diff --git a/src/test/fakes.rs b/src/test/fakes.rs
index 61dff0c35..5d59a066d 100644
--- a/src/test/fakes.rs
+++ b/src/test/fakes.rs
@@ -245,6 +245,11 @@ impl<'a> FakeRelease<'a> {
         self
     }
 
+    pub(crate) fn documentation_url(mut self, documentation: Option<String>) -> Self {
+        self.package.documentation = documentation;
+        self
+    }
+
     /// Returns the release_id
     pub(crate) fn create(mut self) -> Result<i32> {
         use std::fs;
diff --git a/src/web/crate_details.rs b/src/web/crate_details.rs
index 79186f21d..890b7d080 100644
--- a/src/web/crate_details.rs
+++ b/src/web/crate_details.rs
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ pub struct CrateDetails {
     pub(crate) metadata: MetaData,
     is_library: bool,
     license: Option<String>,
-    documentation_url: Option<String>,
+    pub(crate) documentation_url: Option<String>,
     total_items: Option<f32>,
     documented_items: Option<f32>,
     total_items_needing_examples: Option<f32>,
diff --git a/src/web/rustdoc.rs b/src/web/rustdoc.rs
index bf5e23e2a..d9e031eef 100644
--- a/src/web/rustdoc.rs
+++ b/src/web/rustdoc.rs
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ pub fn rustdoc_redirector_handler(req: &mut Request) -> IronResult<Response> {
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Serialize)]
 struct RustdocPage {
     latest_path: String,
+    canonical_url: String,
     permalink_path: String,
     latest_version: String,
     target: String,
@@ -483,6 +484,27 @@ pub fn rustdoc_html_server_handler(req: &mut Request) -> IronResult<Response> {
 
     let latest_path = format!("/crate/{}/latest{}{}", name, target_redirect, query_string);
 
+    // Set the canonical URL for search engines to the `/latest/` page on docs.rs.
+    // For crates with a documentation URL, where that URL doesn't point at docs.rs,
+    // omit the canonical link to avoid penalizing external documentation.
+    // Note: The URL this points to may not exist. For instance, if we're rendering
+    // `struct Foo` in version 0.1.0 of a crate, and version 0.2.0 of that crate removes
+    // `struct Foo`, this will point at a 404. That's fine: search engines will crawl
+    // the target and will not canonicalize to a URL that doesn't exist.
+    let canonical_url = if krate.documentation_url.is_none()
+        || krate
+            .documentation_url
+            .as_ref()
+            .unwrap()
+            .starts_with("https://docs.rs/")
+    {
+        // Don't include index.html in the canonical URL.
+        let canonical_path = inner_path.replace("index.html", "");
+        format!("https://docs.rs/{}/latest/{}", name, canonical_path)
+    } else {
+        "".to_string()
+    };
+
     metrics
         .recently_accessed_releases
         .record(krate.crate_id, krate.release_id, target);
@@ -496,6 +518,7 @@ pub fn rustdoc_html_server_handler(req: &mut Request) -> IronResult<Response> {
     rendering_time.step("rewrite html");
     RustdocPage {
         latest_path,
+        canonical_url,
         permalink_path,
         latest_version,
         target,
@@ -1980,4 +2003,64 @@ mod test {
             Ok(())
         })
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn canonical_url() {
+        wrapper(|env| {
+            env.fake_release()
+                .name("dummy-dash")
+                .version("0.1.0")
+                .documentation_url(Some("http://example.com".to_string()))
+                .rustdoc_file("dummy_dash/index.html")
+                .create()?;
+
+            env.fake_release()
+                .name("dummy-docs")
+                .version("0.1.0")
+                .documentation_url(Some("https://docs.rs/foo".to_string()))
+                .rustdoc_file("dummy_docs/index.html")
+                .create()?;
+
+            env.fake_release()
+                .name("dummy-nodocs")
+                .version("0.1.0")
+                .documentation_url(None)
+                .rustdoc_file("dummy_nodocs/index.html")
+                .rustdoc_file("dummy_nodocs/struct.Foo.html")
+                .create()?;
+
+            let web = env.frontend();
+
+            assert!(!web
+                .get("/dummy-dash/0.1.0/dummy_dash/")
+                .send()?
+                .text()?
+                .contains("rel=\"canonical\""),);
+
+            assert!(web
+                .get("/dummy-docs/0.1.0/dummy_docs/")
+                .send()?
+                .text()?
+                .contains(
+                "<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https://docs.rs/dummy-docs/latest/dummy_docs/\" />"
+            ),);
+
+            assert!(
+                web
+                    .get("/dummy-nodocs/0.1.0/dummy_nodocs/")
+                    .send()?
+                    .text()?
+                    .contains("<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https://docs.rs/dummy-nodocs/latest/dummy_nodocs/\" />"),
+            );
+
+            assert!(
+                web
+                    .get("/dummy-nodocs/0.1.0/dummy_nodocs/struct.Foo.html")
+                    .send()?
+                    .text()?
+                    .contains("<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https://docs.rs/dummy-nodocs/latest/dummy_nodocs/struct.Foo.html\" />"),
+            );
+            Ok(())
+        })
+    }
 }
diff --git a/templates/rustdoc/head.html b/templates/rustdoc/head.html
index f8f8cb611..16523abc4 100644
--- a/templates/rustdoc/head.html
+++ b/templates/rustdoc/head.html
@@ -3,4 +3,8 @@
 
         <link rel="search" href="/-/static/opensearch.xml" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Docs.rs" />
 
+        {%- if canonical_url -%}
+        <link rel="canonical" href="{{canonical_url | safe}}" />
+        {%- endif -%}
+
         <script type="text/javascript">{%- include "theme.js" -%}</script>