Google page indexing issues and a page Sitemap.xsl

  • Resolved 9ball

    (@9ball)


    3 months, 3 weeks ago

    Hi,

    anyone know what this means within google search console?

    Page indexing > Duplicate without user-selected canonical

    seems google has found the page URL below, but i wasn’t submitted as a sitemap to google?

    /google-sitemap-generator/sitemap.xsl

    the page has No details on it apart from the header Dynamically generated with XML Sitemap Generator for Google by Auctollo. This XSLT template is released under the GPL and free to use details

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Plugin Author Auctollo

    (@auctollo)

    @9ball the Google Search Console error “Page indexing > Duplicate without user-selected canonical” means that Google has identified this page as a duplicate of another page on your site but couldn’t find a canonical URL specified by you (the user) to indicate which version of the page should be considered the primary one (canonical).What This Means

    • Duplicate Content: Google has found similar or identical content on multiple URLs on your site.
    • No Canonical Tag: Google couldn’t find a?rel="canonical"?tag on this page that explicitly tells Google which URL should be considered the authoritative or primary version of the content.
    • Google-Selected Canonical: Since you haven’t specified a canonical URL, Google has chosen what it thinks is the best version to index, but this may not be the version you prefer.

    Potential Issues

    • Diluted SEO Efforts: Without a canonical tag, SEO efforts might be diluted across multiple versions of the same content. This can affect your search rankings as link equity and ranking signals might be split between duplicates.
    • Unintended Indexing: Google might index a version of the content that you didn’t intend, which might not be optimized as well as the preferred version.

    How to Fix It

    1. Identify the Duplicate Pages:
      • Use the Google Search Console to identify the pages marked as duplicates.
      • Compare these pages to determine the preferred version you want to be indexed.
    2. Implement Canonical Tags:
      • On the duplicate pages, add a?rel="canonical"?tag that points to the preferred version of the page.
      • The canonical tag should be added in the?<head>?section of the HTML like this:htmlCopy code<link rel="canonical" />
      • Ensure that the preferred version itself has a self-referencing canonical tag.
    3. Review Internal Linking:
      • Update internal links on your site to point to the canonical version of the content rather than the duplicates.
    4. Sitemap and Robots.txt:
      • Make sure your XML sitemap only includes the preferred URLs.
      • If necessary, use?robots.txt?to prevent Google from crawling the duplicate versions, although this should be done carefully to avoid accidentally blocking important pages.
    5. Check for URL Parameters:
      • If the duplicates are due to URL parameters, use the URL Parameters tool in Google Search Console to specify how Google should handle these parameters.
    6. Test with URL Inspection Tool:
      • After making changes, use the URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console to test the pages and ensure that Google recognizes the canonical URL you’ve set.

    Specifying a canonical URL helps Google understand which version of a page you want to prioritize for indexing and ranking. This can prevent duplicate content issues, consolidate ranking signals, and ensure that the correct page is displayed in search results.

    By addressing the “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” issue, you can help improve your site’s SEO and ensure that your preferred content is properly indexed and ranked by Google.

    Thread Starter 9ball

    (@9ball)

    Hi

    Thank you for the reply, their is not a Duplicate of the files, called sitemap.xsl
    unless it mean it’s a duplicate of a file called: sitemap.xml
    Both of which have been auto created by the XML sitemap generator plugin

    the file called sitemap.xsl is in: ***/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/sitemap.xsl
    the file called sitemap.xml is in: ***/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/sitemap.xml
    both of which has been made by XML Sitemap Generator for Google plugin

    note: the file “sitemap.xsl” url doesn’t show any sitemap details on this page it only shows the plugin header text message only.

    Dynamically generated with XML Sitemap Generator for Google by Auctollo. This XSLT template is released under the GPL and free to use details

    Plugin Author Auctollo

    (@auctollo)

    I’ve never seen Duplicate without user-selected canonical error for sitemap.xsl because it’s not included in sitemap files by default, and no one submits it normally. I suggested removing it from the index.

    @auctollo I suggest you FIX YOUR PLUGIN. It is what is adding the .xsl file when it is installed. Honestly your reply above that just parrots the Google Search Console errors and how to fix them is LAZY and also will not fix the problem. Be a better developer and fix your plugin.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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