Using a canonical tag to eliminate ID variables?
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My research on seomoz has resulted in conflicting ideas regarding the canonical tag. One article says avoid it, the other says embrace it.
We have fixed a majority of our architecture problems using redirects for duplicate content, however, when we send out newsletters we still have these pesky tracking ids. I figured out how to remove them from analytics, but am unsure of how this affects our SEO. An example of one of our links is: https://www.quicklearn.com/transcript/?utm_source=news101011&utm_medium=e&utm_campaign=newclass&nlid=news101011&UID=2287
The original url being www.quicklearn.com/transcript/ the custom (non-Google) variables being nlid and uid.
Is this a problem? Do I need rel cononical tags on each and every page?
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Are these links on your web site or are they in a newsletter sent out via email?
anyhow, there is nothing wrong with the canonical tag, if its used for the right reasons, but often a 301 redirect is better.
Not understanding your situation fuilly, my advice is.
first, will a 301 do the job?
if not can i use a canonical
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