What is a URL Parameter

URL parameters are a means of tracking information and traffic on a website. It is the dynamic data inserted into the URL string after the request executes in order to filter additional information about a given site, or to structure the site’s contents. Here are some pointers on what a URL Parameter is and how to consider it in your SEO strategy.

https impact on SEO

Since 2014, the use of an https protocol has been a ranking criterion. This means that the referencing of a page correlates directly to the choice of a secure protocol. Since then, the adoption of https has been massive and a study conducted by Mozilla shows that in March 2021, 93% of websites were using this https protocol.

Creating duplicate content

Google and other search engines consider each URL as an entire web page. As a result, multiple versions of the same page created with the URL parameters will be considered independent pages and therefore duplicate content. Using the active URL parameters to reorganize a web page does not make a big change to the original page. Some URL parameters used to reorganize a web page may even present exactly the same page as the original page.

How does it work

Add URL parameters to your destination URL or tracking template to determine the path of visitors who have reached your website. URL parameters track information about the source of a click on an ad. Although the variable names and parameters may change, the structure remains the same: a parameter surrounded by { } that tells Microsoft Advertising what data should be returned when an ad is clicked; and a variable that you define to store this data. You are free to choose the name of the variable, but it must be identical to the one used in your website script to store the value the parameter returns.

How does it look

Once you have these elements, the parameter looks like the following: www.URLPageDestination.com?variable={parameter}

If you are adding more than one variable={parameter}, you separate the variable/parameter pair with an ampersand (&).

Remember: building a URL Parameter can influence the performance of your page in searches through each of its constituent parts.