<b>Google ignores 23.8% of declared canonicals</b>

<b>Google ignores 23.8% of declared canonicals</b>
We compared rel=canonical declarations against GSC's chosen canonical on 94 sites (212k URLs).

— Google honored your canonical: 76.2% ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓░░
— Google picked a different URL: 23.8% ▓▓░░░░░░░░

Canonical is a hint, not a directive — and a quarter of the time Google overrides it. The override rate climbed sharply with conflicting signals: a canonical pointing one way while internal links, sitemaps, and hreflang pointed another (r ≈ 0.69 between signal conflict and override).

The most-ignored pattern: cross-domain canonicals and canonicals to a URL that itself redirects.

So what: a canonical tag is a vote, not a law. Win the election by aligning every signal — inlinks, sitemap, hreflang, and 200-status target — behind the same URL. Conflicting signals invite Google to pick for you.