How Fixing Canonical Tags Is Creating World Hunger

byDr_Dave

616 followers

Updated 2 months ago

If you’ve been in Wealthy Affiliate long enough, you’ve probably seen this message pop up: Google Search Console tells you that some of your pages aren’t indexed due to an “alternate page with proper canonical tag.” Now, I know that sounds alarming, but let me tell you something—there’s absolutely nothing wrong here. In fact, this message is a sign that everything is working as it should!

What Is a Canonical Tag Anyway?

The term "canonical" comes from the same idea as a “canonical text”—the true, official version of something. In SEO, a canonical tag tells Google, “Hey, this is the main page, ignore the others!” So, when Google finds multiple versions of a page (which happens when you create categories, tags, or other versions), it uses the canonical tag to focus on the right one.

Trust Your Plugin—It Knows What It’s Doing!

SEO plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math automatically handle these things. While Wealthy Affiliate might not use those exact plugins, any built-in SEO system it uses will do something similar. And guess what? These tools know what they’re doing. The problem is that too many people start tinkering with settings that are better left alone, thinking they can do a better job.

Spoiler alert: You can’t.

"...you’re creating world hunger! It’s wrong. It’s evil. It’s unchristian. And worst of all, it’s un-American." Dr Dave

Wasting Time? You’re Creating World Hunger!

Now, here’s where it gets serious (well, sort of). I estimate that with 2 million members on Wealthy Affiliate, if even 25% of us are active, and we each waste 8 hours trying to fix this non-problem, we’re talking about 4 million hours lost. At $500 an hour, that’s $2 billion worth of time down the drain! And that’s money that could be spent solving world hunger or making the world a better place.

When you’re tinkering with this issue, you’re creating world hunger! It’s wrong. It’s evil. It’s unchristian. And worst of all, it’s un-American. (And as a New Zealander, I don’t say that lightly!)

Have Faith in the Plugin—It’s Saving the World

So what’s the solution? Stop messing with the canonical tags and trust your plugin! It’s designed to do this better than you ever could. Your time is much better spent creating content, helping your business grow, and contributing to the greater good of humanity.

"...that’s money that could be spent solving world hunger" Dr Dave

By ignoring this Google alert and focusing on what really matters, together we can free up billions of dollars' worth of time and energy to solve world hunger.

Final Thoughts

The “alternate page with proper canonical tag” message is nothing to worry about. Your SEO plugin has this under control. The only thing you’re doing by trying to fix it is wasting time—time that could be better spent saving the world (or at least creating content that brings in some cash). So let’s all work together and stop this madness. Trust your plugin, ignore the Google alert, and let’s make the world a better place.