How Google Handles Duplicate Content and Canonical URLs in 2026

In this episode of The SEO Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the evolving rules around duplicate content and canonicalization in 2026. With Google's indexing system now treating canonical tags as strong suggestions rather than directives, they break down what changed in the latest update. Using a real case study of a mid-sized e-commerce site that saw a 30 percent drop in organic traffic after misapplying self-referencing canonicals, they explain the shift toward content similarity scoring and the new Index Selection Algorithm. Lucas shares practical how-tos for auditing canonical signals, including how to check your server logs for crawl patterns on duplicate pages. They also discuss when to use noindex versus canonical, and why pagination handling has gotten trickier with infinite scroll. A must-listen for any SEO professional managing large sites or content syndication. #DuplicateContent #CanonicalURLs #GoogleSEO #Indexing #ContentSimilarity #TechnicalSEO #EcommerceSEO #SEOTips #GoogleUpdate #CanonicalTag #Noindex #Pagination #InfiniteScroll #Sitemaps #Marketing #DigitalMarketing #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo