five URLs",[16,195,196,197,201,202,206],{},"The table below is constructed to illustrate the pattern. Each row is a URL as it appears in the Page indexing report and URL Inspection, with 28 days of ",[167,198,200],{"href":199},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fsearch-console-clicks","clicks"," from the ",[167,203,205],{"href":204},"\u002Fblog\u002Fanalyze-seo-performance-with-google-search-console","Performance report",".",[27,208,209,228],{},[30,210,211],{},[33,212,213,216,219,222,225],{},[36,214,215],{},"URL",[36,217,218],{},"Page indexing status",[36,220,221],{},"User-declared canonical",[36,223,224],{},"Google-selected canonical",[36,226,227],{},"Clicks (28 days)",[43,229,230,251,272,291,310],{},[33,231,232,237,240,244,248],{},[48,233,234],{},[81,235,236],{},"\u002Fjackets\u002Frain-shell",[48,238,239],{},"Page is indexed",[48,241,242],{},[81,243,236],{},[48,245,246],{},[81,247,236],{},[48,249,250],{},"860",[33,252,253,258,261,265,269],{},[48,254,255],{},[81,256,257],{},"\u002Fjackets\u002Frain-shell?color=navy",[48,259,260],{},"Alternate page with proper canonical tag",[48,262,263],{},[81,264,236],{},[48,266,267],{},[81,268,236],{},[48,270,271],{},"0",[33,273,274,279,281,285,289],{},[48,275,276],{},[81,277,278],{},"\u002Fjackets\u002Frain-shell?utm_source=newsletter",[48,280,260],{},[48,282,283],{},[81,284,236],{},[48,286,287],{},[81,288,236],{},[48,290,271],{},[33,292,293,298,300,304,308],{},[48,294,295],{},[81,296,297],{},"\u002Fjackets\u002Frain-shell-women",[48,299,260],{},[48,301,302],{},[81,303,236],{},[48,305,306],{},[81,307,236],{},[48,309,271],{},[33,311,312,317,319,323,327],{},[48,313,314],{},[81,315,316],{},"\u002Fjackets\u002Frain-shell-review",[48,318,239],{},[48,320,321],{},[81,322,316],{},[48,324,325],{},[81,326,316],{},[48,328,329],{},"140",[16,331,332,333],{},"Rows two and three are the status working as intended. The variants declare the clean product URL as canonical, Google accepted it, and nothing needs doing. Their zero clicks are not a loss: click, impression and position data for all variations of a page are assigned to the canonical URL Google selects, so the 860 clicks on row one already include visits that landed on the variants. ",[20,334],{"n":335},"5",[16,337,338],{},"Row four is the hidden problem. The women's cut is a separate product with its own search demand, but the product template wrote the men's URL into its canonical tag. The status is correct from Google's side, but the women's page cannot appear in Search while the tag stays. That is the second row of the decision table, and no report flags it as an error.",[16,340,341,342,346,347,351,352,356],{},"Row five is the opposite case. The review page shares most of its text with the product page, but Google did not fold it, so both are indexed and both can show for \"rain shell\". It is not a Page indexing problem; it shows up in the Performance report as two pages splitting ",[167,343,345],{"href":344},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fsearch-console-impressions","impressions"," for one query, as in the ",[167,348,350],{"href":349},"\u002Fblog\u002Fkeyword-cannibalization-examples","cannibalization examples"," post. A ",[167,353,355],{"href":354},"\u002Fblog\u002Fkeyword-mapping-prevent-cannibalization","keyword map"," with one URL per query keeps row five from being written in the first place.",[11,358,360],{"id":359},"how-to-check-it","How to check it",[362,363,364,370,378,381,402],"ol",{},[365,366,367,368],"li",{},"Open the Page indexing report, click \"Alternate page with proper canonical tag\" in the \"Why pages aren't indexed\" table, and read the examples. The list is limited to 1,000 rows and does not necessarily show every affected URL. ",[20,369],{"n":22},[365,371,372,373,375,376],{},"Inspect each URL that matters with the URL Inspection tool. \"User-declared canonical\" shows what the page declares; \"Google-selected canonical\" shows the page Google chose as authoritative when it found similar pages on your site. ",[20,374],{"n":75}," For this status the two match. The Google-selected value can be a few hours out of date from the index. ",[20,377],{"n":75},[365,379,380],{},"Ask whether the Google-selected canonical is the page you want ranking. If it is, stop.",[365,382,383,384,387,388,391,392,394,395,399,400],{},"If it is not, change the ",[81,385,386],{},"\u003Clink rel=\"canonical\">"," in the page's ",[81,389,390],{},"\u003Chead>"," to point at the page itself, using an absolute URL, and do not use robots.txt or noindex to steer the choice. ",[20,393],{"n":97}," Then ",[167,396,398],{"href":397},"\u002Fblog\u002Frequest-indexing-google-search-console","request indexing"," for the page. A request does not guarantee indexing, and the live test cannot predict whether a URL will be treated as canonical. ",[20,401],{"n":75},[365,403,404,405,409,410,206],{},"Re-inspect after the next crawl. If Google still selects the other URL although the tag now points at the page itself, see ",[167,406,408],{"href":407},"\u002Fblog\u002Fgoogle-chooses-different-canonical-urls","why Google chooses different canonical URLs",". The five fixes for near-duplicate pages are in ",[167,411,413],{"href":412},"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-find-and-fix-keyword-cannibalization","how to fix keyword cannibalization",[11,415,417],{"id":416},"the-thing-people-get-wrong","The thing people get wrong",[419,420,421],"blockquote",{},[16,422,423,424,426,427,429,430],{},"Hundreds of URLs under \"Not indexed\" look like hundreds of problems, so every alternate gets a redirect or a noindex tag. Google says the opposite: having a page marked duplicate or alternate is usually a good thing, because the canonical was found and indexed. ",[20,425],{"n":22}," And noindex is the wrong tool for canonical selection within one site, because it blocks the page from Search completely; Google names ",[81,428,83],{}," annotations as the preferred solution. ",[20,431],{"n":97},[16,433,434,435,437,438,442,443,447],{},"The mirror mistake is reading the alternate's empty Performance row as lost rankings. Nothing was lost; the data is credited to the canonical URL. ",[20,436],{"n":335}," Watch the canonical's own ",[167,439,441],{"href":440},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fsearch-console-average-position","average position"," and ",[167,444,446],{"href":445},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fsearch-console-ctr","CTR",", not the alternate's zeros.",[11,449,451],{"id":450},"alternate-page-with-proper-canonical-tag-vs-the-other-canonical-statuses","Alternate page with proper canonical tag vs the other canonical statuses",[27,453,454,470],{},[30,455,456],{},[33,457,458,461,464,467],{},[36,459,460],{},"Status",[36,462,463],{},"You declared a canonical",[36,465,466],{},"Google agreed",[36,468,469],{},"What it means",[43,471,472,484,501],{},[33,473,474,476,479,481],{},[48,475,260],{},[48,477,478],{},"Yes",[48,480,478],{},[48,482,483],{},"The page points to a canonical that is indexed. Nothing to do unless the canonical is wrong.",[33,485,486,492,495,498],{},[48,487,488],{},[167,489,491],{"href":490},"\u002Fglossary\u002Fduplicate-without-user-selected-canonical","Duplicate without user-selected canonical",[48,493,494],{},"No",[48,496,497],{},"n\u002Fa",[48,499,500],{},"Google found a duplicate with no declared canonical and chose one for you. Check whether you agree.",[33,502,503,506,508,510],{},[48,504,505],{},"Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user",[48,507,478],{},[48,509,494],{},[48,511,512],{},"Google thinks another URL makes a better canonical and indexed that one instead of your choice.",[16,514,515,516,518,519],{},"Google's note on the second status is that it is not an error but working as intended, because Google does not serve duplicate pages. ",[20,517],{"n":22}," Its note on the third is that a declared canonical which is not similar to the page will never be chosen. ",[20,520],{"n":22},[11,522,524],{"id":523},"where-the-report-can-mislead","Where the report can mislead",[16,526,527,528,530,531,533,534,536,537,539,540,542,543],{},"The example list is capped at 1,000 rows and is not guaranteed to show every URL in the status. ",[20,529],{"n":22}," Alternate language pages are not detected by this status, so hreflang variants are missing from it, even though Google prefers URLs in hreflang clusters as canonicals. ",[20,532],{"n":22}," ",[20,535],{"n":97}," Performance data normally goes to the canonical, but Google notes that in some cases data might be assigned to the actual URL instead, so a few clicks on an alternate are not proof that it is indexed. ",[20,538],{"n":335}," The live test in URL Inspection cannot test this status at all, because Google's canonical choice is determined at indexing time. ",[20,541],{"n":75}," If you change a canonical and validate the fix, validation typically takes up to about two weeks. ",[20,544],{"n":22},{"title":546,"searchDepth":547,"depth":547,"links":548},"",3,[549,551,552,553,554,555,556],{"id":13,"depth":550,"text":14},2,{"id":100,"depth":550,"text":101},{"id":192,"depth":550,"text":193},{"id":359,"depth":550,"text":360},{"id":416,"depth":550,"text":417},{"id":450,"depth":550,"text":451},{"id":523,"depth":550,"text":524},"\"Alternate page with proper canonical tag\" is Search Console confirming that your canonical worked. The page points at another URL, and Google indexed that URL instead of this one. The one decision is whether the canonical target is the page you wanted ranking. If it is, leave the status alone; if it is not, fix the canonical on the page itself and check the Google-selected canonical in URL Inspection after the next crawl.","search-console","index","2026-11-09","Alternate page with proper canonical tag is a Page indexing status in Google Search Console. It means the page is marked as an alternate of another page, points correctly to a canonical URL that Google has indexed, and is therefore left out of the index on purpose. Google's note on it reads that there is nothing you need to do.","What the status means, why Google calls it a good sign, the two cases where it hides a real problem, and how to check the canonical in URL Inspection.",false,"md",null,[567,570,573,576,579],{"q":568,"a":569},"Is \"Alternate page with proper canonical tag\" bad?","No. Google's description