How do you deal with URL parameters that radically alter page content?

[TobiasRafe]

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could help me with an issue on our staging site regarding URL parameters. I only used one URL in the link we need help with but in truth there are multiple instances of this.

Our website is for an art gallery in New York and runs on Wordpress and is using Art Galleria to fetch data for the art fairs and exhibitions occurring at our gallery.

On every page, there is a link that leads to another page that showcases the art made by an artist that will be on display in that event.

Example (placeholders, not sure if I can post the actual URLs yet so this is just to show how its structured):
Event URL:

https://example.com/event-type/event-name/

Participating Artists:

https://example.com/event-type/event-name/artist/artist-name

According to our web developer, he used PHP to "beautify" the URLs for the participating artists. Otherwise, it would have looked something like this:

https://example.com/event-type/event-name/?artist=artist-name

Now they insist that these pages (participating artists) should be indexed. But the problem is that the page titles & meta descriptions for the "participating artist" pages is the same as the event URL which would introduce some SEO issues. If I try editing the page titles and meta description of "https://example.com/event-type/event-name/artist/artist-name" for example using Yoast SEO, the changes would be mirrored across the other two pages because it's a URL parameter. A URL parameter that radically alters the content on the page to the point where it would be better off being a static URL.

I'm at a loss at what course of action we should take. Also, if there is a way I can privately send an example of a set of URLs from the staging site if needed, let me know.

[edited by: not2easy at 11:05 am (utc) on Sep 2, 2021]
[edit reason] please use example.com to anonymize [/edit]

[not2easy]

Hi TobiasRafe and welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com]

Because of the way WordPress works there will always be multiple versions of every 'page' created. You mentioned using the Yoast plugin and it allows you to set a canonical URL for each 'page' so the the process comes down to selecting the taxonomy you want to have indexed.

Of course you only want one version of each 'page' indexed so it becomes a choice of which version you wish to submit in sitemaps. Yoast lets you select whether to use only pages, only posts or specific categories. It can take some exact planning to get what you want. The Yoast site offers free tutorials for choosing the right settings and it might be the best place to gain that insight.

I'm sure that your developer understands that using php (unless it is a php rewrite table) to alter URLs rather than using permalinks settings is something to be very careful with because templates may be overwritten with WP updates, and updates can be critically important. From the '?' in the 'before' URL it appears to be a search result, is that correct?

I am not familiar with the tool mentioned above (Art Galleria) and I did not find it as a plugin so it must be a proprietary product that the supplier can assist you with.

We don't offer reviews so you do not need to supply actual URLs. Reviews are only available in our Supporters forums which is a paid option here.

Usually we can help sort things using example.com as a placeholder; it is an ICANN reserved domain for that purpose.

[TobiasRafe]

@not2easy I think I forgot to mention that the content for the participating artist pages are unique. It's just that the meta descriptions and page titles are the same. So for example, the meta desc./title for

https://example.com/event-type/event-name/

will also be the same for any instance of

https://example.com/event-type/event-name/artist/artist-name

because it's a dynamic URL with completely different content.

Is Google smart enough to look past the meta desc. and titles and look at the content to know that the content is unique?

[edited by: engine at 8:05 am (utc) on Sep 3, 2021]
[edit reason] Please use example.com [/edit]

[not2easy]

Using the Yoast plugin, the meta description and title (regardless of URL) can be edited on a 'page' basis so at the same time the content is created it can be edited. There is no reason to have identical titles and descriptions for different content. That is one reason why many people use it.

[TobiasRafe]

@not2easy I've already tried editing the page title/meta desc. for the "Participating Artists" pages using Yoast. But the problem is that when I do that, the changes I make end up getting applied across the other pages.

Example:
If I edit the meta data for:

https://example.com/event-type/event-name/artist/artist-name1

Then the changes I made automatically get copied to:

https://example.com/event-type/event-name/
https://example.com/event-type/event-name/artist/artist-name2
https://example.com/event-type/event-name/artist/artist-name3

etc.

I asked about my case on Google's forums as well and a platinum product expert said: "FWIW, Google doesn't care whether a URL has a parameter as long as the content is unique on the page."

So I'm just trying to get a 2nd opinion on this.