{"id":2781,"date":"2024-12-31T20:26:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-31T20:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/how-to-add-canonical-tag-in-shopify-guide-expert-tips\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T13:54:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T08:24:46","slug":"how-to-add-canonical-tag-in-shopify","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/how-to-add-canonical-tag-in-shopify\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Add Canonical Tag in Shopify? &#8211; Complete Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do you want to set a custom canonical URL in Shopify? Then, follow this guide till the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your website may have a nearly duplicate version of products, collections, or other pages. This can lead to duplicate content, which can harm your site\u2019s search engine optimization. One way to prevent this is to use canonical tags in Shopify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this post, learn how to edit canonical tags in Shopify and optimize your store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-a-canonical-tag\">What is a Canonical Tag?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a meta tag inside HTML code that points to the original version of the page when multiple pages contain the same content. It tells the search engine crawlers which version to prefer for crawling and indexing among the duplicates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s also called \u201c<em>canonical URL<\/em>\u201d because it contains the URL of the original page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The tag is added inside the &lt;head&gt; like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>&lt;link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/example.com\/original-url\/\" \/&gt;<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#feefea\">In simple terms, the tag tells the crawlers, \u201cHey! This is the original version of this page you should crawl and index.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"understanding-canonical-url-in-shopify\"><strong>Importance of Canonical URLs in Shopify<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">E-commerce stores generate more than one URL for the same page. For example, a product page can be accessed via its original URL as well as collection-based URLs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/hiutdenim.co.uk\/products\/yearbook-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/hiutdenim.co.uk\/products\/yearbook-6<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For search engines, this means multiple URLs have the same content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thankfully, Shopify already adds a canonical tag containing the original URL to every page.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/image-1.png\" alt=\"example of a canonical tag on the product page of Hiut Denim\" class=\"wp-image-53026\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>The canonical tag in Shopify comes directly from the theme code file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-add-custom-canonical-url-in-shopify\"><strong>How to Edit Canonical Tags in Shopify for SEO?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In many cases, you may want to set custom canonicals to prevent content duplication. Here are two main approaches to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Shopify app (easy method) &#8211; <\/strong>The MIT Canonical URLs app offers a simple interface to specify canonical URLs for products, collections, pages, and blogs. It can be installed in under 5 minutes and requires no complex setup or technical expertise.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Modify theme code &#8211; <\/strong>In Shopify, you can modify the existing theme code to override the default canonical URLs using meta fields. However, this method requires a thorough understanding of technical concepts and is not suitable for novice users. Also, tampering with theme files may even break your website, leading to SEO issues and business loss.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the following sections, we cover each of these methods in detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"change-shopify-canonical-url-via-coding\"><strong>Method 1: Use the MIT Canonical URLs App for Shopify<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The MIT Canonical URLs app by Meetanshi is the easiest option to edit canonical URLs in Shopify. It offers a simple grid where you can manage canonical URLs for various items in your store. The app requires no theme edits, coding, or complex steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Install the <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.shopify.com\/mit-canonical-urls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MIT Canonical URLs app<\/a> in your store and start a free trial (no payment required!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the app dashboard, you get a list of products in your store and the canonical URL fields against them. From this dashboard, you can edit canonical tags for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Products<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Collections<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pages<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blogs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blog posts (articles)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"269\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/manage-canonical-urls-in-shopify-app-700x269.png\" alt=\"Shopify MIT Canonical URLs app dashboard with fields to edit canonical tags for products, collections, pages, and blogs\" class=\"wp-image-16730\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/manage-canonical-urls-in-shopify-app-700x269.png 700w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/manage-canonical-urls-in-shopify-app-250x96.png 