GlossaryUpdated 2026-09-21

Canonical product record

A canonical product record is one published description of a product's identity and facts, at a stable URL, where every fact names the source it came from and the date it was read. It is the page other copies should point back to.

How it differs from a product page

A product page sells: it carries imagery, persuasion, reviews and a basket. A canonical record identifies: identifiers, the facts a buyer asks about, their sources, and what the record does not claim. A good product page can be a canonical record; most are not, because the facts live in scripts and the sources are not stated.

Example

The records at /products are canonical records in this sense: each lists its identifiers, each fact with the page it was read from, the day it was read and a digest of that page.

Where this was measured

Related

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