{"id":10684,"date":"2020-02-06T08:01:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T08:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"\/blog\/?p=10684"},"modified":"2022-11-21T11:54:33","modified_gmt":"2022-11-21T11:54:33","slug":"url-parameter-handling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/","title":{"rendered":"An SEO Guide to URL Parameter Handling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">URL parameters can be an SEO nightmare since combinations of parameters can create thousands upon thousands of URL variations out of the same piece of content. However, URL parameters certainly play a crucial role in a website\u2019s user experience, so it\u2019s important to understand how to use them in an SEO-friendly way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Check out our <\/span>SEO guide to URL parameter handling<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to learn more about what URL parameters are, some of the SEO issues they can cause and some solutions and best practices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_76 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#What_Exactly_are_URL_Parameters\" >What Exactly are URL Parameters?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#Which_SEO_Problems_Do_URL_Parameters_Cause\" >Which SEO Problems Do URL Parameters Cause?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#1_%E2%80%93_Parameters_create_duplicate_content\" >1 &#8211; Parameters create duplicate content:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#2_%E2%80%93_Parameters_waste_crawl_budget\" >2 &#8211; Parameters waste crawl budget:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#3_%E2%80%93_Parameters_split_page_ranking_signals\" >3 &#8211; Parameters split page ranking signals:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#4_%E2%80%93_Parameters_make_URLs_less_clickable\" >4 &#8211; Parameters make URLs less clickable:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#Assess_the_Scope_of_Your_URL_Parameter_Problem\" >Assess the Scope of Your URL Parameter Problem<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#SEO_Solutions_to_Issues_with_URL_Parameters\" >SEO Solutions to Issues with URL Parameters<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#Limit_parameter-based_URLs\" >Limit parameter-based URLs<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#Rel%E2%80%9D_canonical%E2%80%9D_link_attribute\" >Rel=\u201d canonical\u201d link attribute<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#Meta_robots_Noindex_tag\" >Meta robots Noindex tag<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#Robotstxt_disallow\" >Robots.txt disallow<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#URL_parameter_tool_in_Google_Search_Console\" >URL parameter tool in Google Search Console<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#Move_from_dynamic_to_static_URLs\" >Move from dynamic to static URLs<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-15\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/#What_is_the_Best_Practice_URL_Parameter_Handling_for_SEO\" >What is the Best Practice URL Parameter Handling for SEO?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_Exactly_are_URL_Parameters\"><\/span><b>What Exactly are URL Parameters?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_10688\" style=\"width: 1209px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10688\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10688\" src=\"https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123425\/url-parameter-elements.png\" alt=\"What Are URL Parameters?\" width=\"1199\" height=\"423\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123425\/url-parameter-elements.png 1199w, https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123425\/url-parameter-elements-300x106.png 300w, https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123425\/url-parameter-elements-768x271.png 768w, https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123425\/url-parameter-elements-1024x361.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1199px) 100vw, 1199px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10688\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; searchenginejournal.com\/<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parameters are the part of a URL that follows a question mark. Also known as query strings or URL variables, URL parameters include a key and a value pair, which are separated by an equal sign. You can add multiple URL parameters to one web page by using an ampersand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are a number of use cases for parameters, including tracking, reordering, filtering, identifying, paginating, searching and translating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Which_SEO_Problems_Do_URL_Parameters_Cause\"><\/span><b>Which SEO Problems Do URL Parameters Cause?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So exactly which SEO issues do URL parameters cause? URL parameters cause a wide variety of issues, including:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Parameters create duplicate content<\/li>\n<li>Parameters waste crawl budget<\/li>\n<li>Parameters split page ranking signals<\/li>\n<li>Parameters make URLs less clickable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_%E2%80%93_Parameters_create_duplicate_content\"><\/span><b>1 &#8211; Parameters create duplicate content:<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">URL parameters sometimes make no real change to the content of a page, meaning that a page URL with tracking tags or a session ID can actually be identical to the original. There can be multiple URLs with very similar content, and search engines treat each parameter-based URL as a new page, so when they see multiple super similar URLs, they treat them as multiple variations of the same page. Duplicate content is a huge no-no in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/seo-services-india.html\">SEO services<\/a>, and these similar URLs can downgrade Google\u2019s view of your overall website quality.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_%E2%80%93_Parameters_waste_crawl_budget\"><\/span><b>2 &#8211; Parameters waste crawl budget:<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Crawling redundant parameter pages wastes crawl budget, reduces your website\u2019s ability to index SEO relevant pages and increases server load. Overly complex URLs with multiple parameters can cause issues for crawlers by creating high numbers of URLs that point to the same or similar content on your website. Google then has trouble fully indexing all of the content on the site or often consumes more bandwidth than necessary to complete the task.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_%E2%80%93_Parameters_split_page_ranking_signals\"><\/span><b>3 &#8211; Parameters split page ranking signals:<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have multiple versions of the same page content, links and social shares come in on different versions and dilute your ranking signals. This can confuse crawlers, which then become unsure which pages to the index for the search query. This means that multiple versions of the same page will likely rank lower in the search results, rather than one version moving to the top of the results.