250w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/manage-canonical-urls-in-shopify-app-768x295.png 768w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/manage-canonical-urls-in-shopify-app-403x155.png 403w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/manage-canonical-urls-in-shopify-app-964x371.png 964w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/manage-canonical-urls-in-shopify-app-120x46.png 120w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/manage-canonical-urls-in-shopify-app.png 1050w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To set a canonical URL for a specific product, edit the canonical URL field against its title and click <strong>Update<\/strong>. For example, here we set it to \u201chttps:\/\/example.com\/\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"202\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/set-product-specific-canonical-url-700x202.png\" alt=\"Example of adding product-specific canonical url in shopify using MIT canonical URL app\" class=\"wp-image-16733\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/set-product-specific-canonical-url-700x202.png 700w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/set-product-specific-canonical-url-250x72.png 250w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/set-product-specific-canonical-url-768x221.png 768w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/set-product-specific-canonical-url-403x116.png 403w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/set-product-specific-canonical-url-964x278.png 964w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/set-product-specific-canonical-url-120x35.png 120w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/set-product-specific-canonical-url.png 1051w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The canonical tag URL will get modified for that product page in the frontend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To verify this, open that page URL in a browser &gt; right click &gt; view page source. Then, search for the \u201ccanonical\u201d in the code to verify the implementation. In this example, you can see that the canonical link URL has been successfully modified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"98\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/shopify-canonical-url-example-700x98.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of page source code of shopify product page with canonical url added via MIT Canonical URLs app\" class=\"wp-image-16735\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/shopify-canonical-url-example-700x98.png 700w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/shopify-canonical-url-example-250x35.png 250w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/shopify-canonical-url-example-768x108.png 768w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/shopify-canonical-url-example-403x56.png 403w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/shopify-canonical-url-example-120x17.png 120w, https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/shopify-canonical-url-example.png 799w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similarly, you can use the app to modify canonical tags for collections, pages, blogs, and articles in Shopify without any coding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The MIT Canonical URLs app requires no changes and works with all Shopify themes. Further, you don\u2019t need to modify any theme code or worry about any effect of theme changes on canonical tags. The app directly sets canonical tags in theme codes (unlike other apps that use JS to set canonicals after page load), making it an ideal solution for SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><div class=\"meetanshi-cta\">\r\n<div class=\"cta-content-wrapper\">\r\n<span>MIT Canonical URLs App<\/span>\r\n<p>Easily set custom canonical URLs to fix duplicate content issues and prioritize URLs for crawling.<\/p>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.shopify.com\/mit-canonical-urls\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"btn-primary\" rel=\"noopener\">Set Now <\/a>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"cta-image-new\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mit-canonical-urls-app.png\" alt=\"Mit Canonical URLs App\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Method 2: Modify Canonical Tags in Shopify via Coding<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, create metafields for canonical URLs for products, collections, pages, etc. Then, modify the Shopify theme.liquid code to render the metafield values in place of the default canonical tag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s go through the steps on how to modify canonical link URLs in Shopify products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"\u030cstep-1-create-metafields-for-shopify-canonical-urls\">Step 1: Create Metafields<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Log in to your Shopify admin and go to <strong>Settings<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/2-go-to-shopify-settings.png\" alt=\"Go to Shopify settings in admin panel\" class=\"wp-image-43782\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Go to <strong>Custom data<\/strong> in the left menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Select <strong>Products<\/strong> to create a custom metafield to store custom canonical URL values.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/3-go-to-custom-data-products.png\" alt=\"Go to Custom data and select Products\" class=\"wp-image-43783\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, create a new metafield definition with the name \u201cCustom Canonical\u201d (This will create a key <em>custom.custom_canonical<\/em> which will be used later.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Set the type as <strong>URL<\/strong> and save it.