Google: Links From Added URL Parameters, Check The Canonical

Aug 16, 2017 - 8:10 am 0 — by

Google Links

Sometimes I get to step back and explain a basic SEO topic, this is one of those cases. @aasimmugal asked Google's John Mueller if a link from http://abc.go.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=offer will count as a link from abc.com? John responded "use the rel=canonical & other forms of canonicalization if you're worried about that." He added later that technically "it is a separate URL, regardless of how Google considers it."

That is true, all very true.

But hey - look at the source code on http://abc.go.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=offer - there is an canonical tag at the top of the page that says http://abc.go.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=offer is really https://abc.go.com/ so the link will be from https://abc.go.com/ not http://abc.go.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=offer and not abc.com either.

Canonical Google

Pretty simple?

ABC.com 301 redirects to abc.go.com, which means all the signals that point to ABC.com are being redirected to abc.go.com. Which means any links on abc.com or abc.go.com will pass also, if they are not nofollowed.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

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