Content Strategy & SEO

TightKnit
Member

Google not indexing "alternate page with proper canonical tag"

SOLVE
Hey all, 

I'm getting emails from Google search console. See below, the reference is for my main URL. Do I need to change a setting? 
 

Search Console has identified that some pages on your site are not being indexed due to the following new reason:

0 Upvotes
1 Accepted solution
karstenkoehler
Solution
Hall of Famer | Partner
Hall of Famer | Partner

Google not indexing "alternate page with proper canonical tag"

SOLVE

Hi @TightKnit,

 

The email from Google Search Console means that some pages on your site aren't being indexed because they are marked as alternate versions of other pages using canonical tags. This isn't necessarily a problem if the canonical tags are set up correctly.

 

A canonical tag tells search engines which version of a page is the "main" one to index, helping avoid duplicate content issues. If the alternate pages aren’t meant to rank on their own, this is expected behavior, and you don’t need to change anything.

 

However, if pages that should be indexed are being flagged, you might need to review the canonical tags. Check whether the URLs listed in the report are pointing to the correct canonical version and that the main page is indexed properly. Tools like Screaming Frog or Google’s URL Inspection tool can help you dig into this.

 

If everything looks fine and aligns with your site's structure, there's no need to worry. But if you’re unsure, share more details, and we can help you figure it out!

Karsten Köhler
HubSpot Freelancer | RevOps & CRM Consultant | Community Hall of Famer

Beratungstermin mit Karsten vereinbaren

 

Did my post help answer your query? Help the community by marking it as a solution.

View solution in original post

2 Replies 2
VPathania
Participant

Google not indexing "alternate page with proper canonical tag"

SOLVE

I second @karstenkoehler's reply. This is the expected behavior of Google, however, do you need to change anything or not it totally depends.
If the pages are duplicates and the canonical tags are set to the correct page, you do not need to change anything.
If the canonical tag points to the wrong page you'll need to update the tags on those pages to point to the correct version. For example, if the tag is mistakenly set to the canonical of a different page, Google might ignore important pages that should be indexed.

 

How to fix it?

  • In Google Search Console, you can go to the report to find the exact pages that are being affected. Look for the pages with the reason "Alternate page with proper canonical tag".
  • For each of the affected pages, inspect the HTML source code to ensure the canonical tag is correctly pointing to the intended primary page.
  • If the canonical tag is incorrect, update it to point to the correct page URL.
  • After making any necessary changes, you can request Google to re-crawl and index the updated pages by using the URL Inspection Tool in Search Console.
0 Upvotes
karstenkoehler
Solution
Hall of Famer | Partner
Hall of Famer | Partner

Google not indexing "alternate page with proper canonical tag"

SOLVE

Hi @TightKnit,

 

The email from Google Search Console means that some pages on your site aren't being indexed because they are marked as alternate versions of other pages using canonical tags. This isn't necessarily a problem if the canonical tags are set up correctly.

 

A canonical tag tells search engines which version of a page is the "main" one to index, helping avoid duplicate content issues. If the alternate pages aren’t meant to rank on their own, this is expected behavior, and you don’t need to change anything.

 

However, if pages that should be indexed are being flagged, you might need to review the canonical tags. Check whether the URLs listed in the report are pointing to the correct canonical version and that the main page is indexed properly. Tools like Screaming Frog or Google’s URL Inspection tool can help you dig into this.

 

If everything looks fine and aligns with your site's structure, there's no need to worry. But if you’re unsure, share more details, and we can help you figure it out!

Karsten Köhler
HubSpot Freelancer | RevOps & CRM Consultant | Community Hall of Famer

Beratungstermin mit Karsten vereinbaren

 

Did my post help answer your query? Help the community by marking it as a solution.