As a real estate agent, you’re likely aware of the importance of having a strong online presence for your business. Building a website for your business is one of the best ways to establish that presence, but simply having a website isn’t enough. You need to ensure that your website is optimized for search engines so that potential clients can easily find you online. One term you may hear thrown around in conversations about website optimization is “canonicalization.” But what exactly is canonicalization? And how can it help you rank better on search engine results pages (SERPs)? In this blog post, we’ll dive into the topic of canonicalization and its importance for real estate websites.
What is canonicalization?
To put it simply, canonicalization is the process of selecting one URL as the preferred version of a webpage and telling search engines to consider all other versions of that page as duplicate content. This helps to avoid confusion for both users and search engines as to which page is the “original” or “parent” page. For example, let’s say you have a page on your real estate website that discusses the best neighborhoods in your area. You might have URLs for that page that look something like this:
– www.yourrealestatewebsite.com/best-neighborhoods/
– www.yourrealestatewebsite.com/neighborhoods/best/
– www.yourrealestatewebsite.com/neighborhoods/top/
All three URLs could potentially lead to the same page, but search engines might consider them separate pages with duplicate content. This could harm your website’s SEO in the long run. With canonicalization, you would select one of these URLs as the preferred version and use a tag in the page’s HTML code to tell search engines that all other versions should be considered duplicates.
Leveraging Canonicals to Avoid Duplication of Content on Property Pages
Another way that canonicalization can help real estate websites is by avoiding duplicate content issues for listing pages. If you have multiple agents working for your brokerage, they may create similar listings for the same properties. This can result in multiple URLs for the same property, each with its own set of photos, descriptions, and other details. By using canonicalization, you can select one version of the listing page as the preferred version and avoid any penalties from search engines for having duplicate content on your site.
Avoid SEO Penalties and Improve Experience
It’s worth noting that canonicalization itself is not a ranking factor for search engines. However, by avoiding penalties for duplicate content, it can indirectly improve your site’s SEO and search rankings. It’s also a good practice for maintaining a clean and organized website structure, which can make it easier for users to navigate and find what they’re looking for. When looking for a web developer to build your real estate website, make sure to ask about their approach to canonicalization and how they plan to implement it on your site.
Use Canonical Tags Wisely
One thing to keep in mind is that canonicalization should only be used in certain situations. It’s important to determine when it’s appropriate to use and when it can be safely ignored. For example, if you have two separate pages with slightly different content and want them both to be indexed by search engines, canonicalization may not be the best solution. In these cases, it’s best to use a tool like the “rel=alternate” tag to indicate to search engines that both pages should be indexed, but one is a variant of the other.
Conclusion:
Canonicalization may sound complex, but it’s a valuable tool for any real estate website looking to improve its SEO and avoid penalties for duplicate content. By selecting a preferred version of a webpage and telling search engines which pages are duplicates, you can create a cleaner and more organized website structure that’s easier for both users and search engines to navigate. Make sure to prioritize canonicalization when selecting a web developer for your real estate website to ensure that your website is optimized for search engines and attracting potential clients online.