Google Adds Parameter Handling and Filtering to Webmaster Tools

Google recently rolled-out an update for Webmaster Tools which added some parameter handling and filtering functionality.

It's actually quite useful, mainly because it enables the ability for you to tell Googlebot which query string parameters to globally ignore within your website's URLs. This will really help with getting the proper URLs indexed, and avoid duplicate content.

I am actually kind of amused, simply because I requested a similar feature a few months ago. I was having problems with Googlebot indexing the same page multiple times, only because I was using Google's URL Builder syntax in order to track incoming Twitter traffic via Google Analytics.

Perhaps I was on to something... Check out the Google Webmaster Tools Help Forum thread here: Indexing of Google's URL Builder links.

This new feature can be found under Site configuration > Settings > Parameter Handling

Below are some screenshots:

google-wmt-parameter1.gif (7.69 kb) (same as above)

google-wmt-parameter2.gif (18.52 kb) (larger view)