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

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1

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' %}
    
    {% else %}
    
{% 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 %}
    
{% 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' %}

{% 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 :).

1 Like
2

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:
3

@safetyglasses thanks for your answer :slightly_smiling_face:

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?

4

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

5

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.

6

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

7

Hi @drakedev , thx for your answer.

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

8

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…

9

see this thread:

https://community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/duplicate-content-same-page-with-different-url/td-p/392224

10

  • 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.
11

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

12

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 completely, the canonical tag is still displayed. Shopify team, is there a solution to this?