Title: Rapid Canonical URLs
Author: Peter Wilson
Published: <strong>July 13, 2014</strong>
Last modified: May 9, 2026

---

Search plugins

![](https://ps.w.org/rapid-canonical-urls/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=3054885)

# Rapid Canonical URLs

 By [Peter Wilson](https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc/)

[Download](https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/rapid-canonical-urls.1.0.3.zip)

 * [Details](https://wordpress.org/plugins/rapid-canonical-urls/#description)
 * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/plugins/rapid-canonical-urls/#reviews)
 *  [Installation](https://wordpress.org/plugins/rapid-canonical-urls/#installation)
 * [Development](https://wordpress.org/plugins/rapid-canonical-urls/#developers)

 [Support](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/rapid-canonical-urls/)

## Description

WordPress uses 301 redirects to redirect URLs to their canonical version.

In cases where the non-canonical version will show the correct content,
 it is possible
to use the HTML5 history API to show visitors the correct URL without the additional
HTTP request.

This reduces HTTP requests, speeding up access for visitors and reducing
 the load
on your server.

It is _strongly recommended_ you use this plugin in association with an
 SEO plugin
that adds canonical URL meta tags.

## Installation

 1. Upload the rapid-canonical-urls folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
 2. Activate the Rapid Canonical URLs plugin through WordPress’s ‘Plugins’ menu
 3. (Optional but recommended) If you haven’t already, install an SEO plugin which 
    adds canonical URL tags

## FAQ

### Could this result in duplicate content?

It is possible. It’s strongly recommended you use an SEO plugin that adds
 canonical
URL meta tags to mitigate this.

### What happens in older browsers?

Older browsers will display the non-canonical version of the URL to the user.
 The
same is true for users who disable JavaScript.

### What SEO plugin do you use?

There are many plugins available, two to consider are
 [WordPress SEO by Yoast](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/)
and [All in One SEO Pack](https://wordpress.org/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/).

## Reviews

There are no reviews for this plugin.

## Contributors & Developers

“Rapid Canonical URLs” is open source software. The following people have contributed
to this plugin.

Contributors

 *   [ Peter Wilson ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc/)

[Translate “Rapid Canonical URLs” into your language.](https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp-plugins/rapid-canonical-urls)

### Interested in development?

[Browse the code](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/rapid-canonical-urls/),
check out the [SVN repository](https://plugins.svn.wordpress.org/rapid-canonical-urls/),
or subscribe to the [development log](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/rapid-canonical-urls/)
by [RSS](https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/log/rapid-canonical-urls/?limit=100&mode=stop_on_copy&format=rss).

## Changelog

#### 1.0

 * Rewrite to use namespace following WP bump to a minimum of PHP 5.6

#### 0.1

 * Initial version

## Community plugin

This plugin is developed and supported by a community. [Contribute to this plugin](https://github.com/peterwilsoncc/rapid-canonical-urls/)

## Meta

 *  Version **1.0.3**
 *  Last updated **2 months ago**
 *  Active installations **100+**
 *  WordPress version ** 4.4.0 or higher **
 *  Tested up to **7.0**
 *  PHP version ** 5.6.20 or higher **
 * Tag
 * [HTML5](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tags/html5/)
 *  [Advanced View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/rapid-canonical-urls/advanced/)

## Ratings

No reviews have been submitted yet.

[Your review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/rapid-canonical-urls/reviews/#new-post)

[See all reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/rapid-canonical-urls/reviews/)

## Contributors

 *   [ Peter Wilson ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc/)

## Support

Got something to say? Need help?

 [View support forum](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/rapid-canonical-urls/)