Google’s ‘srsltid’ Parameter Confuses SEO Pros

Google’s recently spotted srsltid parameter is now appearing on homepage and blog URLs, raising concerns among marketers and SEO professionals. While it doesn’t appear to have an effect on website rankings, it is creating challenges for tracking and reporting accuracy in analytics tools.

This tracking parameter, which was previously seen in relation to product listings, is now being appended to a wider range of URLs, including non-commercial pages. As a result, some third-party platforms are logging these altered URLs as separate entries, which may distort performance data and confuse campaign reports.

According to Google, these URLs are not being indexed, meaning they shouldn’t affect your site’s visibility or lead to duplicate content issues. However, because analytics platforms can still detect these tagged URLs, users may notice inconsistent metrics or bloated reports.

To address the issue, marketers have two main options. One is to disable Google’s auto-tagging feature, though this may affect other tracking efforts. Alternatively, users can set up filters within their analytics tools to strip the srsltid parameter from URLs, ensuring data remains clean and accurate.

While the presence of srsltid doesn’t pose a direct SEO risk, it’s important for digital teams to stay aware of how such parameters might impact data interpretation. For now, the best approach is to monitor closely, apply necessary filters, and keep up with any further updates from Google on this matter.

Google’s srsltid parameter, which was initially intended for product tracking, is now unexpectedly appearing on blog pages and homepages — causing confusion within the SEO community.

According to discussions on Reddit, users have noticed the parameter not just on product listings, but also on blog posts, category pages, and even main site homepages. This expansion beyond its original use has prompted concerns around tracking accuracy and search performance.

In response, Google Search Advocate John Mueller clarified that the srsltid parameter does not create any problems for search. While that may be reassuring from an indexing and ranking perspective, its presence still raises uncertainty for marketers who rely on clean URL structures for analytics and reporting.

Though the technical impact on SEO may be minimal, the growing visibility of this tracking tag on various page types suggests a need for greater clarity and possibly revised tracking setups. For now, digital teams should remain alert and consider filtering the parameter in their analytics tools to avoid skewed data.

What Is the srsltid Parameter Supposed to Do?

The srsltid parameter is part of Google Merchant Center’s auto-tagging system. Its main purpose is to help merchants monitor conversions that originate from organic listings linked to their product feeds.

When this feature is switched on, the parameter is added to URLs shown in search results. This allows for better tracking of user activity and behaviour after a click, helping advertisers understand how their listings are performing.

According to a post in Google’s Search Central community forum, these URLs are not actually being indexed by Google. Product Expert Barry Hunter, who is not affiliated with Google, pointed out that the parameter is added dynamically at runtime. Because of this, such URLs won’t appear as indexed in Search Console.

However, despite Google’s statement, third-party SEO tools are still picking up these URLs as part of their indexing reports. So while technically they might not be indexed by Google’s own systems, they’re still showing up in data used by marketers, leading to potential confusion and concern.

Why SEO Pros Are Confused

Even though Google has downplayed concerns, the presence of the srsltid parameter is still causing confusion across the SEO and analytics community. Several practical issues are being reported that go beyond Google’s technical reassurances.

One common issue is inflated URL counts. Since many tools treat every unique URL — including those with added parameters — as separate pages, the overall page count can become misleading. This makes site audits and crawl reports more difficult to interpret.

Another challenge is data fragmentation. If you don’t properly filter your analytics, platforms like GA4 can end up splitting user data between the original page and its srsltid version. As a result, it becomes much harder to get a clear and accurate picture of page performance.

There’s also concern around Search Console visibility. A study by Oncrawl highlighted that clicks and impressions for URLs containing srsltid began dropping to zero around September. Despite this, those same pages were still visible in search results — creating a mismatch between what’s reported and what users actually see.

Perhaps most confusingly, the parameter is now appearing on pages beyond product listings. Reports show it being applied to static pages, blogs, and category hubs — areas it wasn’t originally intended for.

That said, Oncrawl’s research indicates that Googlebot is crawling only a small fraction of these URLs — around 0.14% — suggesting that crawl budgets and indexing aren’t being heavily affected, at least for now.

Can Anything Be Done?

At present, Google hasn’t announced any plans to change or roll back the way the srsltid parameter functions in organic search results. However, website owners and SEOs still have a few choices depending on how they’re being affected.

Option 1: Disable Auto-Tagging
The first option is to completely disable auto-tagging in Merchant Center. You can do this by going to Tools and settings > Conversion settings > Automatic tagging. If you make this switch, consider using UTM parameters instead, which offer more flexibility and control over how you track and attribute traffic.

Option 2: Continue Using Auto-Tagging with Filters
If you rely on auto-tagging and need to keep it active, there are several steps you can take to manage the impact:

Make sure every affected page has a correct canonical tag pointing to the clean URL version.
Configure your caching system so that it ignores the srsltid parameter when generating cache keys — this helps avoid unnecessary duplicate storage and performance issues.
Adjust your analytics filters (such as in GA4 or other platforms) to either exclude traffic from these parameterised URLs or consolidate them with their canonical counterparts for clearer reporting.

One important note: blocking the parameter in your robots.txt file won’t stop these URLs from appearing in search results. That’s because the srsltid is appended dynamically during runtime and is not crawled directly by Google.

By taking these actions, you can mitigate the confusion caused by the parameter and maintain cleaner, more accurate performance data.

What This Means

Although the srsltid parameter may not directly influence rankings, its presence is certainly having an indirect effect on analytics and reporting.

When there’s a sudden change in performance metrics with no obvious explanation, SEO professionals are often left trying to justify the shift. Gaining a clear understanding of how srsltid works — and just as importantly, how it doesn’t — is key to clearing up any confusion it may cause.

The best approach for navigating this issue is to stay up to date with how the parameter behaves, apply the correct filters in your analytics tools, and communicate clearly with stakeholders to ensure everyone understands what’s going on behind the scenes.