
Have you ever wondered how websites know what to show when you search for a specific piece of content or a product?
URL parameters add extra information to a page URL, telling the servers what to present to site visitors. Additionally, they can track user behavior and customize content for different audiences.
While URL parameters add lots of functionality to your website, it’s vital to use them correctly to make sure they don’t affect your SEO.
In this article I’ll explain what URL parameters are, how to use them, and how to implement query parameters in your URLs without harming your search engine rankings.
Key Takeaways
- A URL parameter is a piece of information added to the end of a URL, which either tracks the customer journey or customizes the content on a webpage.
- URL parameters serve a variety of purposes, including allowing site visitors to search, sort, and filter pages, as well as pagination and providing localized content.
- URL parameters are different from UTM parameters, which track marketing campaigns and the source of website traffic.
- When implemented incorrectly, URL query parameters can cause SEO issues including duplicate pages, diluted link equity, wasted crawl budget, and URLs that are hard to read. unsightly URLs.
- You can reduce the risk of URL parameters causing SEO issues by adding parameterized URLs to your robots.txt file, using canonicalization, and only using URL parameters when necessary.
Table of Contents
- Key Takeaways
- What Are URL Parameters?
- When You May Need URL Parameters
- Why URL Parameters Can Impact SEO
- Best Practices For URL Parameters
- FAQs
- Conclusion
What Are URL Parameters?
URL parameters (or URL query parameters) are additional pieces of information inserted after a page URL. This information modifies the page content, tracks user behavior, and passes data between pages.

Let’s say you are on a product category page for shoes and want to filter the products to find what you need.
You decide to look for black shoes in size 11 and sort the filtered products so you see the highest-rated ones first.
The URL parameters for your search may look like this:
?size=11&color=black&sort=highestrated
- The question mark separates the URL and the start of the parameters.
- Each individual parameter consists of a key (e.g. color) and a value (e.g. black), separated by an equal (=) sign.
- Additional parameters are separated by an ampersand (&).
Parameterized URLs pass information to the web server, which then delivers the correct page content.
When You May Need URL Parameters

URL parameters are a versatile tool in the technical SEO world – they serve a range of purposes!
You can use them on your website to:
- Track user behavior and preferences., Ffor example, if visitors access convert on a specific version of a page as part of an A/B testing experiment, or access a redirectyou can access this data in tools including Google Analytics and Google Search Console. They also power UTM parameters.
- Sort and reorder items, for example, if visitors want to view new items or lowest-priced products first.
- Split content into separate pages through pagination so visitors can move through blogs or product listings quickly.
- Search for specific pages through your site’s internal search bar.
- Find specific subsets of products through filtering and faceted navigation.
- Provide translated versions of certain pages or direct visitors to localized versions of websites.
URL Parameters vs UTM Parameters
All Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) parameters are URL parameters, but not all URL parameters are UTM parameters.
URL parameters and Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) parameters both add code to the end of a URL, but they have different purposes.
UTM parameters are a subset of URL parameters used in marketing campaigns. They identify the precise source of a particular link so marketers can track which channels, keywords, and campaigns drive the most clicks and conversions.

URL parameters help site visitors filter and view content on your website.
Why URL Parameters Can Impact SEO
While query parameters in URLs can make it easier for visitors to navigate and interact with your site, they can cause SEO issues, including:
- UnsightlyHard to understand URLs. URL parameters can add lots of code to the end of URLs, making them hard for visitors to read and remember, resulting in a poor user experience. These URL parameters can also make links look spammy, links also look spammy, meaning visitors are less likely to visit them.
- Wasted crawl budget. Search engines allocate a set amount of resources for crawling each website. Multiple URL parameters can waste your crawl budget, meaning the pages you want the search engines to index don’t get crawled.
- Link equity dilution. Link equity is the value a page passes to the pages it links to. URL parameters generate several versions of the same page, meaning less link equity gets passed around.
- Duplicate content. URL parameters mean multiple versions of the same page, which can confuse search engines. The search engines need to guess which version of the page to show in the results.
The good news is that there are things you can do to mitigate potential SEO issues while reaping the benefits that URL query parameters provide.
Best Practices For URL Parameters
Here’s how to ensure SEO-friendly URLs on your website:
- Add URL parameters you don’t want the search engines to crawl to your robots.txt file. This frees up your crawl budget.
- Place URL parameters keys in a consistent order on each pagein each URL to ensure efficient crawling and make them URL parameters easier to monitor. For example, on a product page, always use the color key first.
- Use canonicalization on duplicate pages. This is when you use canonical HTML tags to tell the search engines which page is the original and the one it should index in the search results.
- When adding internal links to pages, only link to pages that aren’t parameterized. This helps search engines prioritize the original pages.
- Consider alternatives to URL parameters. For example, subdomains, subdirectories, or country-specific domains for localized content.
- Only use URL parameters when they’re necessary. For example, if you have a small blog, you may not need pagination.
I recommend using a site audit tool like Screaming Frog SEO Spider to identify and monitor all URL parameters on your website.
You can also use the Page Indexing report in Google Search Console to see if there are any crawl issues on your site, potentially caused by URL parameters.

FAQs
What are URL Parameters?
URL parameters are additional pieces of information added to the end of a URL. These consist of a key (e.g. color) and a value (e.g. green), separated by an equal sign.
Query parameters in URLs help web servers present the right content to site visitors.
What’s the Difference between UTM and URL Parameters?
UTM parameters track marketing efforts and which channels, campaigns, and keywords drive the most conversions.
URL parameters pass information to a web server to help organize and filter content.
How do URL Query Parameters Affect SEO?
If implemented incorrectly, query parameters in URLs can cause SEO issues, including duplicate content, wasted crawl budget, and reduced link equity. This can affect the user experience and where your pages rank in search engines like Google.
You can take action to reduce the risk of URL parameters affecting your site’s SEO, including regular monitoring and only using URL parameters where necessary.
Conclusion
URL parameters make it easier for visitors to navigate your site and find what they need, which means happier customers and more conversions.
However, it’s vital to use URL query parameters carefully. Use too many or use them inconsistently, and you risk affecting where you rank in the search engine results.
The trick is to implement them sparingly. User intent is vital when determining which URL query parameters to use on your site.
Look at how your target audience uses your website and implement the URL parameters that will help them the most.

See How My Agency Can Drive More Traffic to Your Website
- SEO - unlock more SEO traffic. See real results.
- Content Marketing - our team creates epic content that will get shared, get links, and attract traffic.
- Paid Media - effective paid strategies with clear ROI.
Unlock Thousands of Keywords with Ubersuggest
Ready to Outrank Your Competitors?
- Find long-tail keywords with High ROI
- Find 1000s of keywords instantly
- Turn searches into visits and conversions
Free keyword research tool