SEO6 min read·Updated September 5, 2026

Canonicals, Duplicate Images and WebP Copies

Some plugins output a `<picture>` with JPEG + WebP *and* leave both in the sitemap. That is fine for fallback. It is not fine to embed both as two visible images or to let the JPEG remain the `src` that actually downloads. One visual, one downloaded file: WebP.

Duplicates confuse crawlers and users

If JPEG and WebP both appear as separate <img> tags, you waste bytes and may look spammy in Image search. Use one element.

Why it matters

Optimisation plugins love dual files.
Designers upload _webp and forget to delete _full.jpg.
Hreflang-like logic does not exist for images; be simple.

How to do it

After converting, delete unused JPEG/PNG from the page (not necessarily from backup).
Keep a single src / srcset in WebP.
OG JPEG lives only in meta tags.

Put it into practice

Convert your images to WebP right now, free and privately in your browser.

Open the converter

Frequently asked questions

No. One image is shown. The fallback is not a second page.

srcset is correct, not duplicate content.

Keep reading

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Use <picture> to serve WebP with a JPEG fallback. When you still need it in 2026, and how to generate both files in one workflow.

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Migrate a site to WebP

A practical migration: convert in batches, update HTML, redirect old .jpg URLs, keep OG JPEGs.