Ways to Fix ‘Duplicate Without User-Selected Canonical’ Status in Google Search Console
The “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” status is caused by two issues. 1. Content duplication and 2. Usage of the canonical tag.
If a webpage is not seen by Google then there are chance that it might have an error. One of the errors that Google identifies is "Duplicate without user-selected canonical” What does it mean?
Google identified the duplicate content within your website; However, Google may not have indexed any version, as this often occurs when Google is unsure which version of identical copies is preferable or Google will automatically choose one of the pages to index.
What causes duplicate errors in the Google search console
Having duplicate content within a single website means that multiple URLs on your website display the same content, often unintentionally. This content usually takes the form of:
- Reposting old blog posts without adding any new or valuable information.
- Creating pages with identical or slightly modified content.
- Using scraped or aggregated content from other sources.
- Generating pages with poorly rewritten text using AI.
Google avoids indexing duplicate content to save resources and aims to index just one variant out of multiple duplicate pages.
To control which duplicate page gets indexed, you need to use the canonical tag.
How to check duplicate content
You can check for errors in the Google Search Console. Once you log in to GSC, you can go to pages and check for "Pages Not Indexed" and sort the pages with errors.
Alternatively, you can log in to Indexly.ai, go to "Instant Indexing" and scroll through the pages and visually you can check what pages have this error.
The best way to fix "Duplicate without user-selected canonical"
There are three different methods you can use to fix the ‘Duplicate without user-selected canonical’ status:
Method 1. Using Canonical URL
If your URL is not included with the rel="canonical"in tag, which means you’re giving away the control to Google.
Firstly, ensure that the Title, Description, and Main Content on your page are significantly different from the version selected by Google.
A rel="canonical" link element (also known as a canonical element) is an element used in the head section of HTML to indicate that another page is representative of the content on the page.
Suppose you want blog.url to be the canonical URL, indicate this URL as canonical by adding a <link> element with the attribute rel="canonical" to the <head> section of duplicate pages, pointing to the canonical page. For example:
<link rel='canonical' expr:href='blog.url'/>
Below is the link from Google to check the details
Method 2. 301 Redirects
You should set up a 301 redirect from all duplicate URLs to the preferred canonical URL. In this case, "preferred" means - both the users and search engines are permanently directed to this URL.
Here's an example of setting up 301 redirects in WordPress.
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Method 3. Submit for Re-indexing
You can login to Indexly.ai, go to "Instant Indexing," and scroll through the pages. This will display the pages that have errors.
If you already have a fix, you can submit the page for Instant Indexing and Indexly will get the page indexed within 24-48 hours. Below is the link to details on how to set up Instant Indexing with Indexly.
Conclusion
- "Duplicate without user-selected canonical" errors occur when Google finds duplicate content without a preferred URL being signaled.
- Implementing canonical tags is the best way to regain control in such situations.
- It's possible to have some duplicates indexed using self-referring canonicals, but it's important to avoid excessive duplication and focus on creating unique, high-quality content.
- A solid technical SEO strategy can help prevent duplicate content issues from occurring. - Signaling preferred URLs via canonical tags consistently is crucial for resolving indexing errors from similar content.
Supercharge your SEO with Indexly
It usually takes a few weeks for a Google bot to crawl and index your website's pages. However, Indexly can simplify this process by automatically checking your sitemaps, finding new pages, and submitting them to Google Search Console.
This reduces human effort and errors and significantly improves indexing time. When your website's pages are indexed, they rank higher on search engines, ultimately boosting organic traffic.
Log in to Indexly with your Google account and set up your website for auto-indexing now!
