URL Parameters

What is URL Parameters?

In the SEO industry, URL Parameters are key-value pairs added to the end of a URL, typically preceded by a question mark (?). They help to track and manage various aspects of web traffic, such as user sessions, source of traffic, and other dynamic data. While they can be highly useful for analytics and site functionality, they can also create challenges for SEO, such as duplicate content issues and crawl inefficiencies, if not managed properly. Search engines might see URLs with different parameters as separate pages, which can dilute the ranking potential of your content. Therefore, it's crucial to implement best practices, such as canonical tags and parameter handling tools in Google Search Console, to ensure these parameters don't negatively impact your site's SEO.

URL Parameters are a way to pass information about a click through a URL.

Examples

Example 1: Tracking Campaigns - A URL like 'https://example.com/shop?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring_sale' uses parameters to track the source, medium, and campaign name. This helps marketers understand which campaigns drive the most traffic.

Example 2: Filtering Content - A URL such as 'https://example.com/products?category=shoes&color=red' uses parameters to filter products by category and color. This allows users to see a customized list of products based on their preferences.

Additional Information

Use canonical tags to point search engines to the preferred version of a URL.

Leverage Google Search Console’s URL Parameters tool to inform Google about how to handle different parameters.

References

A Beginner's Guide to URL Parameters - SearchEngineCodex

An SEO Guide to URL Parameter Handling - Search Engine Journal

URL Parameters: A Complete Guide for SEOs - Ahrefs