When Google ignores your canonical

When Google ignores your canonical

Google treats rel=canonical as a hint, not a directive. Across 96 large sites, share of declared canonicals that Google overrode:

— median override rate: 8.7% ▓▓▓▓░░░░░░
— p90 (signal-conflict sites): 24.1% ▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

Top predictor of override: canonical pointing to a URL that itself 301s, is noindexed, or isn't internally linked. Self-conflicting canonicals were overridden 4.3× more often.

So what: a canonical must point to a live, 200, internally-linked, indexable URL — and that target must canonical to itself. Audit "Google-selected ≠ declared" in your coverage report; it's the cleanest signal of canonical debt.