New theme adds ?v=1d20b5ff1ee9 to all URL's as part of cache. How does this affect SEO

[DML-Tampa]

New theme I am working in ads ?v=1d20b5ff1ee9 to every URL. Theme developer says its a server setting issue. GoDaddy support says its part of cache an becoming prevalent in new themes.

How does this impact SEO?

[danatanseo]

Hi Bob,

What CMS are you working with? Once you answer that I might be able to help a little more.

Dana

[danatanseo]

Hi again Bob,

Take a look at this thread on how to remove query strings from static parameters...I believe your answer is there.

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/how-to-remove-query-strings-from-static-resources

Dana

P.S. Why is this a problem for SEO? A couple of reasons:

1. It's highly likely your content will get shared without the query parameter AND with the query parameter. This will effectively split your link equity between two versions of the same page.

2.Google Search Console is very bad at understanding that the page without the query string is the same as it is with the query string...you'll likely get a lot of duplicate content notifications.

3. From an end-user standpoint, it's just plain ugly....and end user experience matters to SEO right? - I understand that's somewhat facetious....but it's your business right? You want it to look a good, solid, high-quality, professional site. Ugly query parameters scream "I hired my 21 year old nephew to b build me a WordPress site."

[ThompsonPaul]

You have a configuration choice in your WooCommerce settings that is causing this, Bob.

You've got the default customer location in settings set to "Geolocate (with page caching support)". This causes the variable to be added to the URL in order to enable the geo-location for each customer. Turn it off and the variable will no longer be added.

And yea, this is a disaster for SEO, as Dana explains, and it will also badly foul your Analytics and it even borks your site's internal search.

Hope that makes sense?

Paul

[ThompsonPaul]

Just FYI - the advice to remove query strings from static resources in that WordPress article is the proverbial Very Bad Idea. If you want a full explanation, let me know, but trust me - don't.

There's a world of difference between static files like CSS and Javascript having variables, and having those variables on page URLs.

You should have self-referential canonical tags on every page on your site anyway, which would take care of the duplicate URL issue created by the variables added to each URL, but there are still many other reasons why they're bad for SEO and usability, as Dana points out.

Paul

[danatanseo]

Hi Bob,

I second Paul. His answer is a good one. Hope we helped you.

Sincerely,

Dana

[DML-Tampa]

Thanks !

I turned of Geolocate (with page caching support), and as you said, it corrected the problem.

Thanks again.

Bob