Alternate page with proper canonical tag

Mttao included in category SEO

2025-05-26 2025-05-26 1331 words 7 minutes

Contents

Have you ever encountered the “Alternate page with proper canonical tag” message in Google Search Console (GSC) and wondered what it actually means?

This message appears quite frequently in GSC’s “Page indexing” report. While it’s typically just an informational status rather than an error, understanding what it means and knowing why this occurs and how to address it is essential knowledge for SEO practitioners.

This blog post will dive deep into:

The meaning of “Alternate page with proper canonical tag”
Common reasons why this status occurs
Its potential impact on your SEO
How to identify and “fix” this issue
Best practices for implementing canonicalization and alternate markup

What is “Alternate page with proper canonical tag”?

Simply put, this message means that Google has discovered some pages on your website (alternate versions) that correctly point to another page that Google considers the “canonical” or primary version through the rel="canonical" tag.

Core concepts:

rel="canonical" tag: This is an HTML tag used to tell search engines which URL is the “preferred” version that you want indexed and ranked when multiple URLs display the same or very similar content. This helps consolidate link signals and avoid duplicate content issues.
rel="alternate" tag: This tag is used to indicate other versions of a page, such as:
- hreflang: Used to specify versions for different languages or regions.
- Mobile version: Points to a separate mobile URL (e.g., m.example.com).
- AMP version: Points to an Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) version.

When Google sees page A declaring page B as its canonical version (through rel="canonical" href="B"), and Google agrees with this configuration, page A will be classified as “Alternate page with proper canonical tag.” This indicates that Google understands you don’t want page A to be independently indexed, but rather want it to pass its authority to page B.

Why does this status occur? Common reasons explained

This status usually occurs as a result of correctly implemented canonicalization strategies. Here are some common scenarios:

AMP pages: Your non-AMP page links to the AMP version through rel="amphtml", while the AMP page points back to the non-AMP page through rel="canonical". In this case, it’s completely normal for the AMP page to be considered an “alternate page.”
Mobile websites (m-dot): Desktop pages point to mobile versions (m.example.com) through rel="alternate", while mobile pages point back to desktop versions through rel="canonical". Mobile pages are alternate pages under this setup.
URLs with parameters: URL parameters used for tracking, sorting, filtering, etc. (e.g., example.com/product?color=blue) may create duplicate content. If these parameterized URLs correctly point their canonical tags to clean URLs without parameters (example.com/product), they will display this status.
Hreflang implementation: When you’ve set up hreflang tags for different languages or regions, each language version should typically have a self-referencing canonical tag. If configured correctly, Google will understand these as alternate versions for different audiences, not purely duplicate content. Sometimes, a default page for one region may also be considered an “alternate” for other specific pages.
Content syndication: If you syndicate content to other platforms or have multiple versions such as print-friendly pages or summary pages within your own website, and they all correctly point their canonical tags to the original article.
HTTP/HTTPS and WWW/non-WWW versions: If different protocol or domain versions of your website (e.g., http://example.com and https://www.example.com) are accessible, and one version correctly uses canonical tags to point to your preferred version.
Trailing slash inconsistency: example.com/page and example.com/page/ may be treated as different URLs if one has a canonical tag pointing to the other.

Is this an SEO problem?

Generally speaking, “Alternate page with proper canonical tag” is not a serious error in itself. It indicates that Google recognizes and respects the canonical tags you’ve set up.

However, it may indicate potential issues or warrant review in the following situations:

Incorrectly canonicalizing important pages: If a page that should be indexed and ranked is incorrectly marked as an alternate version of another page, it won’t appear in search results.
Canonical chains or incorrect targets: Ensure that canonical tags point to the final, correct 200 OK page, not to redirects or non-existent pages.
Crawl budget waste: If you have a large number of unnecessary alternate pages (e.g., due to excessive parameter combinations or poor internal linking strategy), even if they’re correctly canonicalized, Googlebot may still waste crawl budget discovering and processing these pages, potentially missing more important content on your website.
Hreflang vs. Canonical conflicts: Ensure that hreflang tags and rel="canonical" tags work in harmony rather than contradicting each other. For example, an en-gb page should not have a canonical tag pointing to an en-us page; it should have a self-referencing canonical tag.

How to identify and “fix” the issue

Check Google Search Console:
- Go to the “Page indexing” report in GSC.
- Look for “Alternate page with proper canonical tag” in the “Why pages aren’t indexed” section.
- Click on that status to see a list of affected URLs.
Spot-check URLs:
- Select a sample of URLs from the list.
- Use GSC’s “URL Inspection tool” to view Google’s chosen canonical URL and the user-declared canonical URL. Verify whether they align with your expectations.
Analyze causes and take action:
- For AMP pages:
  - Check: Does the non-AMP page have <link rel="amphtml" href="AMP_URL">? Does the AMP page have <link rel="canonical" href="NON_AMP_URL">?
  - Status: If configured correctly, this status is normal.
- For mobile (m-dot) websites:
  - Check: Does the desktop version have <link rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" href="MOBILE_URL">? Does the mobile version have <link rel="canonical" href="DESKTOP_URL">?
  - Status: If configured correctly, this status is normal.
- For parameterized URLs:
  - Check: Do these URLs point to clean versions without parameters? Are these parameters necessary?
  - Action: If canonicalization is correct, usually no action is needed. However, if there are too many such URLs, consider blocking certain unnecessary parameter combinations from being crawled through robots.txt (use with caution), or configure URL parameter handling in GSC (as a supplementary measure). Priority should be given to ensuring internal links point to clean URLs.
- For Hreflang:
  - Check: Does each language version have a self-referencing canonical tag? Are hreflang tags correctly implementing bidirectional linking and x-default?
  - Action: Fix any conflicts between hreflang and canonical tags. Ensure canonical tags point to the correct page within the same language cluster.
- For other duplicate content:
  - Check: Are these alternate pages truly duplicates? Is the canonical target correct?
  - Action: If you find a page that should be independently indexed but is incorrectly canonicalized, remove or change its rel="canonical" tag to make it self-referencing or point to the correct location.
  - Check that internal links all point to canonical versions.
  - Ensure XML sitemaps only include canonical URLs.
  - For old versions or duplicate pages that are no longer needed, consider using 301 redirects to the canonical version.
Validate fixes (if changes were made):
- In GSC, for specific issues you’ve fixed, you can use the “Validate fix” feature.
- Monitor GSC reports to see if the number of affected URLs decreases over time.

Best practices for implementing canonicalization and alternate markup

Use absolute URLs: Always use absolute paths (e.g., https://www.example.com/page) rather than relative paths (/page) in rel="canonical", rel="alternate", and hreflang tags.
Maintain consistency: URL case, trailing slashes, HTTP/HTTPS, WWW/non-WWW must be consistent throughout the website and markup.
<head> section: rel="canonical" and rel="alternate" tags should be placed in the page’s <head> section.
Self-referencing canonical tags: For all independent pages you want indexed, best practice is to include a canonical tag pointing to itself.
One canonical target: Each page can only have one rel="canonical" target.
Avoid mixing: Don’t canonicalize page A to page B, then redirect page B back to page A, or mark page B with noindex.
XML sitemaps: Only include canonical URLs that you want indexed.
Internal linking: Point internal links to the canonical version of pages whenever possible.

Conclusion

By understanding the underlying causes behind “Alternate page with proper canonical tag” notifications, regularly monitoring your GSC reports, and following canonicalization and alternate markup best practices, you can ensure that search engines effectively crawl and index the most important content on your website, thereby maximizing your SEO potential.

Hope this blog post has been helpful to you!