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_%E2%80%93_Parameters_make_URLs_less_clickable\"><\/span><b>4 &#8211; Parameters make URLs less clickable:<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parameter URLs are often ugly or difficult to read, making them seem less trustworthy and unfortunately less likely to be clicked. The aesthetic nature of the URL itself impacts page performance. Click-through rate definitely influences rankings, and these URLs are often less clickable on social media or in emails when the full URL is displayed. Every tweet, like, share, email, link and mention matters for your website, and URL readability can definitely contribute to your brand engagement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that you know a bit more about some of the problems that URL parameters can cause, it\u2019s crucial that you fully understand the extent of your parameter problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Assess_the_Scope_of_Your_URL_Parameter_Problem\"><\/span><b>Assess the Scope of Your URL Parameter Problem<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s important to know which parameters are used on your website, and chances are that your developers don\u2019t keep an updated list of all parameters. That is why you need to follow these steps to fully understand the scope of your problem, learn which parameters need handling, better understand how search engines crawl and index these pages and know the value they bring to users.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read and follow these five steps in order to better understand your parameter problem:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-10691 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123437\/Infographic-1-e1614701689708.png\" alt=\"URL Parameter Handling\" width=\"1142\" height=\"676\" \/><\/p>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Run a crawler.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Use a crawler tool to search for any instance of the question mark in the URL.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Look in Google Search Console URL Parameters Tool.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Google typically auto-adds any query strings it finds, so you can often find your parameters-based URLs here.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Review log files.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Look and see if the Googlebot is crawling parameter-based URLs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Search with site: inurl: advanced operations.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> It\u2019s important to know how Google is indexing the parameters you found by putting the key in a site:example.com inurl:key combination query.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Look in Google Analytics All Pages report.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Search for question marks to see how each of the parameters you found is being used by users. Make sure that URL query parameters have not been excluded in the view setting.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With all of this information, you can decide how to best handle your website\u2019s parameters and address any SEO issues.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"SEO_Solutions_to_Issues_with_URL_Parameters\"><\/span><b>SEO Solutions to Issues with URL Parameters<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are a number of different tools you can use to address URL parameters and boost your SEO.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Limit_parameter-based_URLs\"><\/span><b>Limit parameter-based URLs<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you review how and why parameters exist, you can often find ways to reduce the number of parameter-based URLs and minimize the negative SEO impact. Consider these four common problems to begin your review.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Eliminate unnecessary parameters.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Ask your developer for an up-to-date list of all website parameters and their functions. More often than not, when you do this, you will discover parameters that are no longer necessary, since they don\u2019t provide a valuable function. SessionID parameters, for example, might no longer be necessary but may still exist on your website, because they were used historically. Eliminate any parameters caused by technical debt right away.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Prevent empty values.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> URL parameters should only be added to a URL if they have a function. Do not add a parameter key to a URL if the value is blank.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Only use keys once.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Avoid using multiple parameters with the same parameter name and a different value. It is typically better to combine values together after a single key for multi-select options.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Order URL parameters.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> When the same URL parameter is rearranged, search engines interpret these two web pages as equal. Parameter order doesn\u2019t matter in terms of duplicate content, but these two pages burn through crawl budget and split ranking signals, causing your pages to rank lower in the search results. You can avoid this problem by asking your developer to write a script to make sure the parameters are also placed in a consistent order.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This tactic will enable more <a href=\"\/blog\/what-is-crawl-budget-and-how-it-affects-the-seo\/\">efficient use of crawl budget<\/a>, decrease any duplicate content issues and consolidate ranking signals to fewer pages. While this technique does require some technical implementation time, it is suitable for all parameter types.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Rel%E2%80%9D_canonical%E2%80%9D_link_attribute\"><\/span><b>Rel=\u201d canonical\u201d link attribute<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rel=\u201d canonical\u201d link attribute calls out if a page has the same or similar content to another page, encouraging search engines to consolidate ranking signals to the URL specified as canonical. This technique is not the best option when the parameter page content is not similar enough to the canonical, like pagination, searching or translating parameters. This tactic does have a number of benefits, including easy technical implementation, the ability to safeguard against duplicate content issues and the consolidation of ranking signals to the canonical URL, but on the other hand, it does waste crawl budget on parameter pages, it is interpreted by search engines as a strong hint rather than a directive and it is not suitable for all parameter types.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Meta_robots_Noindex_tag\"><\/span><b>Meta robots Noindex tag<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This tag allows you to set a noindex directive for any parameter based page that adds little to no SEO value. The meta robots no-index tag prevents search engines from indexing the page. URLs with a \u201cnoindex\u201d tag are typically crawled less frequently and could eventually enable Google to nofollow the page\u2019s links. The meta <a href=\"\/blog\/google-has-canceled-support-for-robots-txt-noindex\/\">robots noindex tag<\/a> has several advantages, including easy technical implementation, the ability to safeguard against duplicate content and the removal of existing parameter-based URLs from the index. The tag is also suitable for all parameter types you don\u2019t want to be indexed, but it does not prevent search engines from crawling URLs and doesn\u2019t consolidate ranking signals.