Canonicals check
Canonical declarations: inspect syntax and intended consolidation
TL;DR
A canonical declares a preferred URL. The audit observes static declarations, not crawler decisions or authority loss.
What the current check observes
The first eligible canonical link element per sampled page is inspected for presence, nonempty href and URL parseability against that page. Exact URL differences and parameter-name patterns are reported for interpretation.
Context and prerequisites
A parseable URL is not a verified intended canonical. Multiple declarations, redirect equivalence, cross-domain intent and actual indexing decisions are not validated. Different URLs and tracking-looking parameter names do not prove incorrect consolidation. Canonicals are context-dependent.
How to review the observation
Identify which pages are indexable and whether genuine duplicate variants need consolidation. Inspect canonical destinations and redirects before editing. Preserve intentional alternate or cross-domain declarations. Missing declarations on utility pages are not universal defects.
Illustrative example, not a universal prescription
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/reference">
The declaration can be syntactically parseable while still pointing to the wrong content. Confirm the intended preferred URL manually; the audit does not establish authority smearing or lost citations.
Measurement and experimental legacy calculation
Public measurement separates Confirmed issue, Advisory, Unknown, Not applicable and Observed pass. An observed pass applies only to an explicit bounded rule; absence of an emitted failure is not a pass. Missing prerequisites do not earn repair credit.
Start 100. Separately subtract min(50, 15 × absent-page count), min(50, 15 × missing-href count), and min(50, 15 × unparseable-href count). Exact differences and parameter patterns do not deduct. Absent declarations still affect legacy points despite advisory public applicability.
Legacy values are clamped to 0..100 and rounded. They are not readiness certification, risk indicators or predicted citation outcomes. Method changes do not rewrite historical records.
Full methodology and fixed weightsSources and further manual validation
The observations above describe the local implementation, not guarantees from these sources. Protocol and provider documents help interpret purpose and perform checks this audit does not implement.
What observations does this check return?
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