Setting up canonical tags in Webflow is crucial for indicating republished articles and ensuring that Google recognizes the correct canonical URL for your site, especially when you have multiple custom domains connected to Webflow. To accomplish this, follow these steps:
1. Enable your custom domain: Before setting up canonical tags, ensure that you have connected your custom domains properly in Webflow. Go to your project settings and navigate to the Hosting tab. Add each custom domain you want to use, and make sure you have verified ownership for each domain.
2. Determine the primary domain: Decide which custom domain should be considered the primary domain for SEO purposes. This is the domain you want Google to recognize as the canonical URL for your site.
3. Enable the Canonical URL setting: In your Webflow project settings, go to the SEO tab. Scroll down to the "Canonical URL" section, and toggle the switch to enable it.
4. Set the primary domain as the default URL: In the "Choose a default domain" dropdown, select the primary custom domain you want to designate as the canonical URL. This will ensure that all your pages use this domain as the canonical URL by default.
5. Assign the correct canonical URL for republished articles: When you republish articles on different custom domains, you need to specify the canonical URL to avoid duplicate content issues. To do this, open the page settings for each republished article. In the SEO tab, scroll down to the "Canonical URL" field, and manually enter the primary domain URL for your site. This tells Google that the republished article should be associated with the primary domain as the canonical URL.
6. Test and verify canonical tags: Once you have set up the canonical tags, it's important to verify their correctness. Use SEO auditing tools like Google Search Console to discover and fix any issues related to canonical URLs. Monitor the indexed pages and the reported canonical URLs to ensure alignment with your intentions.
By following these steps, you can effectively set up canonical tags in Webflow, indicating republished articles while ensuring Google recognizes the correct canonical URL, even with multiple custom domains connected to Webflow. Remember to regularly monitor and maintain your canonical tags to ensure optimal SEO performance.