Updated on December 3rd, 2024 at 02:10 am
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Issue: URLs with too many parameters (e.g., ?id=123&name=test&page=2&sort=asc
) are hard for users to understand and may confuse search engines, leading to indexing problems.
Fix: Limit the number of URL parameters to four or fewer for better readability and SEO.
How to Fix for Beginners
- Simplify Your URLs: Remove unnecessary parameters or combine them into simpler formats.
- Example: Change
?id=123&name=test&page=2&sort=asc
to/products/test?page=2
.
- Example: Change
- Use Static URLs When Possible: Replace dynamic parameter-based URLs with clean, static URLs.
- Example:
/product/test
is better than/product?id=123
.
- Example:
- Set Rules for URL Parameters in Google Search Console: If parameters are necessary, use Google Search Console to define how search engines should handle them.
- Example: Specify which parameters to ignore to avoid duplicate content.
- Implement Canonical Tags: If multiple parameter variations exist, use a canonical tag to point search engines to the main version of the URL.
- Example:
<link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/product/test">
.
- Example:
- Test URLs: Ensure your simplified URLs still work and lead to the correct pages.
Tip: Clean, simple URLs improve user trust, SEO rankings, and search engine efficiency.