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    4. Removing a canonical tag from Pagination pages

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    Removing a canonical tag from Pagination pages

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    • jessicarcf
      jessicarcf Subscriber last edited by

      Hello,

      Currently on our site we have the rel=prev/next markup for pagination along with a self pointing canonical via the Yoast Plugin. However, on page 2 of our paginated series, (there's only 2 pages currently), the canonical points to page one, rather than page 2.

      My understanding is that if you use a canonical on paginated pages it should point to a viewall page as opposed to page one. I also believe that you don't need to use both a canonical and the rel=prev/next markup, one or the other will do. As we use the markup I wanted to get rid of the canonical, would this be correct?

      For those who use the Yoast Plugin have you managed to get that to work?

      Thanks!

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

        Any resources on how to get rid of the canonical tag for those pages, and also categories and tags? I found something in Stackoverflow but I'm copying and pasting it into my header.php page and it's not working... so I feel a little clueless. Any ideas?

        http://stackoverflow.com/questions/32372589/how-to-remove-rel-canonical-from-tag-pages-in-wordpress

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

          Hi Jessica!

          You're absolutely correct, use of a canonical on paginated pages should point to a "view all" page as opposed to page 1 of the paginated content. I've heard of the Yoast plugin causing some problems with rel=canonical markup in WP and would suggest getting rid of that canonical (especially if you have rel=prev/next markup).

          Hope this helps.

          B

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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