What is the best way to treat URLs ending in /?s=
-
-
Hi Alex
These are parameters that sit after the main URL and often include 'sort' 'page'. (They can also be created in some eCommerce pages as 'products' but these should be dealt with a mod-rewrite to show properly constructed URLs with category name and title). There are a number of ways with dealing with them:
1. Google search console - you have to be very careful messing with the rules in parameter handling but for some, this is the way.
- 'sort' then you can tell Google that it narrows the content on the page - you can then choose to let Googlebot decide or block the URLs - I often block them as they just create skinny and duplicate content.
- Pagination - 'page' you can tell Google that this paginates and then let Google decide. Look at rel/prev tag on those pages as well.
- Attributes - like size and colour - I generally block those as they just create skinny duplicates of main categories
- Others - like Catalog - it depends on what platform you use but there could be other parameters being created - I block most of them as they create useless URLs
2. Robots.txt
You can use this file to block the indexing of these pages depending on the parameter by excluding them from being followed by the search bots. Once again be very careful as you don't want to accidentally block indexing of useful areas the site.
https://moz.com/learn/seo/robotstxt
3. Canonicals
If you are able a great way of dealing with attributes like size and colour is to canonicalize back to the non size specific URL - this is a great way of maintaining the link juice for those URLs which may otherwise be lost if you blocked them all together. You add a rel=canonical tag pointing to the non-parameter version.
https://moz.com/learn/seo/canonicalization
4. As a last resort you can 301 redirect them but frankly, if you have dealt with them properly you shouldn't have to. It's also bad practice to have live 301 redirects in the internal structure of a website. Best to use the correct URL.
There is more reading here:
https://moz.com/community/q/which-is-the-best-way-to-handle-query-parameters
https://moz.com/community/q/do-parameters-in-a-url-make-a-difference-from-an-seo-point-of-view
https://moz.com/community/q/how-do-i-deindex-url-parametersRegards
Nigel
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Pages with URL Too Long
Hello Mozzers! MOZ keeps kindly telling me the URLs are too long. However, this is largely due to the structure of E-commerce site, which has to include 'brand' 'range' and 'products' keyword. For example -
Moz Pro | | tigersohelll
https://www.choicefurnituresuperstore.co.uk/Devonshire-Rustic-Oak-Bedside-Cabinet-1-Drawer-p40668.html MOZ recommends no more than 75 characters. This means we have 25-30 characters for both the brand name and product name. Questions:
If it is an issue, how to fix it on my site?
If it's not an issue, how can we turn off this alert from MOZ?
Anyone know how big an issue URLs are as a ranking factor? I thought pretty low.0 -
Youtube traffic page url referral
Hello, How can I see which videos from Youtube that has my domain inserted in their description url drive traffic to my domain? I can see in GA how many visitors are coming from Youtube to my domain, but I can't see what Youtube video pages has driven traffic. Any help?
Moz Pro | | xeonet320 -
My index URL was removed from Google, but all others remain in the search engines
HI All, My site was ranking very well and was in 1st page of google for most of my keywords. Couple of weeks back we did some update to the site and moved it to new hosting and from then onwards I dont see my site home page in Google ranking . My Website Name is : royalevents.com.au. It used to be in 1st of Google for keywords like wedding Mandaps, Indian Wedding Mandaps etc, Would be great if some one helps us to figure out whats gone wrong .. I also did Webmaster Fetch as Google but nothing happened. Thanks
Moz Pro | | Verve-Innovation0 -
Why can't I see last week's stats?
Can see stats week ending May 1st but nothing after that- and it's May 9th!?
Moz Pro | | locumhunter0 -
Order of urls in SEOMoz crawl report
Is there any rhyme or reason to the order of urls in the SEOMoz crawl report, or are the urls just listed in random order?
Moz Pro | | LynnMarie0 -
Is there a way to pull ALL rankings for a site for a set of keywords?
I'm fairly new to SEOMoz, and am looking for a way to pull all rankings for a site with the keywords I've listed, not just the top ranking. So for instance if my site ranks for the keyword "widget maker in MO" in two spots. The current rank report will only show me the top result. I know I can click on each keyword individually and see a full list of the top 50, but I'm looking for a more automated way of doing this (I'm the only SEO at my agency and time is an issue). I previously used Advanced Web Ranking and the tool would like me pull a CSV of the top 30 sites for each keyword I was tracking and then I could just search for my site and pull those results easier. Anyone know of a shortcut or report I should use? Thanks!
Moz Pro | | OsbornBarr0 -
Looking For Help/SEOMOZ Consultant
Hello - I am new to SEO and SEOMOZ and I am having issue setting my campaigns up. Can you lead me to a resource/referrals that can help me with my SEO MOZ campaign and etc. I watched the how-to videos - but I am still not sure if I am set up correctly and getting the everything I need from this service. I am looking to hire someone to set me up and get me rolling. Thanks!
Moz Pro | | clutchmag0 -
What's with the new Q&A set up?
In the old Q&A set up your response was automatically given a thumbs up by you so that you got a mozpoint for every response you gave. Now you have to manually thumb up your responses. Why was this change made? Can we get it back to the way it was?
Moz Pro | | DanDeceuster1