What does a canonical tag do and when do I need one?

A canonical tag tells search engines which version of a page is the original when several URLs show nearly the same content. You need one whenever URL parameters, print views, pagination, http and https variants, or www and non-www versions create multiple addresses for a single page.

Every page should carry a self-referencing canonical pointing at its own preferred URL. Do not canonicalize your Brandon page to your Tampa page hoping to dodge duplicate content; that just tells Google to ignore Brandon entirely. Fix thin city pages by making them genuinely different, not by canonicalizing them away.

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