Are you managing a constantly evolving e-commerce site? Well then, what I’m about to delve into today is extremely crucial if you’re looking to improve your organic performance. What I’m referring to are URL Parameters.
URL parameters are extensively used for Google Analytics and Ads. But very few know that they are very crucial for Google SEO also.
What is a URL Parameter? Here’s an example to help you understand:
Sample URL: example.com/?category=1&color=2&size=182774
Normally, we add values instead of the numbers to make the URL search engine friendly. Is that sufficient? Also, how does Google treat these URLs? Will Google index them or ignore them?
When you look at all the permutations and combinations, there are millions of such URLs that can be created. This leads to a lot of issues such as:
Keyword cannibalization: Multiple pages competing for same keyword
Wastage of crawl budget: Google bot crawling multiple versions of the same page
Poor indexing: Google bot ignoring important pages due to multiple variations of the same page
Loss of traffic: Poor indexing of important pages which could contribute to high traffic
When you handle URL parameters properly, you get an instant boost in organic traffic. One such example is of a client we recently worked with from a lifestyle shopping platform where fixing URL parameters resulted in a 20% traffic increase. As one of the tools available to fight the war for rankings, optimization of URL parameters can give you an edge over competitors.
United States
India