of the status ends by saying there is nothing you need to do, because the page points to a canonical page that is indexed, and Google adds that having a page marked duplicate or alternate is usually a good thing. It is a problem only when the listed URL is one you wanted indexed on its own.",{"q":571,"a":572},"How do I fix \"Alternate page with proper canonical tag\"?","Usually you do not. If the listed page should rank on its own, remove the canonical that points elsewhere, add a self-referencing canonical with an absolute URL, make sure the content differs substantially from the former canonical, and request indexing. Then re-inspect the URL after the next crawl.",{"q":574,"a":575},"Why does an alternate page show no clicks or impressions in the Performance report?","Search Console assigns click, impression and position data for all variations of a page to the canonical URL Google selects. The alternate's traffic is counted under the canonical, so the alternate itself shows nothing in the Performance report.",{"q":577,"a":578},"What is the difference from \"Duplicate without user-selected canonical\"?","Both mean Google indexed another URL instead of this one. \"Alternate page with proper canonical tag\" means you declared a canonical and Google agreed with it. \"Duplicate without user-selected canonical\" means you declared none and Google chose a canonical for you.",{"q":580,"a":581},"Should I redirect or noindex alternate pages?","Not because of this status. Google does not recommend noindex to steer canonical selection within one site, because it blocks the page from Search entirely, and a redirect is only right when the alternate URL has no job of its own, such as a retired duplicate.",{},"What \"Alternate page with proper canonical tag\" means in Search Console, why Google says nothing needs doing, and the two cases where it hides a problem.","Alternate Page With Proper Canonical Tag: Meaning + Fix",true,"\u002Fglossary\u002Falternate-page-with-proper-canonical-tag",[490,407,187,412,349,169,397,344],{"title":5,"description":562},{"loc":586},[591,596,600,603,606],{"publisher":592,"name":593,"url":594,"accessed":595},"Google Search Console Help","Page indexing report","https:\u002F\u002Fsupport.google.com\u002Fwebmasters\u002Fanswer\u002F7440203","2026-11-06",{"publisher":597,"name":598,"url":599,"accessed":595},"Google Search Central","What is canonicalization","https:\u002F\u002Fdevelopers.google.com\u002Fsearch\u002Fdocs\u002Fcrawling-indexing\u002Fcanonicalization",{"publisher":597,"name":601,"url":602,"accessed":595},"How to specify a canonical URL with rel=\"canonical\" and other methods","https:\u002F\u002Fdevelopers.google.com\u002Fsearch\u002Fdocs\u002Fcrawling-indexing\u002Fconsolidate-duplicate-urls",{"publisher":592,"name":604,"url":605,"accessed":595},"URL Inspection tool","https:\u002F\u002Fsupport.google.com\u002Fwebmasters\u002Fanswer\u002F9012289",{"publisher":592,"name":607,"url":608,"accessed":595},"What are impressions, position, and clicks?","https:\u002F\u002Fsupport.google.com\u002Fwebmasters\u002Fanswer\u002F7042828","glossary\u002Falternate-page-with-proper-canonical-tag","Page indexing status: the page points to a canonical URL Google indexed, so it is excluded on purpose.",[612,613,614,615,616],"Google lists the status under \"Not indexed\" and says there is nothing you need to do, because the page points to a canonical that is indexed.","Google's examples of an alternate are AMP and mobile\u002Fdesktop pairs; URL Inspection treats any page in a set of alternates that declares its canonical the same way.","It hides a problem only when the listed URL is one you wanted indexed on its own, usually because a template or plugin added the canonical.","Clicks, impressions and position for the alternate are credited to the canonical URL, so the alternate shows nothing in the Performance report.","Alternate language pages are not detected by the status, and the example list stops at 1,000 rows.","HMNuNuhoYgwbebwJMfLhvH-fjFyDE9RFqNozZME_m6U",[619,621,623,626,628,630,633,635],{"path":490,"label":491,"summary":620},"Page indexing status: Google judged the URL a duplicate, no canonical was declared, and it indexed another URL instead.",{"path":407,"label":622,"summary":565},"Why Does Google Choose Different Canonical URLs?",{"path":187,"label":624,"summary":625},"Content consolidation","Merging or redirecting competing pages so one URL carries all the signals that were split between them.",{"path":412,"label":627,"summary":565},"How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization (5 Fixes + a Decision Table)",{"path":349,"label":629,"summary":565},"7 Real Keyword Cannibalization Examples (and the Fix)",{"path":169,"label":631,"summary":632},"Keyword cannibalization","Two or more of your own pages ranking for the same query with the same intent, splitting clicks and ranking signals.",{"path":397,"label":634,"summary":565},"How to Request Indexing in Google Search Console (and When It Helps)",{"path":344,"label":636,"summary":637},"Impressions (Search Console)","Counted each time a link to your site appears in a loaded page of search results, whether or not anyone clicks it."]