Hello,
Thank you for contacting Rank Math and bringing your concern to our attention.
Canonical URL should be self-referencing and used on every single URL of your site that is set to index.
However, when the question is about the duplicate URLs, then you should refer the canonical to the main URL so that Google indexes only the main URL and not the duplicate content URL.
For say, you have the following URLs:
domain.com/product1
domain.com/product2
domain.com/product3
In this example, the product2 is the duplicate of product1. So, the canonical for the three URLs should look like below:
( Main URL ) domain.com/product1 => domain.com/product1 (Canonical)
( Main URL ) domain.com/product2 => domain.com/product1 (Canonical)
( Main URL ) domain.com/product3 => domain.com/product3 (Canonical)
Now, Google should avoid product2 and index the product1 only.
Hope that clarifies your doubt.
Thank you.
Hello,
Since we did not hear back from you for 15 days, we are assuming that you found the solution. We are closing this support ticket.
If you still need assistance or any other help, please feel free to open a new support ticket, and we will be more than happy to assist.
Thank you.
