---
title: "Best Practice Default Meta"
description: "The default meta tags Nuxt SEO sets for you."
canonical_url: "https://nuxtseo.com/docs/seo-utils/guides/default-meta"
last_updated: "2026-05-09T08:10:59.219Z"
---
## Introduction
To ensure your site is SEO friendly, Nuxt SEO sets some default meta tags for you based
on your [site config](/docs/nuxt-seo/guides/configuring-modules).
## Canonical URL
Ensuring a canonical URL is set helps avoid [duplicate content issues](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66359?hl=en).
This can be an issue when you have multiple domains or subdomains pointing to the same content,
[trailing slashes](/docs/nuxt-seo/guides/trailing-slashes) and non-trailing slashes showing the same content
and when you have query parameters that don't change the content.
Learn more about canonical URLs with the [Canonical Link Tag](/learn-seo/nuxt/controlling-crawlers/canonical-urls) guide.
The canonical URL is generated from your site config `url`, the current route and the `canonicalQueryWhitelist`.
### canonicalQueryWhitelist
By default, the `canonicalQueryWhitelist` includes a number of common query parameters that will modify the page content:
- `page`
- `sort`
- `filter`
- `search`
- `q`
- `category`
- `tag`
You can override this by providing your own list of query parameters that should be included in the canonical URL.
```ts [nuxt.config.ts]twoslash
export default defineNuxtConfig({
seo: {
canonicalQueryWhitelist: ['myCustomQuery']
}
})
```
## I18n
Google wants you to list the language that any given page is written in as ``.
Nuxt SEO will set this for you based on your site config `currentLocale` and `defaultLocale` (default `en`).
If you're using the `@nuxtjs/i18n` module, then this is automatically set for you.
See the [I18n Guide](/docs/nuxt-seo/guides/i18n) for detailed information on configuring locales, especially if you're experiencing issues with the `lang` attribute.
## Open Graph
Providing extra [open-graph](https://ogp.me/) meta tags helps social media platforms understand your content better.
The following tags are set:
- `og:url` - The canonical URL of the page.
- `og:type` - Set to `'website'`.
- `og:locale` - The current locale of the page based on site config `currentLocale` and `defaultLocale`. Only set when the locale includes a region code (e.g. `en_US`), not for simple locales like `en`.
- `og:site_name` - The name of your site based on site config `name`.
## Disable Default Meta
While all default meta is registered with low priority, allowing you to easily override them,
you may want to disable them entirely.
```ts [nuxt.config.ts]twoslash
export default defineNuxtConfig({
seo: {
automaticDefaults: false
}
})
```
**Validate your meta tags** - Check title and description length with our [Meta Tag Checker](/tools/meta-tag-checker).