subject: Why Your Website May Be A Cannibal [print this page] I nearly choked on my lunch when I read an email from a client asking what she should do about her "cannibal url". I hard to read the email a second time just to see if she was going crazy. That's when I realized she wasn't crazy, just confused.
I replied back to this woman that she had nothing to fear, her url was not a cannibal, but was in fact a canonical url. Many people are confused about this term, but it is extremely important that you understand how it can affect the ranking of your Website in the major search engines.
The search engines use url canonicalization to determine the best link structure for your site. Below you will see several examples of the various ways you can link back to your site:
Now, here is the problem; the search engines now will view each of these as their own distinct url.
So what is the big deal? To boost your rankings in the search engines, it is important that you build backlinks to your website. Now if the search engines are counting these various urls as a separate link, it can hurt your rankings.
Today many new and experienced marketers are using the wrong url structure to link back to their sites. If you are one of them, it can be fixed quite easily.
You want to make it as easy as possible for the search engines to determine which url you prefer. Never, ever leave it up to a robot to make a decision about your site that you have total control of. In this business you need every little edge you can get over the competition.
Now it doesn't matter which link structure you choose, but it is important to use the same link every time you promote your site. As an example, each time you link back to your site, you should consistently use the same structure, ie yourlink.com.
Good SEO requires patience and consistency. By ensuring that you are using the same url structure every time, it will give you a big edge on your competition.As we all know, even a slight advantage can be the difference between success and failure.
by: Jason W Tarasi
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