Should I use canonical in case of partial content duplication?

Question

I created my own template (template refers to design + static content). Thus, the design and some content is static in all the pages. I created 5 landing pages, all landing pages has same design and 40% static content is common to all the pages. Titles, Meta Desc, Meta Keywords, 60% Body text is unique.

I splitted body into 2 types

<body>
<div id="dynamic-content">
  <!-- This content is different in each pages -->
</div>
<div id="static-content">
  <!-- This content is static in all pages -->
</div>
</body>

Dynamic content is around 60% and static content is around 40%.

My idea is writing a rich optimised content in dynamic-content div and assign the right titles, description to each pages so that each page is optimised for different keywords. And, that 40% static content is just about my website and no way related to Keyword.

Should I use canonical anywhere as I am still reusing the same design and 40% content in all the pages. And, if yes, where should I place the canonical tag? is that as <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.mydomain.com/mymainpage.html" /> or should I use something like <div id="static-content" rel="canonical"> </div>

Or is there any other ways to protect my Google rankings?

I think a majority of websites have that "static content", usually called the footer :) — jeff, Oct 13 '13 at 03:30
I don't think so. agree with @CengizFrostclaw. Most websites have headers, menus and footers, and that probably more or around than 60% of pages. — riseagainst, Oct 13 '13 at 03:35
yes, and one more thing, this could be wrong but, I guess the "upper" content is more important for seo. so also considering this, you will be probably fine. If your content is not spammy, don't worry too much about seo. — jeff, Oct 13 '13 at 03:38
sure you can use check this http://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/54025/canonical-urls-for-interchangeable-parameters — Jobin, Oct 13 '13 at 18:04

score 3 · Accepted Answer · edited Oct 07 '21 at 06:47

You must not specify canonical on div elements, as the rel attribute is not allowed there and canonical is only defined for link elements (and the HTTP header).

So canonical only works on the URI level, therefore it applies to the whole page (or any other resource on that URI).

You must not use canonical just because 40% of your content is duplicated. canonical must only be used for

content that is either duplicative or a superset of the content at the context (referring) IRI.

So use it in cases where the same page (possibly with slight variations, like a different sorting etc.) has multiple URLs.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 14 '13 at 12:04

I agree with Unor point. Canonical tag should be used between <head> and </head> and not in the div tags. If you are having partial duplicate content then you don't need to use canonical tag. Canonical tag should be used in a page if it is fully duplicate by having same content on multiple pages of your website. I hope your website won't be penalized by Google, since your 60% information are dynamic you no need to bother about SEO. Check your analytics frequently and if you find any visitors drop then you have to do something to Google believe that your website is Good.

Should I use canonical in case of partial content duplication?

2 Answers2