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/5-add-product-meta-field.png\" alt=\"Add product metafield for canonical URL in Shopify\" class=\"wp-image-43785\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"step-2-modify-theme-liquid-code-for-canonical-tag\">Step 2: Modify theme.liquid Code<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By default, Shopify themes add canonical URLs to all pages. To replace it with a custom one, we need to modify the default canonical tag liquid code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Shopify admin, go to <strong>Online Store &gt; Themes <\/strong>and edit code for the current theme.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/6-edit-shopify-theme-code.png\" alt=\"Edit Shopify theme code\" class=\"wp-image-43786\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the theme editor, open the <em>theme.liquid<\/em> file and find the following line in it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-code\"><code>&lt;link rel=\u201dcanonical\u201d href=\u201d{{ canonical_url }}\u201d \/&gt;<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/7-find-canonical-tag-code.png\" alt=\"Find default canonical tag in Shopify theme liquid code\" class=\"wp-image-43787\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then, replace it with the following liquid code to conditionally set canonical from metafields:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"EnlighterJSRAW\" data-enlighter-language=\"generic\" data-enlighter-theme=\"\" data-enlighter-highlight=\"\" data-enlighter-linenumbers=\"\" data-enlighter-lineoffset=\"\" data-enlighter-title=\"\" data-enlighter-group=\"\">{% if product %}\n  {% assign custom_canonical_url = product.metafields.custom.custom_canonical %}\n  {% if custom_canonical_url %}\n    &lt;link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"{{ custom_canonical_url | escape }}\" \/>\n  {% else %}\n    &lt;link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"{{ canonical_url }}\" \/>\n  {% endif %}\n{% else %}\n  &lt;link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"{{ canonical_url }}\" \/>\n{% endif %} <\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, save the file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#feefea\"><strong>Note: <\/strong>In case, the canonical_url tag snippet is not present in theme.liquid file, look for files with name meta-tags.liquid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"step-3-assign-canonical-urls\">Step 3: Specify Canonical URLs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Shopify admin, go to <strong>Products<\/strong> and click the product to add a custom canonical.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/9-go-to-products-select-product.png\" alt=\"Go to products and select product to add canonical URL in Shopify\" class=\"wp-image-43789\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Scroll down to the <strong>Metafields<\/strong> and specify the custom canonical URL (for e.g., https:\/\/example-canonical-url.com\/)<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/10-add-canonical-url-to-product.png\" alt=\"Add canonical URL to product metafield\" class=\"wp-image-43790\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The canonical URL will be added to the product. You can check the HTML code of the page on the frontend to verify the tag <em>&lt;link rel=\u201dcanonical\u201d href=\u201dhttps:\/\/example-canonical-url.com\/\u201d&gt;<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/11-shopify-canonical-tag.png\" alt=\"Shopify canonical tag\" class=\"wp-image-43791\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similarly, you can create custom canonical metafields for other types of pages and modify code to set up canonical tags. You\u2019ll also need to implement an if-else logic to render the right canonical tags according to templates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One major downside of this method is that the canonical URLs may stop working as soon as you publish another theme. You may need to repeat the steps to modify liquid codes. Further, there is a risk of breaking the storefront design in case of any error or mistake in the liquid code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We do not recommend this coding method for adding canonical tags on live stores unless you\u2019re an experienced developer. Therefore, our team built a simple app to do this without any coding. It\u2019s easy and 100% safe to use with any theme.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"meetanshi-cta\">\r\n<div class=\"cta-content-wrapper\">\r\n<span>MIT Canonical URLs App<\/span>\r\n<p>Easily set custom canonical URLs to fix duplicate content issues and prioritize URLs for crawling.<\/p>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.shopify.com\/mit-canonical-urls\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"btn-primary\" rel=\"noopener\">Set Now <\/a>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"cta-image-new\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/mit-canonical-urls-app.png\" alt=\"Mit Canonical URLs App\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"expert-tips\"><strong>Expert\u2019s Comment on Shopify Canonical Tags<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In most cases, you don\u2019t need to modify the default canonical URLs in Shopify. However, there are some special scenarios where you may want to consolidate SEO value, like having almost similar products, collections, or pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.shopify.com\/mit-canonical-urls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MIT Canonical URLs app for Shopify<\/a> by Meetanshi is a go-to choice for store owners who want to quickly implement custom canonicals and fix duplicate content issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you want to set a custom canonical URL in Shopify? Then, follow this guide till the end. Your website may have a nearly duplicate&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shopify"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2781"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24308,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2781\/revisions\/24308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meetanshi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}