What SERP Lens checks
Self-referencing canonicals
The canonical URL points to the page itself. This is the most common setup and confirms to search engines that this URL is the preferred version.Cross-page canonicals
The canonical URL points to a different page. This tells search engines to treat the other page as the primary version and consolidate ranking signals there.Missing canonicals
No canonical tag is present. While not technically an error (search engines will infer the canonical), it’s best practice to always declare one explicitly.Common issues
| Issue | Problem | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Canonical mismatch | The canonical URL doesn’t match the page’s actual URL or the intended canonical | Update the canonical tag to point to the correct preferred URL |
| HTTP canonical on HTTPS page | Canonical points to the HTTP version | Update to use the HTTPS URL |
| Relative URL | Canonical uses a relative path instead of absolute URL | Use a full absolute URL including protocol and domain |
| Multiple canonical tags | More than one canonical tag on a page | Remove duplicates — keep only one |
| Canonical points to non-existent page | The canonical URL returns a 404 | Fix the canonical to point to a live URL |
Checking canonicals in SERP Lens
- Navigate to the page you want to check
- Open the sidebar and go to the Indexing panel
- The Canonical URL section shows the declared canonical, whether it’s self-referencing or different, and flags any mismatches