Title: Canonical URL incorrectly uses https instead of http Last modified: January 1, 2024 --- # Canonical URL incorrectly uses https instead of http * Resolved [scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * (@scrhorton) * [2 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/) * My site runs without SSL, so all pages are http. * However, it seems that on a random selection of pages/post, Yoast SEO is setting the canonical link to a https version of the http page. * This causes problems as Google then indexes the https page, which doesn’t exist and throws an error if a user clicks on this page in Google search results. * The pages affected seem to be random. Maybe 10% of all pages on the site at any one time. * If I make an edit and ‘update’ an affected page, the canonical link is thereafter corrected to use http. * Here is an example of an affected page (may not persist for long though): * [http://www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk/directory/](http://www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk/directory/) * If you view the page source for the above page, you see: * * The page I need help with: _[[log in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fwordpress.org%2Fsupport%2Ftopic%2Fcanonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http%2F%3Foutput_format%3Dmd&locale=en_US) to see the link]_ Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 16 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/page/2/?output_format=md) * [Rohan Sadanandan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rohans123/) * (@rohans123) * [2 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17311807) * Hi [@scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * Thanks for reaching out. I’m sorry about your wrong canonical URLs. Did you recently switch your website from HTTPS to HTTP? * Next, try the following steps: 1. Install & activate the [Yoast Test Helper plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/yoast-test-helper/) 2. Go to Tools > Yoast Test 3. Locate the Yoast SEO section and click on the ‘_Reset indexables tables & migrations_‘,‘ _Reset Prominent words calculation_‘, and ‘_Reset Internal link counter_‘ buttons. After each click, the page will reload to confirm that the specific reset was successful. 4. Go to SEO > Tools, and under SEO data, click the “Start SEO data optimization” button to allow Yoast to rescan your content. * Do let me know how it goes. * Thread Starter [scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * (@scrhorton) * [2 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17311982) * Hi [@rohans123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rohans123/), * Thanks for your reply. * To answer your question, no – the website has always been http. I have never attempted to move to https. * Somehow it seems that Yoast SEO intermittently thinks (incorrectly) that the website has moved to https. Any idea why that could be? * [Rohan Sadanandan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rohans123/) * (@rohans123) * [2 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17312134) * Hi [@scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/), * We are not sure about the cause of the issue. Probably the database contains HTTPS entries. * Can you please try the steps mentioned in my previous reply and let us know whether that resolves the issue? * Looking forward to your reply. * Thread Starter [scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * (@scrhorton) * [2 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17312281) * Hi [@rohans123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rohans123/), * I will try your suggestion, but I do wonder how https entries might have got into the Yoast SEO database in the first place if the website has NEVER used https. * The concern is that if we don’t determine the true cause and address it in some way, the issue may reoccur after the database has been cleared. * [Rohan Sadanandan](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rohans123/) * (@rohans123) * [2 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17314894) * Hi [@scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/), * The setting for whether a site uses HTTP or HTTPS is controlled in WordPress by the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) values, which are located in **Settings** > **General**. * You would need to make sure that both of these are set to use your preferred version (http/https and www/non-www). * You can also do a complete scan of your database to see if there are any HTTPS entries. * Thread Starter [scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * (@scrhorton) * [2 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17316492) * Hi [@rohans123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rohans123/), * I have used the [Yoast Test Helper plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/yoast-test-helper/) as you suggested. It will, however, take some time to determine if it has resolved the issue. * FYI The WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) values are both set to http and have been since the site was started 15 years ago. * Given the above, I am curious to understand what might cause Yoast SEO to incorrectly use a https address in the canonical link for a post/page that has a http address. * Thread Starter [scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * (@scrhorton) * [2 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17324120) * Hi [@rohans123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rohans123/), * Sadly your suggested actions have not solved the issue. *  Yoast SEO is still incorrectly setting the canonical link in the header of random posts/pages to a https version of the http page. * I remain curious to understand what might cause Yoast SEO to incorrectly use a https address in the canonical link for a post/page that has a http address. * I have a number of other websites that are set up in the same way and none of these exhibit this issue. * Plugin Support [Maybellyne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maybellyne/) * (@maybellyne) * [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17336496) * Please update from Yoast SEO 21.5 to 21.8. The canonical URL of [A-Z Business Directory](http://www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk/directory/) shows the correct URL without HTTPS. [See screenshot](https://pasteboard.co/dfc5s7OcVy0o.png). Can you share some other URLs where you noticed the