Canonicalization & Error Free Web Site Linking : Canonicalization & Error Free Web Site Linking Identifying and Remedying Internal and External Linking Errors in Web Sites
© Jagdeep Singh Pannu
Choosing a Preferred Domain : Choosing a Preferred Domain Site owners need to identify the preferred domain of their websites that they want to promote. To illustrate, every site owner needs to choose from:
http://example.com
OR
http://www.example.com
It is assumed in this presentation that the latter is the preferred domain.
Set Domain Preference for Google : Set Domain Preference for Google Google’s Webmaster Tools also allows webmasters to set a domain preference:
“If www.example.com and example.com point to the same site, you can tell us here how you want URLs to display in our index.”
The Importance of Correct Linking : The Importance of Correct Linking Strict guidelines need to be followed when linking within a web site; this is important for an optimal website linking structure for ranking on the search engines.
Also, over time, a website can have a number of “erratic” links pointing towards it. The following slides show some typical erratic linking practices and suggested remedies.
Internal Linking Errors: Home Page : Internal Linking Errors: Home Page Search engines have to Canonicalize multiple URLs having the same information.
Home Page Example 1:
linking to the home page using different URLs.
When linking to the home page from other internal pages of a site, only link to: http://www.example.com/
And not to: http://www.example.com/index.aspx
Internal Linking Errors: Home Page : Internal Linking Errors: Home Page To avoid Canonicalization by the search engines in Home Page Linking
Home Page Example 2:
When linking to the home page from other internal pages of a site, do not link to: http://example.com/
or
http://example.com/index.aspx
But link to:
http://www.example.com/
Website Linking Errors: Internal Pages : Website Linking Errors: Internal Pages
To avoid Canonicalization: When linking to any internal page of a site from other pages of the site, you should link to:
http://www.example.com/page.aspx
And not to:
http://example.com/page.aspx
Erratic External Linking : Erratic External Linking External links to a website are not directly under a webmaster’s control, so most websites have links from external sites pointing towards URLs that are typically canonicalized by the search engines or towards the index page of the root folder (index.htm/index.aspx etc.); this is not desirable, because ranking weight gets divided over URLs, which the search engines recognize as unique.
A higher ranking weight to the desired page is possible by correcting this with a 301 redirect.
301 Redirection for Erratic External Linking : 301 Redirection for Erratic External Linking Fix a 301 redirect from non-desired URLs to desired URLs:
http://www.example.com/index.aspx to http://www.example.com/
http://example.com/ to http://www.example.com/
http://example.com/index.aspx to http://www.example.com/
http://example.com/examplefolder/page.aspx to http://www.example.com/examplefolder/page.aspx
Check Server Header Response : Check Server Header Response After taking necessary action for a 301 redirect, it is important to check the server header response, which should only be a 301 redirect and never a 302 response.
You can use one of the many server header checking tools available on the net. I like to use this tool.
About Jagdeep Singh Pannu : About Jagdeep Singh Pannu This presentation has been authored by Jagdeep Singh Pannu.
Jagdeep is involved in result based Internet marketing partnership.
Contact Jagdeep: jpannu at gmail dot com