What is a canonical URL?
A canonical URL is the one address a page declares as its official version, using a tag in the page's code. When the same content is reachable at several addresses — with and without www, with a tracking code on the end, from two menu positions — the canonical says which one to treat as real.
Why it matters to a shop
This is the term a shop owner is most likely to meet by accident. You publish to a hosted address, then later attach your own domain — both cloud plans include one — and for a while the same pages answer at both. Add a social post whose link carries ?fbclid= on the end, and a printed QR code aimed at the www version, and one page is now four addresses. A search engine that sees four pages with identical text will pick a winner on its own, and it may not pick the one printed on your business card. The canonical is you making that choice instead.
How to handle it
- Pick one address and use it everywhere: with www or without, and https rather than http. Write that exact form on your cards, your Google Business Profile, and every social bio. Consistency does most of the work before any tag is involved.
- Check what your pages already declare. Open a page, view the page source, and search for “canonical”. Most site builders write it for you and point each page at itself, which is the correct answer for a normal page.
- Change it only when two addresses genuinely serve the same content and one should win — a printable version of a page, or an old address you kept alive after a rename. If you are unsure, leaving each page pointing at itself is the safe answer.
Common mistake: Pointing every page's canonical at the home page. That tells search engines your service pages are the home page, and those pages can drop out of results entirely.