Why it matters
A canonical from one language version to another asks Google to keep only one language in the index, so only that version would rank. Google's guide says that on pages using hreflang the canonical should be a page in the same language, or the best substitute language if none exists.
How to meet it
Every language or country version keeps a self-referencing canonical and lists its alternates with hreflang (DEV-INT-03). Check that no template falls back to the default-language canonical on translated pages.
How to test it
Canonical audit: no canonical group contains documents in more than one language, and every localized page's canonical equals its own URL.
How Regensbot covers it
Decided from one URL.
An audit reads the response, the headers, the HTML, robots.txt, the sitemaps and the structured data, and the finding shows the evidence it saw.
Sources
Google documents02
- 01How to specify a canonical URL with rel="canonical" and other methodsGoogle Search Central (opens in a new tab)
- 02Tell Google about localized versions of your pageGoogle Search Central (opens in a new tab)
Claims in the knowledge base04
- D2-C433ConsistentLightning session E: Managing Duplicates and Site MovesSaid on stage
- D2-C434ConfirmedLightning session E: Managing Duplicates and Site MovesSaid on stage
- D2-C435SourceLightning session E: Managing Duplicates and Site MovesGoogle's documentation
- D2-C436n/aLightning session E: Managing Duplicates and Site MovesThe author's interpretation
Claim IDs refer to the Search Central Live 2026 knowledge base. The knowledge base (opens in a new tab)
- Confirmed
- Google's documentation states the same thing.
- Consistent
- Google's documentation supports it without stating it.
- Source
- The claim is the cited document itself.
- n/a
- Nothing to verify: a quotation, framing, opinion or analysis.