View Full Version : question about parameters in URLs.
fromtherooftops
10-05-2007, 04:52 PM
I have a question about how Google treats URLs with lots of parameters. I'm not the greatest technical resource here, so maybe you can dumb it down for me.... ;)
Our e-commerce site can get kind of messy. It's in the cards to ultimately find a way to strip down unnecessary parameters, but what happens when Google indexes a bunch of different URLs with different parameters that all lead to the same page? Is Google smart enough to strip away unnecessary parameters (i heard this might be the case)? Or are we stuck with duplicate content issues for each and every version of the URL?
How does one fix this?
JohnW
10-05-2007, 08:48 PM
>how Google treats URLs with lots of parameters
Generally one parameter is ok, but not always, so it's better to have none.
>what happens when Google indexes a bunch of different URLs with different parameters that all lead to the same page?
Some or all of these pages will eventually get removed as duplicates.
>How does one fix this?
Depends on how thorough you want to be and other factors, server type etc. but you will need to use URL rewriting.
JohnW has some good points!
I wanted to mention that "Store items shown or linked via multiple distinct URLs" may work against you from the PR perspective and like JohnW said may get removed but you shouldn't see a penalty.
Try for 3 parameters or less! 0 would be great but it may not be a real option.
fromtherooftops
10-08-2007, 11:19 AM
So in your experience, the idea that Google is stripping off parameters (as I was recently told) is untrue. each distinct parameter-filled URL stays exactly the way it looks from the get-go.
I would think that Google WOULD try to trim down unnecessary parameters - it helps them support sites with relevant content, who may not have the most tech savvy webmasters. this thereby helps GOOGLE in being able to continually provide the most relevant content without losing good stuff to their own filters.
JohnW
10-08-2007, 11:49 AM
In the real world Google is a big complex machine that is never working 100% the way Google says, or expects, it to work - and even though they may wish to deal with parameters it is obvious that it doesn't always work out for them. The best thing is to not use them at all. Also, >30% of search is not Google and other engines also have the same difficulty.