Configure GET parameters
The Configure GET parameters tool in Yandex Webmaster helps you indicate which pages with GET parameters in the URL should be crawled and included in search results by the indexing bot, and which should be excluded. This reduces the number of crawls and the load on your site, speeds up its indexing, and ensures that the right page appears in search.
What are GET parameters?
GET parameters are URL parameters that are added, for example, to analyze the performance of ad campaigns or track visitor behavior on a site.
Example of a URL with such parameters:
https://example.com/page?utm_source=vk&utm_medium=cpc
Because of GET parameters, pages with identical content open via different URLs: with and without parameters. Yandex Search may see these pages as duplicates. Learn more about duplicates
How to manage GET parameters
In Yandex Webmaster, go to Indexing → Configure GET parameters.
This page lists all the parameters that the indexing bot found on your site. You can add other parameters and delete them if they're no longer relevant. You can't delete parameters detected by the indexing bot from the list.
Select the needed value in the Consider the parameter? column:
- No value: The page is indexed by the indexing bot and can appear in search results.
- Yes: The page is indexed by the indexing bot and can appear in search results.
- No: The page isn't indexed by the indexing bot and isn't included in search results.
For parameters that were added manually, in the Site section column, you can specify which pages the setting will apply to:
- All pages.
- Main page.
- Specific section.
The changes will take effect within a week.
Indexing rules for pages with GET parameters in the URL can also be set in the robots.txt file using the Clean-param directive.
If the settings in Yandex Webmaster on the Configure GET parameters page are inconsistent with the rules in robots.txt, the indexing bot will follow the rule that prevents indexing URLs with a GET parameter.