peter-tanner.github.io/_posts/2024-06-29-Adding-the-canonical-tag-to-Gitea-to-prevent-duplicate-spam.md

---
title: Adding the canonical tag to Gitea to prevent duplicate spam
author: peter
date: 2024-06-29 02:55:28 +0800
categories: [SelfHosting] # Blogging | Electronics | Programming | Mechanical
tags: [tip, gitea, seo] # systems | embedded | rf | microwave | electronics | solidworks | automation
# image: assets/img/2024-06-29-Adding-the-canonical/preview.png
---

Gitea doesn't include the canonical tag in their pages, leading to a lot of duplicate pages being indexed by Google. Each page being indexed has a different sorting option, or other superflous parameter.

> Duplicate without user-selected canonical
>
> These pages aren't indexed or served on Google

Not sure if having a lot of these errors affects SEO but I've noticed a lot of my real pages are being discovered but not indexed by Google.

![Search console page getting spammed with duplicate urls](/assets/img/2024-06-29-Adding-the-canonical/search%20console.png)

To fix this,

1. Create a `custom/templates/base/` directory under your Gitea installation. In my case it is in `/var/lib/gitea/custom/templates/base/`.
2. CD to the base directory and run `wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/go-gitea/gitea/main/templates/base/head.tmpl`. Make sure your Gitea is updated to the latest version, or choose the right version instead of the `main` branch.
3. Modify `head.tmpl`: Add this line somewhere in the `<head>` section:

<!-- {% raw %} -->

```html
<link rel="canonical" href="{{AppUrl}}{{if $.Link}}{{slice $.Link 1}}{{end}}" />
```

<!-- {% endraw %} -->

4. Restart the gitea service
New posts: _posts/2024-06-29-Adding-the-canonical-tag-to-Gitea-to-prevent-duplicate-spam.md 2024-06-29 03:05:10 +08:00			`---`
			`title: Adding the canonical tag to Gitea to prevent duplicate spam`
			`author: peter`
			`date: 2024-06-29 02:55:28 +0800`
			`categories: [SelfHosting] # Blogging \| Electronics \| Programming \| Mechanical`
fix tags on pages 2024-10-29 17:42:47 +08:00			`tags: [tip, gitea, seo] # systems \| embedded \| rf \| microwave \| electronics \| solidworks \| automation`
New posts: _posts/2024-06-29-Adding-the-canonical-tag-to-Gitea-to-prevent-duplicate-spam.md 2024-06-29 03:05:10 +08:00			`# image: assets/img/2024-06-29-Adding-the-canonical/preview.png`
			`---`

			`Gitea doesn't include the canonical tag in their pages, leading to a lot of duplicate pages being indexed by Google. Each page being indexed has a different sorting option, or other superflous parameter.`

Add error for discoverability 2024-06-29 03:06:53 +08:00			`> Duplicate without user-selected canonical`
			`>`
			`> These pages aren't indexed or served on Google`

			`Not sure if having a lot of these errors affects SEO but I've noticed a lot of my real pages are being discovered but not indexed by Google.`

New posts: _posts/2024-06-29-Adding-the-canonical-tag-to-Gitea-to-prevent-duplicate-spam.md 2024-06-29 03:05:10 +08:00			`![Search console page getting spammed with duplicate urls](/assets/img/2024-06-29-Adding-the-canonical/search%20console.png)`

			`To fix this,`

			1. Create a `custom/templates/base/` directory under your Gitea installation. In my case it is in `/var/lib/gitea/custom/templates/base/`.
			2. CD to the base directory and run `wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/go-gitea/gitea/main/templates/base/head.tmpl`. Make sure your Gitea is updated to the latest version, or choose the right version instead of the `main` branch.
			3. Modify `head.tmpl`: Add this line somewhere in the `<head>` section:

Escape without messing up code block align 2024-06-29 11:38:42 +08:00			`<!-- {% raw %} -->`

New posts: _posts/2024-06-29-Adding-the-canonical-tag-to-Gitea-to-prevent-duplicate-spam.md 2024-06-29 03:05:10 +08:00			```html
			`<link rel="canonical" href="{{AppUrl}}{{if $.Link}}{{slice $.Link 1}}{{end}}" />`
			```

Escape without messing up code block align 2024-06-29 11:38:42 +08:00			`<!-- {% endraw %} -->`

New posts: _posts/2024-06-29-Adding-the-canonical-tag-to-Gitea-to-prevent-duplicate-spam.md 2024-06-29 03:05:10 +08:00			`4. Restart the gitea service`