Canonical Mismatch (Canonicalised)

What This Means

The page's canonical tag points to a different URL than the page itself. The page at URL A has <link rel="canonical" href="B"> — declaring URL B as the preferred version. This is called canonicalization, and means URL A is voluntarily signaling that URL B should be indexed instead.

Why It Matters for SEO

This is intentional and correct when URL A is a duplicate or variant of URL B and should not be independently indexed (e.g., a filtered product URL canonicalizing to the parent category). However, it becomes a problem when: the canonical target (URL B) does not exist (404), or the target itself has been changed, or the canonical relationship is applied accidentally to pages that should be independently indexed.

What the Platform Checks

The platform identifies pages where the canonical href differs from the page's own URL. Fires for every such page, with the canonical target included so you can review whether the relationship is intentional.

How to Fix It

• If the mismatch is intentional: Verify the target URL returns 200 and is itself self-canonicalized. The chain should end at the target, not continue further.
• If the mismatch is accidental: Update the canonical to be a self-referencing canonical pointing to the page's own URL.
• Cross-check: A page that is canonicalized to another should NOT also appear in the XML sitemap — sitemap inclusion implies intent to index independently.