What is the primary purpose of canonical tags?

Canonical tags (rel="canonical") are crucial for SEO because they prevent duplicate content issues. When multiple URLs display identical or very similar content, search engines might get confused about which version to index and rank, potentially diluting link equity across these pages. By implementing a canonical tag, you explicitly tell search engines which URL is the preferred, authoritative version. This consolidates ranking signals to a single URL, improving its visibility and preventing penalties for duplicate content. Incorrect options: Increasing internal link authority is achieved through strategic internal linking, not canonical tags. Meta descriptions are generated manually or by search engines, not by canonical tags. Page loading speed is improved through optimization techniques like image compression and caching, not canonical tags.