01

Method

We fetched seven public URLs once from the Hermes VPS and parsed the server-rendered HTML. The collector recorded every rel=canonical value without executing client-side code. This checks the signal a crawler receives in the first response, not a browser extension or an SEO tool's interpretation.

We compared the declared canonical with the final fetched URL. A match is treated as self-referencing. A mismatch is recorded as an implementation defect, not proof that Google selected a different canonical.

Measurement recordHostinger VPS in Europe; one cold request per URLCollector version 1.0.0Raw JSON ↗
02

Observed evidence

SignalObservedWhy it matters
Homepagehttps://sitesignalhub.com/Self-referencing and expected.
Guides indexhttps://sitesignalhub.com/Incorrectly pointed to the homepage.
Speed audit guidehttps://sitesignalhub.com/Distinct article identity was not declared.
Automated articlehttps://sitesignalhub.com/articles/software-renewal-reviewThis template already emitted its own URL.
03

Findings

  • Six sampled non-home routes inherited the root layout's homepage canonical.
  • Titles and headings were unique, so the canonical conflict came from metadata inheritance rather than duplicate titles.
  • The automated article template behaved differently from the fixed guide template, making the defect inconsistent across content types.
04

Decision and resulting changes

Remove the site-wide canonical default and require every indexable route to declare its own canonical. Legacy articles under revision should declare their URL but remain noindex until their evidence is upgraded.

  • Removed the homepage canonical from global metadata.
  • Added route-specific canonicals to indexable pages.
  • Added canonical assertions to rendered HTML tests.
05

Limits and reproduction

Re-run automation/evidence_collector.py against the public origin and compare the resulting JSON fields. A difference is evidence of a changed response, not automatically an improvement.

  • This audit records emitted HTML; it does not claim which canonical Google ultimately selects.
  • Search Console validation must be checked after recrawl.

Primary references

Release record

— Baseline captured from the public site, limitations documented, and remediation decision published.

Prepared by SiteSignal Hub Field Lab. Evidence collection and structural checks are automated; no personal use, customer result, or human test is claimed.