{"id":2214,"date":"2022-06-22T13:12:27","date_gmt":"2022-06-22T07:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hostkicker.com\/blog\/?p=2214"},"modified":"2022-11-19T15:19:21","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T09:49:21","slug":"url-parameter-in-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hostkicker.com\/blog\/url-parameter-in-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"What are URL parameters in SEO- A complete guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

In SEO, everything, whether big or small, affects website SEO<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>The URL parameter is a similar thing. This post talks about URL parameters in SEO, how they affect SEO and website ranking, and different solutions to handle URL Parameters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many analytics experts and developers love URL parameters. We can create hundreds and thousands of URL variations for similar content using many parameter combinations, but they can hurt a website’s SEO and rank on SERPs.<\/span><\/p>\n

You may wonder about skipping URL parameters to boost your SEO.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, we can not entirely ignore URL parameters as they are important for the user experience on a website. Therefore, we need to handle URL parameters in an SEO-friendly way.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are URL parameters?<\/span><\/h2>\n

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A URL suggests the resource of a page and can lead you to the destinated page. A general URL consists of the essential components like- protocol, domain name, top-level domain, and the path.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The URL parameters, also known as query strings, are added elements that follow the main URL for a page, usually after a question mark.<\/span><\/p>\n

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You can easily identify the parameters by referring to the URL portion after a ‘?’ symbol. <\/span>You can use multiple query string parameters separated by the ‘&’ symbol within a single URL.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These query parameters are used to organize, sort, and specify content on a web page, and they are also used to track information on your website.<\/span><\/p>\n

A URL with parameters string looks like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Why does URL structure matter in SEO?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Search engines use URLs to understand the content and structure of a website, but they may get confused if different URLs direct to a single page. <\/span><\/p>\n

Also, Since URL parameters consist of keys, values, question marks, equal signs and ampersand signs, humans cannot understand these parameters, resulting in receiving fewer clicks. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the contrary, a descriptive URL enjoys more clicks.<\/span><\/p>\n

How are URL parameters used?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The URL parameters are used to filter or sort content on a web page to make it convenient and effortless for users to navigate to the site. These help users order a product page according to the filter and view a range of products according to their needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

URL parameters are also helpful for tracking purposes. Website owners use this to track traffic to their site to determine if their latest social ad campaign was successful or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do URL parameters work?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

URL parameters can work in two different ways: Actively and passively.<\/span><\/p>\n

Active URL parameters-\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>The parameters that change the layout of a page or modify the page but do not change the content are known as active URL parameters. These are also known as content modifying parameters. They are used to sort the content on a web page.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example: On a website, to send a user directly to a specific product named ‘white-nike-shoes’, its URL looks like this-<\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/domain.com?productid=<\/span><\/em>white-nike-shoes<\/span><\/p>\n

Passive URL parameters-\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>These parameters generally do not change anything on the web page. These are majorly used to track the click. These are also known as tracking parameters. These can help determine the path a user came from, i.e. the network, the campaign or the ad group.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example: To track traffic from your recent newsletter, its URL looks like this-<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.domain.com\/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The other common URL parameters cases can be reordering, tracking, filtering, identifying, pagination, searching, translating. Let us give you some parameters examples to make it more clear to you:<\/span><\/p>\n

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How do URL parameters affect SEO?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Unmanaged or incorrectly configured URL parameters can create many issues that can affect your website’s SEO, SERP ranking, crawl budget, and more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let us discuss the most common issue with URL parameters:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Duplication of Content<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n

URL parameters are generated when you filter the content based on different factors such as price, colour, and brand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Usually, parameters do not make considerable changes to page content. They just re-order the page, and a re-ordered page is more similar to its original version. Google considers every URL as a different URL, and when the URLs with different parameters lead to a single page, it might consider the pages as duplicate content. Although it won’t kick you out of SERPs<\/a>, it may affect your ranking.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, below are the URLs that would lead to a collection of widgets.<\/span><\/p>\n