Will Google Visit Non-Canonicalized Page Again and Return Its Page's Original Ranking?

[globalsources.com]

I have 2 questions about canonicalization.

1. Will Google ever visit Page A again if after it has been canonicalized to Page B?

2. If Google will still visit Page A and found that it is not canonicalizing to Page B already, will the original rankings and traffic of Page A returned to the way before it's canonicalized?

Thanks.

[globalsources.com]

Hi Guys...sorry, one more question here.

About the recovery of rankings for canonicalized page after removing canonical tag, the theories seem very true but are there any case studies or direct experiences which proves these theories?

[globalsources.com]

Thank you for your advice! Greatly appreciated

[seoug_2005]

Thanks. That answers my query.

[RyanKent]

If the canonicalization is accepted by Google and there is no additional UGC on Page A, then no Page A will not rank.

If the canonicalization is not accepted (i.e. the pages have enough differences to where Google does not feel the pages should be canonicalized) then Page A can rank.

If the pages are identical, but there is some unique content on Page A such as a comment, then Page A can rank for the unique comment.

[seoug_2005]

One more question. If page A has been canonicalized to page B, will Page A rank ? As according to search engines, Page B is the preferred page Now.  I know it may seem innocuous query to you. But would like to know ?

[seoug_2005]

Didn't expected such a detailed explanation to my query :). Thanks a lot Ryan for making SEO seems less daunting to me with your insightful answers.

[RyanKent]

Search engines follow links. If there are links on a page, then Google wants to know what is on the page. There are many reasons to visit a canonicalized page.

1. Canonical links are a suggestion. Google does not have to agree, and may choose to index the page rather then follow through to the canonical version of the page.

2. Sometimes two pages can have the same core content, but different UGC. Let's say you write a great article on SEO and post it on your site. Later, you post the article on the SEOmoz blog with an agreement that the SEOmoz version of the article offers a canonical link to your page.

When people read the SEOmoz article, they may offer comments (UGC) which offer questions, answers, links, etc. All of these comments are only on the SEOmoz page, not the page on your site. Depending on what a user searches for, the result could be the SEOmoz page, even though it has a canonical link to the page on your site.

3. As you shared, the canonical tag can change. A search engine needs to check to see if the canonical tag changed, or a noindex tag has been added, or any of the links on the page have changed, etc. Also the content could change as well.

[seoug_2005]

O.k, so Google will visit the page A, but what purpose does it serve ? The original page is B now. Just curious to know...

[RyanKent]

Will Google ever visit Page A again if after it has been canonicalized to Page B?

Yes. Google will visit your pages by following links even if the page is canonicalized. I would imagine they may choose to visit the page less frequently (that is just my guess) but they do revisit the page.

If Google will still visit Page A and found that it is not canonicalizing to Page B already, will the original rankings and traffic of Page A returned to the way before it's canonicalized?

Yes BUT I can only assume the page was canonicalized for a reason, and that reason being the content was duplicated. If you have a duplicate content issue you will not be happy with the result. If you remove the canonical tag because you have modified the page's content to be unique, then you can expect the page to be indexed normally.

It may take up to a month for all the ranking to settle for the page, but it will happen.