Gary Illyes, a senior member of Google's Search Relations team, has shared valuable insights on LinkedIn about a common yet often overlooked issue in website management: unintended URL proliferation.
Key Points from Illyes' Post:
URL Parameter Quirk: URLs can accommodate an allegedly infinite number of parameters, creating distinct URLs even when they lead to the same content.
Content Duplication: Multiple URLs with different parameters can point to identical content, potentially confusing search engines.
Accidental URL Explosion: Websites can unintentionally expand from a manageable number of URLs to millions due to parameter combinations.
Server Strain: This explosion of URLs can lead to excessive crawler activity, potentially overloading servers.
Common Culprits: Bad relative links are cited as a frequent cause of this issue.
Solution Hint: Illyes suggests using robots.txt as a tool to manage this problem effectively.
Interactive Element: The post concludes with a challenge for readers to consider how they would use robots.txt to allow crawling of URLs with a specific parameter in a particular section of a site.
This information highlights the importance of careful URL structure management and the potential SEO implications of overlooking URL parameters. It serves as a reminder for webmasters and SEO professionals to regularly audit their site's URL structure and utilize tools like robots.txt to guide crawler behavior effectively.
