Tools: 🚀 How I Fixed Canonical & Indexing Issues on My React SPA (Cloudflare Pages + Custom Domain)
Source: Dev.to
I recently launched a small browser-based utility platform built with React and hosted on Cloudflare Pages. Everything looked fine. But after 2 weeks…
Only 1 page was indexed. Here’s what was actually wrong. I had both domains active: I assumed Cloudflare Pages would automatically handle canonical preference. Google saw two hosts serving identical pages and started choosing its own canonical. For a new domain with zero authority, that slows everything down. What Was Happening Internally Search Console showed: This split signals and delayed indexing.
For a brand new SPA, that’s deadly. - Force a Single Host (301 Redirect) In Cloudflare → Rules → Redirect Rules:
Condition:
Hostname equals www.optipress.in Action:
Redirect to https://optipress.in${uri}
Status: 301 After deploying, www permanently redirects to non-www. Inside <head>: <link rel="canonical" href="https://optipress.in/" /> And for every route:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://optipress.in/specific-page" /> Purge Cloudflare Cache After redirect change, purge everything. In Search Console:
Inspect URL
Request indexing again SPA-Specific Observation My site is a pure React SPA:
<div id="root"></div> Lesson learned:
If you’re launching a JS-heavy site, domain consolidation matters even more. Always choose one primary host early
Don’t assume hosting platforms auto-handle canonical logic
New domains + SPAs = slower indexing
Fix technical structure before chasing backlinks Check out : https://optipress.in Templates let you quickly answer FAQs or store snippets for re-use. Are you sure you want to hide this comment? It will become hidden in your post, but will still be visible via the comment's permalink. Hide child comments as well For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse - Sitemap submitted
- Robots.txt configured
- Google Search Console verified
- Pages discovered - “Duplicate, Google chose different canonical than user”
- “Discovered – currently not indexed” - https://optipress.in
- https://www.optipress.in - SSL enabled
- Returning 200 status
- Serving identical content - User-declared canonical → non-www
- Google-selected canonical → www - Minimal initial HTML
- Content rendered via JS
- Slower indexing for new domains