How to Handle URL Parameters

However, the resulting dynamic URLs can lead to problems with usability and duplicate content. In this article we will show you how you can easily analyze URL parameters with Ryte.

What are URL parameters and why are they important?

When a user retrieves a URL via a browser, this client sends a request to a server. There are two methods for implementing this communication: GET or POST. The most common method today is data exchange via http via GET parameters.

These parameters consist of so-called "name-value pairs" that are separated from the URL by a question mark (?). A URL can contain several parameters. These are then separated from each other by a & character. For this reason, the term "parameter URL" is also used. Since the URL itself can adapt to the output content due to different parameters, it is also referred to as a dynamic URL.

Parameters are important for correctly displaying the content of a website for a browser query. These parameters are often found in online shops, for example, when product filters are used. GET parameters can also be used to fill forms with content.

A typical dynamic URL can then look like this:

www.myshop.com/shoes.html*?Color=blue&size=45

In this case, this would be the URL for the product filter for blue shoes in size 45.

Potential problems with URL parameters

Parameters can be stored in the browser cache, and the corresponding URLs can also be indexed by Google. In this case, it is possible for Google to index multiple URLs with the same or very similar content. This results in duplicate content which can have a negative effect on your rankings, as it isn’t clear to Google which URL should be indexed first. This can lead to keyword cannibalization, as the ranking potential is spread across multiple URLs.

At first glance, URL parameters are not always clearly assigned to a category or a name. Long URLs with many parameters can become very cryptic for users, and these URLs are also only conditionally suitable for sharing. Very long URLs with many parameters can also present Google with a larger task if the search engine cannot, for example, determine the exact purpose of the respective parameter. To make it easier for the crawler to assign parameters, you can assign them manually in the Google Search Console.

Figure 1: Assign URL parameters with the Google Search Console

With Ryte, you can analyze and determine the URL parameters on your site.

How to find GET parameters with Ryte

Go to "URL Structure" in the Website Success module and then click on "GET Parameters". All URLs with parameters will be displayed.

Figure 2: Find your parameters with Ryte

How to handle parameters

There are several ways to handle URLs with parameters.

To avoid duplicate content, you can link from URLs with parameters to the main category via Canonical tag.

If many parameter URLs are created in your online shop by product filters, you can exclude these filter URLs from indexing with the NOINDEX,follow meta tag. The addition "follow" ensures that the Googlebot does not index the URL, but still follows the links to it.

If your CMS uses parameters for static URLs, you can convert the URLs to SEO-URLs using mod rewrite and 301 redirect. This improves the usability of your website for users, because they can see where the click on the URL takes them.

Parameters are important, and with Ryte you can identify problems

Parameters are important so that clients such as web browsers can correctly retrieve content from servers. However, if the parameter URLs cause duplicate content or compromise usability, you should act. Ryte will help you to find the affected URLs safely and quickly.