How Google understands URLs for product variants question

Hi @gilbert2123121

Thanks for reaching out about this. While WooCommerce doesn’t use query parameters for product variants by default, it does create separate URLs for each variant using attributes in the URL path. This aligns with Google’s recommendations and should work well for SEO.

For instance, the product you shared will have this URL to go directly to a specific variable like the “S” size: https://www.gametoyfriend.com/products/transformer-alphabet-letters-animal-transformer-toys-transformer-dinosaur/?attribute_size=S

If you want query parameters, though, you might consider using a third-party SEO plugin that offers such customizations. Just ensure that any changes you make keep the URLs unique and consistent for each product variant, as this is key for Google’s indexing and your site’s SEO health.

If you need more SEO help, I would suggest consulting with an SEO expert to make sure your product pages are optimized.

Thanks for your help. 

Could you guide me about this topic? 

What’s the difference between query parameters and using attributes in the URL path? 

What’s the pros and cons? 

Hi @gilbert2123121

Could you guide me about this topic? 

What’s the difference between query parameters and using attributes in the URL path? 

Gladly! Query parameters are typically used at the end of a URL after a question mark, like /products/?id=12345. In this case, “id=12345” is a query parameter where “12345” represents the product ID. It’s not very descriptive and doesn’t help search engines or customers understand what the product is.

WooCommerce’s method using attributes in the URL path would give you a clean, descriptive URL, like the one we mentioned before: .../?attribute_size=S

Here, the attributes clearly describe the product and variant being viewed, which is better for both users and search engines. You can find best practices for adding a variable product here and for managing or creating attributes here.

What’s the pros and cons??

Pros of query parameters:

• Great for tracking and analytics.
• For some, it’s easier to manipulate for different sorting or filtering options.

Cons of query parameters:

• May lead to duplicate content issues if not handled correctly.
• Can be less user-friendly and harder for search engines to parse.

Pros of using attributes in the URL path:

• Cleaner, more structured URLs.
• Better for users and search engines.
• Helps to avoid duplicate content issues.

Cons of using attributes in the URL path:

• Can lead to a longer URL if there are many attributes.
• Takes more planning to set up a logical structure for the attributes. (Though, WooCommerce makes it easier to manage this on the dashboard).

Hope this helps!

Great! This answer perfectly solves my questions.

You are very professional.

Thank you.

One more question. 

How can I find the attribute links for the corresponding variants?

Hi @gilbert2123121!

How can I find the attribute links for the corresponding variants?

To find the attribute links for your a product variant:

• In the admin, go to “Products” → “Edit Product”
• Under the “Attributes” tab, you’ll see all attributes set up for that product.
• The attribute slugs shown here are what appear in the URLs.
  The format will be: your-product-url/?attribute_[attribute-name]=[attribute-value]
  For example, if you have an attribute named color with multiple values (red, blue, yellow), the URL for the product in red would be your-product-url/?attribute_color=red

I hope this helps! Let me know if you need more help.

Thanks!

What if I have 2+ attributes/variants in one product??

how the product link being structured? 

For example: 

I have size and brand attributes/variants in the product: 

https://www.gametoyfriend.com/products/transformer-alphabet-letters-animal-transformer-toys-transformer-dinosaur/ 

What if I have 2+ attributes/variants in one product? 

how the product link being structured??

Then you will have 2 attribute query params, for example https://www.gametoyfriend.com/products/transformer-alphabet-letters-animal-transformer-toys-transformer-dinosaur/?attribute_size=large&attribute_brand=somebrand

I think I fail to get the second attribute with the following link. 

Could you help me to find the problem? 

https://www.gametoyfriend.com/products/transformer-alphabet-letters-animal-transformer-toys-transformer-dinosaur/?attribute_size=M&attribute_brand=gametoyfriend 

For that attribute it would be attribute_pa_brand instead of attribute_brand, so:

https://www.gametoyfriend.com/products/transformer-alphabet-letters-animal-transformer-toys-transformer-dinosaur/?attribute_size=M&attribute_pa_brand=gametoyfriend

If you inspect the code in your browser you can see the actual internal name of the attribute:

GREAT, thank you very much, you are so professional!

Glad to hear @albarin was able to help you with your last question! ??

If you don’t have any other questions, we’ll mark this ticket as resolved for now. But if you need more help, feel free to reply or start a new topic for something different.