How can I effectively remove the canonical tag from certain product pages?

[interiorexpert]

Hi together,

I want to remove the canonical tag from some product pages, but it does not work. I am able to change the canonical URL, but deleting doesn't work.

If I change the code in theme.liquid like that, it works:

{% if handle contains 'pmc' %}
    <link rel="canonical" <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.pazls.de/test"/>
    {% else %}
    <link rel="canonical" href="{{ canonical_url }}"/>
{% endif %}

On pages containing the URL handle 'pmc' the canonical URL is https://www.pazls.de/test

If I change the code like that, I would expect that there is no canonical tag anymore:

{% if handle contains 'pmc' %}
    
    {% else %}
    <link rel="canonical" href="{{ canonical_url }}"/>
{% endif %}

 But it doesn't work (also when I use a solution with %unless% instead of the solution above). I can still see a canonical tag with {{canonical_url}} in the code. 

Why can I still see a canonical URL? And how can we remove it?

For explanation why we are doing that. We are marking pages containing URL handle 'pmc' as no index:

{% if handle contains 'pmc' %}
<meta name="robots" content="noindex">
{% endif %}

We don't want to confuse crawlers. It doesn't make too much sense to mark something as 'noindex' and having a canonical tag at the same time...

Thanks for your help in advance :). 

[safetyglasses]

Hi, Canonical tags affect SEO from two points of view. For once, they directly influence how search results display. They can also influence the general rankings of a website due to multiple factors, such as structure, user experience and PageRank flow. 

1. In the main menu, click Administration  Settings> Advanced >System >Content Locations.
2. Deselect Disable canonical URLs checkbox. For new sites, the checkbox is deselected, by default.
3. Click Save changes.
4. Perform one of the following:

[interiorexpert]

@safetyglasses thanks for your answer 🙂

Unfortunately I cannot find the path you described. When I click on settings in the main menu I cannot see "Advanced". On which Shopify plan are you?

[drakedev]

If you are settings meta noindex, there's no need to remove the canonical url. Google will not index your page.

[interiorexpert]

Yes it's not getting indexed, but our SEO expert says it's not good because it sends contradictory signals to the crawler, so it maybe affects the ranking.

Nevertheless I would be interested why Shopify doesn't allow that there's no canonocial URL.

[drakedev]

Talk with your SEO expert, if a page is indexed, it should have also a canonical.

[interiorexpert]

Hi @drakedev, thx for your answer.

The topic is about pages NOT being indexed and having a canonical at the same time in Shopify

[interiorexpert]

Is there any SEO expert that also does not want to have a canonical tag for pages that are not indexed, and knows a solution for that?

The Shopify support told me to ask a Shopify expert, but it seems that this a technical issue that can only be solved by Shopify itself...

[stephanua]

see this thread:

https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/duplicate-content-same-page-with-different-url/t...

[Matei86]

I'm an SEO expert and I can confirm that a canonical tag should NOT be present on noindex pages. Even if I'm removing <link rel="canonical" href="{{ canonical_url }}"> completely, the canonical tag is still displayed. Shopify team, is there a solution to this?

[Joseph1122]

• To turn on canonical links for all static pages, click Administration » Settings » Advanced » System » Content Locations » Page Default Canonical Url Settings and select Enable Pages default canonical URL tag checkbox.
• To turn on canonical links for an individual static page, perform the following:
  
  1. Open the Actions menu of the Page and then choose Title & Properties.
  2. Expand the Advanced options section.
  3. In the Canonical Urls dropdown box, select whether you want to enable or disable canonical URLs for the page. 

[Amantrika]

I can not find these option can you please help share a screenshot or something