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Robotstxt_disallow\"><\/span><b>Robots.txt disallow<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search engines typically look at the robots.txt file first before crawling your website. If they see anything that is disallowed, they will not even visit your website. You can use the robots.txt file to block crawler access to all parameter-based URLs or to specific query strings that you don\u2019t want the search engines to index. This tactic has a very easy technical implementation, allows crawl budget to be used more efficiently, avoids duplicate content issues and is suitable for all parameter types you do not want to be crawled. On the other hand, it does not consolidate ranking signals and does not remove existing URLs from the index.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"URL_parameter_tool_in_Google_Search_Console\"><\/span><b>URL parameter tool in Google Search Console<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can configure the URL parameter tool in the <a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/welcome\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Google Search Console<\/a> to tell crawlers the purpose of your parameters and how you want them to be handled. Unfortunately, using the tool can cause pages to disappear from the search engine. However, this is less damaging to your website than the thousands of duplicate pages on your site affecting your website\u2019s ability to rank. It\u2019s better to learn how to configure URL parameters in Google Search Console.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ask how each parameter impacts your page content.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Configure tracking parameters as \u201crepresentative URLs.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Configure any parameters that reorder page content as \u201csorts.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Configure parameters that filter the page down to a subset of content as \u201cnarrows.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Configure parameters that show a certain piece of content as \u201cspecifies.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Configure parameters that show a translated version of the content as \u201ctranslates.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Configure parameters that show a component page of a longer sequence as \u201cpaginates.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Google will immediately add parameters to the list, but these can never be removed, even once the parameter no longer exists, so it\u2019s best to proactively add parameters on your own. Then once the parameter no longer exists, you can delete it from the Google Search Console. Add any parameter that you set to \u201cno URL\u201d in Google Search Console to Bing\u2019s ignore URL parameters tool. The benefits of this tactic include no developer time needed, the ability to safeguard against duplicate content issues, the more efficient use of crawl budget and suitability for all parameter types. On the other hand, it does not consolidate ranking signals and it only works for Google with less control over Bing.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Move_from_dynamic_to_static_URLs\"><\/span><b>Move from dynamic to static URLs<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some people think the best way to handle URL parameters is to avoid them in the first place. Subfolders surpass parameters and help Google understand site structure and static keyword-based URLs are the cornerstones of on-page SEO. If you want to convert parameters into subfolder URLs, you can use server-side URL rewrites. This tactic is a great option for translated content or descriptive keyword-based parameters, like parameters that identify categories, products or filters for search engine relevant attributes. On the other hand, this technique can be problematic for non-keyword relevant elements of faceted navigation, like price.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_10687\" style=\"width: 826px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10687\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10687\" src=\"https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123422\/parameter-clickability.png\" alt=\"URL Parameter Handling\" width=\"816\" height=\"460\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123422\/parameter-clickability.png 816w, https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123422\/parameter-clickability-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123422\/parameter-clickability-768x433.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 816px) 100vw, 816px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10687\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211;<br \/>Search Engine Journal<\/p><\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_the_Best_Practice_URL_Parameter_Handling_for_SEO\"><\/span><b>What is the Best Practice URL Parameter Handling for SEO?<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So now that we have gone over all of the possible SEO solutions for issues caused by URL parameters, which of these tactics is best for you?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unfortunately, you can\u2019t use all of them at once. These <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/seo-optimization-services.html\">SEO solutions<\/a> can conflict with each other, and using all of them at once would definitely cause an unnecessary level of complexity. There is no one perfect solution to all of your <a href=\"\/blog\/seo-problems-fixes\/\">SEO problems<\/a> when it comes to URL parameters.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is best for you and your website depends on your priorities. Are you looking for more efficient crawling? The consolidation of authority signals? Easy implementation? Do you want to manage your duplicate content?<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No matter what you choose, it is crucial that you track your choice and how it affects your metrics.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>URL parameters can be an SEO nightmare since combinations of parameters can create thousands upon thousands of URL variations out of the same piece of content. However, URL parameters certainly play a crucial role in a website\u2019s user experience, so it\u2019s important to understand how to use them in an SEO-friendly way. Check out our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[177,178],"class_list":["post-10684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technical-seo","tag-url-parameter","tag-url-parameter-handling"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>An SEO Guide to URL Parameter Handling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An SEO Guide to URL Parameter Handling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"URL parameters can be an SEO nightmare since combinations of parameters can create thousands upon thousands of URL variations out of the same piece of content. However, URL parameters certainly play a crucial role in a website\u2019s user experience, so it\u2019s important to understand how to use them in an SEO-friendly way. Check out our [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ezrankings.com\/blog\/url-parameter-handling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Marketing Blog with EZ Rankings- Stay Tuned\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ezrankingsIndia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-06T08:01:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-21T11:54:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ezranking.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com\/ezrankings\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/07123432\/URL-Parameter-Handling-e1614701779761.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"150\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansi Rana\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta 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