Member Avatar for Smbom

After using GSC on my website, there is a "Submitted URL not selected as Canonical " problem on many pages, but I checked these pages, it showed that they could be indexed. Actually, they are not. And I don't know how to fix them, what should I do?

Edited by pritaeas because: Removed self-promotional link
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Following up on and the practical starting tips from and , here are a few deeper, non-obvious diagnostics and a quick isolation test that often surface the root cause when Google refuses a submitted URL.

Check what Google actually fetches (server logs). Look for real Googlebot requests and the exact URL variants it crawled, the response codes, and any redirect chains. A quick log filter (adjust for your log format) can show the hits for a path:

grep -i "Googlebot" /var/log/nginx/access.log | grep "/path/to/page"

If Google consistently requests a different variant, that explains its choice. Verify bot authenticity using Google’s guidance before trusting the log source: Verifying Googlebot.

Compare responses served to normal browsers vs Googlebot and to different edge nodes. Use curl to fetch full headers and content as Googlebot and as a regular UA, and check for differences in status, headers (especially Vary or Link headers), or content:

curl -I -L -A "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html)" "https://example.com/page"

CDNs, edge caches, or user-agent conditional logic can serve slightly different content or headers; those differences can steer Google to a different canonical. Google’s documentation on consolidating duplicate URLs explains how multiple signals are reconciled: Consolidate duplicate URLs.

Look at external signals next. If most incoming links and social shares point to a different URL variant, Google can treat that as the stronger signal. Use your Links report and any backlink tool to see which variant carries link equity. As an isolation test, publish a single new page with unique content that has only one public URL variant, then watch logs to see which URL Google uses. If Google still prefers another form, the issue is likely external or infrastructure-related; if it accepts the new page, focus on aligning signals for the problematic pages. Allow a few weeks after changes for Google to re-evaluate.

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Member Avatar for AndreRet

It seems that in your Google Search Console (GSC), Google is not accepting the submitted URL as the preferred version of your pages. This can lead to indexing and ranking problems for your site. How to Fix ‘Duplicate, Submitted URL Not Selected as Canonical’

The following might help you find the ignored pages and correct them -
Check your canonical tags - each page should have a self-referencing canonical tag pointing to itself.

Check for alternate versions: If you have different versions of the same content (e.g., HTTP and HTTPS, www and non-www), make sure that you have implemented the canonical tags to indicate the preferred version.

Check for incorrect or missing canonical tags - Use tools like HTML validators or browser extensions to check for errors in your canonical tags.

Check if your pages is crawlable and indexed - You can manually check if these pages appear in the search results by searching for "smbom dot com/page-url" in Google. If they are not indexed, review your website's robots.txt file, noindex tags, or any other factors preventing indexing.

Confirm your XML sitemap - Make sure that your XML sitemap includes all the relevant pages that you want Google to index.

Check your URL parameters - If your website uses URL parameters, ensure that they are properly handled to avoid creating duplicate content.

In GSC, use the "Fetch as Google" or "URL Inspection" tool to simulate how Googlebot sees your pages. This can point to incorrect pages.

This might be a tedious process but will bear fruit in the long run regarding your ranking in Google.

Edited by AndreRet
commented: That's so clear! Thanks a lot! +0
Member Avatar for ambikadivinity

After using GSC on my website, there is a "Submitted URL not selected as Canonical " problem on many pages, but I checked these pages, it showed that they could be indexed. Actually, they are not. And I don't know how to fix them, what should I do?

commented: Please open your own post, we will gladly assist there +15
Member Avatar for becketharper585

The "Submitted URL not selected as Canonical " problem occurs when URLs are submitted without a canonical URL which indicates to Google that the page is duplicate. So, Google chooses other URLs as canonical.
To fix the "submitted URL not selected as Canonical" issue, follow the steps:

  1. Verify and fix canonical tags.
  2. Resolve duplicate content problems.
  3. Check and correct redirects.
  4. Ensure the XML sitemap has the correct canonical URLs.
  5. Use "Fetch as Google" in GSC to check rendering.
  6. Verify mobile-friendliness with "Fetch and Render" for mobile.
  7. Update internal links to point to canonical URLs.
  8. Monitor for improvements after making changes.
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