Check that the canonical link names the right host
Why it matters
The canonical link names a different host of your domain than the one the page was served from, for example a staging or old subdomain. If that is not deliberate, search engines index the other host instead of this one.
The fix
- Check whether the other host is the one you want to rank. If the site is meant to live on the host in the canonical, redirect this host to it; otherwise change the canonical to the preferred address.
- Find where the host comes from (a base URL setting, an environment variable, a template) and fix it at the source, then use the same address in the sitemap and in internal links.
html
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/"> The examples use example.com. Replace it with your own domain.
Related
- Reported by the SEO basics check
- Add a title to the homepage
- Add a meta description to the homepage
- Add a canonical link to the homepage
- Fix the canonical link on the homepage
- Point the canonical link at your own domain
- Add Open Graph tags for link previews
- Complete the Open Graph tags
- Add a viewport meta tag
- Make the viewport follow the device width
- Replace the default WordPress tagline in the title
- Fill in the empty part of the homepage title
- Change the canonical link to https
Scan your domain to see whether this applies to you.