Resolving “Duplicate without user-selected canonical” issues for multilingual documents with multiple language versions

Fix "Duplicate without user-selected canonical" with hreflang.

The issue of Duplicate without user-selected canonical arises in the context of search engine optimization (SEO) when multiple pages with similar or identical content are indexed by search engines. This situation is particularly prevalent in multilingual websites, where content may be available in various languages but links to the same underlying document.

That issue happened on our webpage, European Accessibility Act in PDF where all links pointed to the same document, but in a different languages.

The problem

The Duplicate without user-selected canonical page indexing error is a specific issue that arises when Google encounters multiple versions of the same content without a clear indication of which version is the original or most relevant. This can happen when a website has multiple language versions of the same content but fails to provide sufficient signals to search engines about the relationship between these versions.

The issue is not just about duplicate content, but also about search engines struggling to determine which version of the content is the most relevant or original. Without these signals, search engines may struggle to determine which version to index, leading to duplicate content issues and negatively impacting the website’s visibility and ranking.

In our case there were a list of links that was pointed out to the same document, but in a different languages.

<ul>
  <li><a href="CELEX_32019L0882_BG_TXT.pdf">PDF български (Bulgarian)</a></li>
  <li><a href="CELEX_32019L0882_ES_TXT.pdf">PDF Español (Spanish)</a></li>
  <li><a href="CELEX_32019L0882_CS_TXT.pdf">PDF Čeština (Czech)</a></li>
</ul>

The solution

Adding the hreflang attribute to our links is a simple and effective way to resolve the Duplicate without user-selected canonical page indexing error.

By specifying the language and region targeting of each version of our content, we provide a clear signal to search engines about the relationship between our multilingual content. For example, we added hreflang="bg" for the Bulgarian version, hreflang="es" for the Spanish version, and so on.

This not only helps search engines understand the relationship between our multilingual content but also improves our website’s visibility and ranking in search engine results. By providing this signal, we can ensure that our content is properly indexed and that users are directed to the most relevant version of our content, regardless of their language or region.

Here’s an example of how we implemented hreflang on our website:

<ul>
  <li><a href="CELEX_32019L0882_BG_TXT.pdf" hreflang="bg">PDF български (Bulgarian)</a></li>
  <li><a href="CELEX_32019L0882_ES_TXT.pdf" hreflang="es">PDF Español (Spanish)</a></li>
  <li><a href="CELEX_32019L0882_CS_TXT.pdf" hreflang="cs">PDF Čeština (Czech)</a></li>
</ul>

Results from Google Search Console:

Conclusion

The Duplicate without user-selected canonical warning is a significant concern for multilingual websites, but it is not insurmountable. By implementing the hreflang attribute for multiple links to the same document in different languages, the issue with indexing can be fixed effectively.