Google: Do Not Use Commas, Brackets Or Non-Standard URL Encoding For Faceted Navigation

Jan 18, 2022 - 7:41 am 2 — by

Google Facetted Navigation

Google's John Mueller confirmed that the search company's 2014 guidance with faceted navigation remains true today - do not use non-standard URL encoding. That means do not use commas, brackets or other non-standard URL encoding in your URL structure.

Instead, use ampersands, equal signs, hyphens or other supported and standard URL encoded URLs for your fascinated navigation. This guidance is listed in Google's blog post from 2014, here is a screenshot:

click for full size

John said on Twitter it is "still a bad idea" to use non-standard URL encoding for this purpose:

I still see many sites using these methods - I wonder why...

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Updates Crawled - Currently Not Indexed Details

Nov 3, 2026 - 4:15 pm
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Performance Reports Showing Weird Spike In Clicks For Some Sites

Nov 3, 2026 - 10:54 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: November 3, 2026

Nov 3, 2026 - 10:00 am
Google

Google Will Turn Off Google Search For K-12 Schools & Testing Learning Beta

Nov 3, 2026 - 9:44 am
Google

Google AI Mode Biased: It Only Shows Links To Google Flights

Nov 3, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google

Google Tests Removing AI Mode Button From Search Bar

Nov 3, 2026 - 7:41 am
Previous Story: Google Business Profile Edit Large Overlay In Search Results