problem exists? * Thread Starter [scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * (@scrhorton) * [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17341002) * Hi [@maybellyne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maybellyne/), * As I mentioned previously, there is a randomness about which pages are affected. As far as I can determine, about 7% of pages on the site are currently affected by this issue at any given time. * At the time of writing, this is one of the affected pages: * [http://www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk/2015/10/16/local-community-shows-support-syrian-refugees/](http://www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk/2015/10/16/local-community-shows-support-syrian-refugees/) * and here is the screenshot showing the https canonical: * [https://pasteboard.co/DR4gwlhqYLJk.jpg](https://pasteboard.co/DR4gwlhqYLJk.jpg) * Note: By the time you read this it may have changed! * This Google query shows how many https pages Google is picking up due to the canonical being wrong: * site:bradleystokejournal.co.uk inurl:https * However if you check many of those entries, the canonical has since reverted to http. So it seems this is a random/intermittent problem. * Thread Starter [scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * (@scrhorton) * [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17344524) * [@maybellyne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maybellyne/) [@rohans123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/rohans123/) * Still struggling to understand why Yoast is inserting a https URL as the canonical link for a http page. * If I deactivate Yoast, core WordPress inserts the correct http canonical link. * If someone could explain the algorithm that Yoast uses to determine the value it uses for the canonical link, I might be able to deduce the root cause of this issue. * Anyone, please? * Plugin Support [Maybellyne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maybellyne/) * (@maybellyne) * [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17344969) * I am sorry that the issue continues as it does on that URL you shared, [@scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/). You can learn about how the Yoast SEO implements the canonical URL [here](https://developer.yoast.com/features/seo-tags/canonical-urls/functional-specification/). * You mentioned that resetting the indexables with the Yoast Test Helper plugin didn’t make a difference while the issue is resolved when you deactivate Yoast SEO. * Can you please perfrm a proper conflict check? The fastest way to rule out any conflict is to **deactivate all non-Yoast plugins and switch to a standard theme** like [Twenty Twenty-Two](https://wordpress.org/themes/twentytwentytwo/). * Please test this on your development or staging site if you have one. If not, we recommend using the [Health Check & Troubleshooting](https://wordpress.org/plugins/health-check/) plugin. This plugin has a troubleshooting mode, which **does not affect normal visitors to your site**. * If you’re unfamiliar with checking for conflicts, we’d like to point you to a step-by-step guide that will walk you through the process: [How to check for plugin conflicts](https://yoast.com/help/how-to-check-for-plugin-conflicts/) * If you feel uncomfortable doing this yourself or if this does not solve your issue, our [Yoast SEO Premium plugin](https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/) comes with one year of (technical) support. * Thread Starter [scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * (@scrhorton) * [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17345101) * [@maybellyne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maybellyne/), * Thanks for your reply. * Before I investigate possible plugin conflicts, I would like to progress my original question… * The developer document that you reference, in relation to construction of the({{ URL}} component of the canonical tag, states: * “If the application is aware of the website’s preferred protocol (e.g., a developer or user has defined an option for the site’s address which includes `http` or` https`), then the protocol value should be retrieved, and a `:` character should be appended to the variable (to produce, e.g., `https:`).” * I am interested to know how Yoast becomes “aware of the website’s preferred protocol”. What data is it looking at to determine this? * Plugin Support [Maybellyne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maybellyne/) * (@maybellyne) * [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17345153) * The Yoast SEO plugin determines the protocol based on the `home_URL` or _site address_ defined in _WordPress > Settings > General_ or in the _wp-config_ file to fetch URLs. * Thread Starter [scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * (@scrhorton) * [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17345233) * [@maybellyne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maybellyne/), * I can confirm that WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) on the Settings | General page are both set to [http://www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk](http://www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk) * The wp-config.php file does not contain any ‘DEFINE’ entries for WP_HOME or WP_SITEURL. * Is there anything else that Yoast might be using to determine the protocol? * Plugin Support [Maybellyne](https://wordpress.org/support/users/maybellyne/) * (@maybellyne) * [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/#post-17345300) * No, that’s the only way it determines the protocol Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 16 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘Canonical URL incorrectly uses https instead of http’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/wordpress-seo/assets/icon-256x256.gif?rev=3419908) * [Yoast SEO - Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-seo/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-seo/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-seo/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-seo/reviews/) ## Tags * [HTTPS](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/https/) * 16 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [scrhorton](https://wordpress.org/support/users/scrhorton/) * Last activity: [2 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/canonical-url-incorrectly-uses-https-instead-of-http/page/2/#post-17347846) * Status: resolved