Which is The Best Way to Handle Query Parameters?

[jombay]

Hi mozzers,

I would like to know the best way to handle query parameters.

Say my site is example.com. Here are two scenarios.

Scenario #1: Duplicate content

example.com/category?page=1
example.com/category?order=updated_at+DESC
example.com/category
example.com/category?page=1&sr=blog-header

All have the same content.

Scenario #2: Pagination

example.com/category?page=1
example.com/category?page=2 and so on.

What is the best way to solve both?

Do I need to use Rel=next and Rel=prev or is it better to use Google Webmaster tools parameter handling? Right now I am concerned about Google traffic only.

For solving the duplicate content issue, do we need to use canonical tags on each such URL's?

I am not using WordPress. My site is built on Ruby on Rails platform.

Thanks!

[donford]

I can speak to the first scenario, that is exactly what the purpose of the rel="canonical" is for. Dynamic pages in which have a purpose for url appendages.Or in the rare case where you can't control your server (.httaccess) for 301 redirects.

As for pagination, I may not have the best answer as I have also been using rel="canonical" in those cases as well.

[jombay]

How about using parameter handling using Google Webmaster tools to ignore ?page=1, ?order=updated_at+DESC and so on. Does that work instead of including canonical tags on all such pages?

[donford]

Hi Mohit,

Seems like a waste of time to me when you can put a simple meta tag in there.

[jombay]

The problem is that we are talking about thousands of pages and manually doing it is close to impossible. Even if it can be engineered, it will take a lot of time. Unless Webmaster tools cannot effectively handle this situation, it doesn't make sense to go and change the site code.

[AlanMosley]

For the first senario use a canonical tag.

for the second use the prev next tags, this to google will make page one look like one big page with all the content of all the pages on it.

dont use parrametter handing, it is a last resort, it is only for google (though bing has its own), and its effectiveness has been questioned.

[jombay]

Which do you think is ideal?

De-Indexing Pages 2+ or simply using the rel=next, rel=prev? That's also only for Google right?

[AlanMosley]

no dont de-index them, just use prev next,

yes you are right it is only for google, i really can not give you an answer as what to do for both, you could use canonical for bing only. its a hard one

see this page, for more info http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/pagination-with-relnext-and-relprev.html

[Dr-Pete]

The new pagination advice is really tough to navigate. I have mixed feelings about rel=prev/next (hard to implement, doesn't work on Bing, etc.) but it seems generally reliable. If you have pagination AND parameters that impact pagination (like sorts), then you need to use prev/next and canonical tags. See the post Alan cited.

I actually do think NOINDEX works fine in many cases, if the paginated search (pages 2+) have little or no search value. It really depends on the situation and the scope, though. This can range from no big deal at all to a huge problem, depending on the site in question, so it's tough to give general advice.

I'm not having great luck with GWT parameter handling lately (as Alan said), especially on big sites. It just doesn't seem to work in certain situations, and I have no idea why Google ignores some settings and honors others. That one's driving me crazy, actually. It's easy to set up and you can try it, but I wouldn't count on it working.