Would you like to know how to delete URL parameters from Google Search Console (GSC)?
Some URL parameters are harmful to your SEO. That's because they can impact your website's crawlability and indexability. This makes it harder for your content to be discovered.
In this article, we will show you how to delete URL parameters from Google Search Console. Doing so will help you improve your website’s SEO.
In This Article
What are URL Parameters?
URL parameters are elements added to the end of a web address. They are any part of a URL after and including a question mark (?), ampersand (&), percentage sign (%), equals sign (=) or other attributes (markups) added to a URL.
Here’s an example of a URL with a parameter:
https://www.example.com/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=tweet&utm_campaign=spring-saleURL parameters are also known by many other names. Examples include query arguments/query args, query strings, URL query parameters, URL params and more.
What are URL Parameters Used For?
URL parameters have many different uses depending on their purpose. One of their primary use cases is to pass information to webmasters about a URL’s clicks. This helps them get valuable metrics about its performance. Other common uses include:
- Filtering: For example, filtering different product pages.
- Organizing: You can use URL parameters to organize content on a website. Organizing content into categories, for example.
- Tracking: Tracking parameters are useful for monitoring the performance of marketing campaign sources (especially for referral traffic). They also help attribute conversions.
- Search parameters: Often denoted by the letters “q” and “s,” search parameters help organize and return results for search queries.
How to Find URL Parameter Spam in Google Search Console
Despite URL parameters being useful, there are some situations in which they aren't.
One of the most common is crawl spam.
Crawl spam happens when users and search engines perform certain actions on your site. These actions can result in parameters being added to URLs which can impact your overall crawl quota.
The screenshot below shows an example of URL parameters, as you would see them in Google Search Console Coverage report.
Besides search engines and legitimate users, malicious agents can also create URL parameters. This happens when a bad actor wants to overload your site with meaningless URLs.
Unfortunately, all these types of URL parameters can quickly inflate the number of URLs associated with your site. This results in crawl and indexing issues. When this happens, it leads to poor discoverability on search engines, and it can result in less organic traffic to your site.
Whether it's URL parameters you created or those that are out of your control, managing them is critical for your SEO success.
Why Delete URL Parameters From Google Search Console?
Despite being useful for some, URL parameters can cause problems for SEOs and webmasters. That’s why you must be careful to only use them on pages that benefit from them. This is because URL parameters can lead to:
- Duplicate content
- Dilute search rankings (due to keyword cannibalization)
- Wasted crawl budget
As you can see, URL parameters can cause major SEO problems. Therefore, you may want to delete those that don’t add value to your and your users' experience. Doing so will boost your SEO.
How to Delete URL Parameters the Easy Way in WordPress
Now that you know the pros and cons of URL parameters, the next step is to manage them in a smart way.
How do you do that?
Step 1: Install AIOSEO
The first thing you need to do to manage URL parameters and improve WordPress SEO is to install and activate the AIOSEO plugin. All in One SEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin used by over 3 million smart website owners to help improve search rankings.
AIOSEO comes with all the powerful features that you need to set up your SEO settings the right way. For example, it can help you easily deal with URL parameter spam along with many other SEO growth tools.
For more information on how to install and activate AIOSEO, check out our installation guide.
Once you have activated AIOSEO on your WordPress website, you can easily fix the URL parameter problem by using the powerful Query Arg Monitor. This feature enables you to block URL parameters safely, preventing them from being crawled and indexed, thus saving your crawl budget.
Step 2: Activate the Query Arg Monitor In AIOSEO
To activate Crawl Cleanup in AIOSEO, simply head over to the AIOSEO menu » Search Appearance, and then go to the Advanced Tab.
Under the Advanced tab, scroll down to the bottom until you find the Query Arg Monitoring toggle.
When you switch the toggle to activate query arg monitoring, you’ll have options for managing your URL parameters.
The first one is setting up your log retention period.
Once you’ve installed AIOSEO, the next step to managing query args on your website is to check your query arg log for the args you want to block search engines from crawling.
AIOSEO’s query arg log can be configured to retain information about your log for a specified period of time. All the logged query args will then be displayed in a table.
Step 3: Select the Query Args You Want to Block
Once you've accessed the query arg log, the next step is to select the query args you want to delete from Google Search Console. To do that, select the action you want to take, in this instance, deleting the ones you don’t want.
You will then be asked to confirm if you're sure ou want to delete that query arg.
Select the Delete Query Arg option, and that query arg will be deleted. You can also do this for many query args at the same time by using the Bulk Action option.
Step 4: Block Unnecessary URL Parameters (Optional)
Besides deleting unnecessary URL parameters, you can also manage them by blocking them. This prevents search engines from crawling and indexing them. To do that, select the action you want to take, in this instance, blocking the ones you don’t want. For a single query arg, you can do so using the action buttons next to the query arg:
Click on the Block Key button to block query args by key only or select the Block Key & Value to include the value in detecting the query args to be blocked.
If you want to block multiple query args, you can select them from the log and then select Block Key or Block Key & Value in the Bulk Actions menu.
Note: Although AIOSEO settings will fix the issue immediately, it will take anywhere from 1 week to a couple of months for the changes to reflect in your Google Search Console, depending on how large your website is. However, you should be able to see weekly progress inside your Google Search console.
Deleting unnecessary URL parameters will result in better crawling and indexing of your website. It will also lead to more accurate reports on Google Search Console. As a result, you'll have a clearer picture of your website’s performance.
Ultimately, deleting unnecessary URL parameters boosts your SEO. This is because your essential pages will stand a better chance of being indexed and ranked.
Besides deleting URL parameters, Crawl Cleanup can also help you control your RSS feeds.
Deleting URL Parameters: Your FAQs Answered
What are URL parameters?
URL parameters are elements added to the end of a web address. They are any part of a URL after and including a question mark (?), ampersand (&), percentage sign (%), equals sign (=) or other attributes (markups) added to a URL.
What are URL Parameters Used For?
URL parameters are used to pass data between a webpage and the server. They are appended to the end of a URL after a question mark (?) and are typically in key-value pair format (key=value). If multiple parameters are used, they are separated by an ampersand (&).
How do I delete unnecessary URL parameters from Google Search Console?
The easiest way to delete unnecessary URL parameters from Google Search Console is to use a powerful SEO plugin like All In One SEO (AIOSEO). It has a feature that helps you manage URL parameters.
We hope this article helped you delete unnecessary URL parameters from Google Search Console and fix other crawl spam issues in WordPress.
You have made a great decision to start using AIOSEO to improve your rankings. You may also want to check out other articles on our blog, like the beginners’ guide to SEO and our ultimate WordPress SEO guide.
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