Rel Canonical Syntax

[costume]

My IT department is getting ready to setup the rel canonical tag, finally.  I took a look at the code on our test server and see that they are using a single quote in the tag syntax (see code block below).  Should I be concerned?  Will Google read those lines the same?

<link rel='canonical' href='[http://www.wholesalecostumeclub.com/easter-costumes/bunny-suits](view-source:http://www.wholesalecostumeclub.com/easter-costumes/bunny-suits)' />VS.

**versus**

<link rel="canonical" href="[http://www.wholesalecostumeclub.com/easter-costumes/bunny-suits](view-source:http://www.wholesalecostumeclub.com/easter-costumes/bunny-suits)" />

[oznappies]

To quote W3C draft specification on HTML5

Attributes are placed  inside the start tag, and consist of a name and a value, separated by an "=" character. The attribute value can remain unquoted if it doesn't contain spaces or any of  " ' ``` = <  or >. Otherwise, it has to be quoted using  either single or double quotes. The value, along with the "=" character, can be omitted altogether if the value  is the empty string.

The accepted convention is " but according to the standard both are supported.

P.S. Is a version of your site live, if so I would maybe like to blog about it as it is related to what we are doing in baby toddler items (looking at your avatar).

[Andem]

<link rel="canonical" href="<a class="external" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.sitename.com/</a>" />
would be correct. Don't forget the double quotes!

[Getz.pro]

Double quote is the norm in HTML

[M_8]

I have used it like this and haven't had any issues<link rel="canonical" href=http://www.sitename.com />If you use wordpress - yoast seo plugin - does it the same way.Read this post it will clear your question
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/canonical-url-tag-the-most-important-advancement-in-seo-practices-since-sitemaps

[blu42media]

I agree with John... why chance it?  It should be a piece of cake for them to set it up with conformity to the standard

[dohertyjf]

I'm not positive about how they'll deal with it, but why take a chance? It won't be that hard for them to change it from a single to a normal quotation, especially since it's on your test server.

Better safe than sorry.