Canonical & Noindex Checker
Check a URL's canonical tag and Link header, robots meta, X-Robots-Tag and robots.txt, and whether the canonical target itself works, with a clear indexing verdict.
Something not working, or missing a feature? Send feedback
About the Canonical & Noindex Checker
The Canonical & Noindex Checker answers one question: can this URL be indexed, and which URL will Google index? It reads the canonical link in the head and in the HTTP Link header, the robots meta tags, the X-Robots-Tag header and robots.txt, then gives a verdict for Googlebot. If the canonical points elsewhere it opens that URL too and checks it returns 200, does not redirect, is not noindex and names itself as canonical.
Our server requests the URLs you enter, like a crawler: it reads the response without running the page's scripts, and the analysis runs in your browser. The URLs and results are not stored.
How to use the Canonical & Noindex Checker
- Enter the URL and pick the crawler to test as (Googlebot by default).
- Read the verdict: indexable, noindex, blocked, redirect or canonical elsewhere.
- Fix conflicts: several canonicals, a canonical in the body, a noindex target, http:// canonicals on an HTTPS site.
- For many URLs, use the indexability test in the Robots.txt Checker.
Works well with the Canonical & Noindex Checker
- Robots.txt Checker: test robots.txt and indexability of many URLs.
- Redirect Checker: follow redirects of the canonical target.
- Hreflang Checker: check language alternates, which must use canonical URLs.
Frequently asked questions
What is a canonical tag?
A <link rel="canonical" href="…"> in the head that names the preferred URL of a page. When the same content is reachable at several URLs (with tracking parameters, with and without a trailing slash, print versions), it tells search engines which one to index and credit.
Does Google always follow the canonical?
No, it is a strong hint. Google may pick another URL if the canonical redirects, returns an error, is noindex, or if internal links and the sitemap point somewhere else. Keep all those signals consistent.
Noindex or robots.txt: which removes a page?
Noindex. A page blocked by robots.txt cannot be crawled, so Google never sees its noindex and may keep the URL in results without a description. Allow crawling, add noindex, and wait for it to drop out.
Related tools
Robots.txt Checker
Validate a live or pasted robots.txt the way Google reads it: syntax errors, blocked pages and resources, sitemaps, 21 search and AI crawlers, and a URL tester.
Googlebot Simulator
See a page as Googlebot, Bingbot or GPTBot and as a visitor, side by side: status, redirects, title, canonical, noindex and text, to catch cloaking.
Robots.txt Generator
Create a robots.txt file with rules per crawler, sitemap links and presets for WordPress or blocking AI bots, then test any URL against it in your browser.
Hreflang Checker
Validate a page's hreflang tags: language and region codes, self-reference, x-default, relative URLs and canonical conflicts, and whether every alternate links back.
Hreflang Generator
Generate hreflang tags for your language and country versions as HTML link tags, XML sitemap entries or an HTTP Link header, with every code validated as you type.
Sitemap Finder
Find the XML sitemap of any website: from robots.txt, the home page and the default paths of WordPress, Yoast, Rank Math, Shopify and Wix, with URL counts.