Marketing & search · Website help · Canonical and URL variants

Two distinct guides mistakenly share a canonical

A copied template gives different troubleshooting guides the same preferred address. The pages answer separate questions and should not be treated as duplicates.

What to change

The two articles may share a category while answering different practical questions. Ask the content owner to confirm that distinction, then correct the shared configuration that copied one preferred address into both pages. Validate their final output as a pair. The evidence should connect each distinct question to its own approved route, rather than assuming that similar terminology justifies treating the articles as interchangeable copies.

A worked example

Illustrative example

Illustrative test: Use two neighbouring guides with clearly different failure scenarios as the sample.

How to check the result

Each distinct task has its intended canonical and the copied configuration is corrected.

A mistake to avoid

Similar category labels do not make two useful guides duplicates.

Your action checklist

Use these checks to prepare a discussion with your team or supplier. Tick a check when you have recorded the decision or evidence, rather than when a feature has simply been promised.

Decisions to record

Entries stay in this page and are not submitted to Kay & Co. Download your notes before leaving; the page does not save them.

Healthcare SEO research with a search-results page, inspection lens, location pin and service card.
Match a useful service page to the searcher's task.
Healthcare technical SEO illustrated by a page hierarchy and connected internal links.
Give visitors and crawlers clear routes through the website.
Healthcare SEO measurement with unnumbered reporting charts, a source document and review checklist.
Read search evidence alongside useful enquiry outcomes.

Further reading

These primary sources provide additional context for the project decisions above.

Related decisions

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