The issue at hand is the presence of a canonical tag on a given URL that points to the site's root homepage.
Why is this important?
Having a canonical tag that points to the homepage is not inherently problematic. For instance, at Loud Interactive, we might have a tracking URL like https://loudinteractive.com/?referral with a canonical link referring back to the homepage.
However, it warrants attention when numerous pages have canonicals pointing to the homepage, as it could be symptomatic of a larger issue that might disrupt proper indexing by search engines.
What does the Optimization check?
This Optimization will activate for any internal page that has a canonical link element designating the homepage as its canonical reference.
Examples that trigger this Optimization:
Take the URL: https://loudinteractive.com/landing-page
This URL would trigger the Optimization if it included a canonical tag referring back to the homepage as shown below:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://loudinteractive.com" />
Why is this Optimization marked 'Potential Issue'?
The 'Potential Issue' classification is used here because sometimes the use of a canonical tag isn't problematic, such as the previously mentioned circumstance with our referral landing page.
The canonical tag is ideally for indicating to search engines which of several identical pages they should index. Thus, an issue arises if non-duplicate pages are incorrectly canonicalised to the homepage, particularly if it's happening across multiple pages, likely due to a mistake in settings or configurations.
To fix such errors, technical intervention might be necessary. This could involve revising page templates, managing plugins, or altering HTTP headers to ensure canonical tags are either self-referential or accurately pointing to true duplicates of the content.