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        4. Using Canonical URL to poin to an external page

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        Using Canonical URL to poin to an external page

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        • llamb
          llamb last edited by

          I was wondering if I can use a canonical URL that points to a page residing on external site? So a page like:
          www.site1.com/whatever.html will have a canonical link in its header to www.site2.com/whatever.html.

          Thanks.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • spencerhjustice
            spencerhjustice last edited by

            You definitely can. Also, here's a whiteboard Friday on the topic of cross domain rel="canonical" tags: http://a-moz.groupbuyseo.org/blog/cross-domain-canonical-the-new-301-whiteboard-friday

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • SamuelScott
              SamuelScott last edited by

              Yes, you can. In the section of the page, put a line of code like this:

              rel="canonical" href="FULL EXTERNAL URL" />

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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