0

I'm checking out the URL Parameters Google Webmaster Tools to exclude certain URL parameters, but I have to be careful according to Google.

So here's my question:

Through this URL:

www.example.com/products

, a user can view all products on my site. When a user views all products on my site in a certain area, it would look like this:

www.example.com/products/chicago

But if a user searches on a location where no results are returned, e.g. on "london", I redirect the user to:

www.example.com/products?all=1

Where I use that temporary all=1 parameter to show a messsage "no products found, we're now showing all products".

Parameter all only exists in the case no products are found and can only contain a value of 1 and no other value. I think it's safe to configure in Webmaster Tools that parameter "all" does not affect page content. I think in doing so, all URL's containing the parameter all=1 will be ignored, but the original URL, in the above scenario www.example.com/products, will still be indexed and shown. Is that correct?

1 Answer 1

1

I think it's safe to configure in Webmaster Tools that parameter "all" does not affect page content. I think in doing so, all URL's containing the parameter all=1 will be ignored

But Google's notification that follows appears to suggest otherwise:

... If many URLs differ only in this parameter, Googlebot will crawl one representative URL.

However, selecting "Yes" > "Other" > "No URLs". For which Google states: "Googlebot won't crawl any URLs containing this parameter." - would seem to be the desired result.


An alternative to using Google's URL parameters (which, after all, only affects Google) is to simply set the appropriate rel="canonical" element for the page. ie. http://www.example.com/products. This would be the preferred option.

2
  • Thanks..for now I think it's too confusing what this setting does so I won't risk using it. And I've looked into rel=canonical in the past, but that too was a bit confusing for me. E.g. when I set rel=canonical on http://www.example.com/products, relative to what is it canonical? To http://www.example.com/products?all=1 (which is ok) or to http://www.example.com/products/chicago or even to http://www.example.com/products?page=3&rows=4 (where I'd say for the latter 2 it would not be ok or desirable as they show different products).
    – Adam
    Nov 15, 2015 at 23:31
  • The <link rel="canonical" element sets the canonical URL for the current URL/page. So, the canonical URL for the page /products?all=1 is presumably http://www.example.com/products - is it not? /products is the page you want to see in the SERPs, not /products?all=1.
    – MrWhite
    Nov 16, 2015 at 0:32

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.