Set Canonical URLs and Robots Directives Per Post

Canonical URLs and robots directives tell search engines which version of a page to index and how to handle links on your pages. SEOvault AI lets you set these per-post in the editor, with automatic fallbacks when you leave fields empty.

Where to find it

Edit any post or page, then scroll to the SEOvault AI meta box in the right sidebar. Click Advanced to expand the section.

Canonical URLs

A canonical URL tells search engines the preferred version of a page when duplicate or similar content exists. Use it to consolidate ranking signals and avoid duplicate content issues.

How it works

Leave empty: SEOvault AI uses the post’s permalink as the canonical URL (in Automatic mode)
Enter a custom URL: The canonical tag points to your specified URL
Manual mode: No canonical is output unless you explicitly set one

When to use a custom canonical

You have parameterized URLs (e.g., ?utm_source=, ?ref=) that should canonicalize to the clean version
You syndicate content and want to point to the original source
You have print-friendly or alternate versions of a page
You migrated content and want to preserve the old URL’s authority

How to set a canonical URL

Edit your post or page
In the SEOvault AI meta box, click Advanced
Enter the full URL in the Canonical URL field
Update or publish the post

The canonical URL appears in your page’s <head> as:

<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/your-post/" />

Robots Directives

Robots meta tags control search engine crawling and indexing behavior on a per-page basis. SEOvault AI supports noindex and nofollow directives per post.

Noindex

Prevents search engines from indexing this specific page. The page remains accessible to visitors but won’t appear in search results.

Use noindex for:

Thank-you pages and form submissions
Internal admin or utility pages
Draft or work-in-progress content visible to logged-in users
Pages with thin or duplicate content you don’t want indexed

Nofollow

Tells search engines not to follow links on this page. This applies to all outbound links from the page.

Use nofollow for:

Pages with user-generated content you don’t endorse (comments, forum posts)
Paid or sponsored link sections
Untrusted external link directories

How robots directives interact with global settings

SEOvault AI uses a layered decision engine for robots meta. Per-post settings take precedence:

Per-post override: If you set noindex or nofollow on a post, those directives apply regardless of global settings
Post-type defaults: If per-post settings are absent, post-type noindex rules apply (configured in General > Schema)
Global rules: Site visibility, archive rules, and protection rules apply as fallbacks

This means you can force-index a specific page even if its post type is set to noindex globally, or you can noindex a single page without affecting others of the same type.

How to set robots directives

Edit your post or page
In the SEOvault AI meta box, click Advanced
Check Noindex this page to prevent indexing
Check Nofollow this page to prevent link following
Update or publish the post

The robots meta tag appears in your page’s <head> as:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />

If you check only one directive, the other defaults to its normal behavior (e.g., noindex, follow or index, nofollow).

Notes and edge cases

Canonical URLs in Manual mode: If you use Manual output mode, no canonical tag is output unless you explicitly set a custom canonical URL per post
Password-protected posts: These automatically get noindex regardless of your per-post setting
Comment pagination: Pages beyond the first comment page automatically get noindex to prevent duplicate content issues
Imported data: If you import from another SEO plugin, per-post robots settings are preserved. Blank values from the import do not override post-type defaults
Verification: Use the SEO Assessment panel in the meta box to see how your canonical and robots settings affect your overall SEO score