Why is Google indexing the wrong URL?
A symptom-first guide to the signals that make Google prefer one URL over the version you expected.
When Google indexes the wrong URL, the usual cause is not one single tag. It is mixed signals across redirects, internal links, sitemap entries, canonical tags, and alternate versions of the same page.
This often happens on sites with trailing-slash differences, parameters, duplicate paths, or host variations. Even if one signal says a URL is preferred, the rest of the site may still point somewhere else, which makes the wrong version look more convincing overall.
The fix is to make the preferred URL obvious everywhere. Once the canonical, redirects, sitemap, and internal links all agree, Google has a much clearer reason to trust the version you want.
Use this guide when you want a little more context before publishing, need a quick refresher on best practices, or want to avoid the mistakes that commonly lead to crawl or indexing issues later.
If you want to apply this advice immediately, use the related tool and compare the output against the points covered in this guide.