Parameters
BusinessparametersParameters is an Agent Skill for business published in the thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist repository on GitHub: a SKILL.md instruction file an AI agent can load to do this task.
Use when auditing URL structure or configuring search engine handling of filtered, sorted, or tracked URLs. Applies to e-commerce sites, filtered content directories, and any site appending tracking or session parameters.
How to use this skill
Bring this guide into your coding agent with a prompt tailored to the tool you use.
- Open your project in Codex.
- Copy and paste the prompt below.
- Review files and risks before approving any action.
Inspect the Agent Skill at https://github.com/thedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist/blob/HEAD/skills/parameters/SKILL.md and all supporting files. Report provenance, permissions, scripts, dependencies, and security risks. Propose an exact installation into .agents/skills/parameters, but wait for my approval before writing files or running scripts.
Copying this prompt does not install or run the skill. Review third-party files before use.
Limit unnecessary URL parameters
Uncontrolled URL parameters generate duplicate content that wastes crawl budget and splits PageRank across URL variants, reducing the ranking potential of the canonical-url page.
Quick Reference
- URL parameters can create thousands of duplicate URLs from a single page
- Use canonical tags to consolidate parametric URL variants to a single URL
- Strip tracking parameters (utm_*, fbclid, gclid) before setting the canonical-url
- For critical parameters (page, sort), include them in the canonical URL
Check
Identify URL parameters in use across the site (filter, sort, color, size, utm_*, page, etc.). For each parameter type, check whether the page has a canonical tag. Verify that tracking-only parameters (utm_source, fbclid, gclid) are excluded from canonical URLs. Identify URLs with 3+ parameters and review for potential crawl budget waste.
Fix
Add canonical tags to parameter-based URLs pointing to the parameter-free or preferred URL. Remove tracking parameters from canonical tags. For sorting/filtering parameters that change content meaningfully (page=2, sort=price), either canonicalize to the base URL or self-canonicalize consistently.
Explain
URL parameters like ?color=red&size=large&sort=price&utm_source=google can generate thousands of unique URLs for the same underlying content. Without canonical tags, Googlebot crawls all variants, treating each as a separate page. This wastes crawl budget, creates duplicate content, and dilutes PageRank.
Code Review
Enumerate all URL parameter patterns used across the site. For each parameter type, check if pages with those parameters have canonical tags. Verify tracking parameters (utm_*, fbclid, gclid) are stripped from canonical URLs. Check that filter/sort parameter URLs either self-canonicalize or canonical-url to the base URL. Report the total number of unique parameter combinations crawlable.
For full implementation details, code examples, and framework-specific guidance,
see references/rule.md.
Rule page: https://frontendchecklist.io/en/rules/seo/parameters