A bug in Google’s Search affects eCommerce sites by appending “?srsltid” parameters to URLs, creating reporting issues for site owners.
Originally intended as a tool for merchants to track traffic from Google Shopping, this parameter is now being widely applied to organic search results, causing headaches for online stores.
Since late July 2024, reports indicate the ?srsltid parameter is being added to a growing number of URLs in Google’s organic search results.
This poses several issues for eCommerce platforms such as Salesforce, Magento, Shopify, and Bigcommerce.
URLs with these parameters are being indexed, diluting the original ranking strength of product pages, and causing problems like duplication, crawl budget inefficiencies, and skewed analytics.
Google introduced the ?srsltid parameter in 2021 within Merchant Center’s Conversion Settings.
This opt-in feature, called auto-tagging, helped merchants track the difference between organic search clicks and product clicks from Google Shopping. For example, a URL like store.com/product would be altered to store.com/product?srsltid=123xyz, allowing merchants to track customer behavior.
There is speculation within the SEO community that this may be linked to a bug or a side effect of Google’s recent August core update. While no official confirmation has been provided yet, many expect a clarification from Google soon.
Problems Caused by SRSLTID
Duplication and Dilution
Platforms may fail to properly define canonical URLs, leading to multiple versions of the same page being indexed, which can reduce a site’s search ranking.
Possible Crawl Bloat
Google’s crawlers may revisit pages with ?srsltid parameters, wasting resources and reducing the efficiency of indexing real content.
Compromised Analytics
The merging of organic search result clicks with product link data from Google Shopping is causing inaccurate tracking, skewing analytics, and misleading merchants about their site’s traffic sources.
A lot of GA4 v GSC click/session graphs for the period mimic the below:
Google Search Console Data Accuracy
The value for the SRSLTID parameter in traditional search results is 56 characters long, while for Merchant Center listings, it’s 59 characters.
Interestingly, the 56-character ones don’t appear in Google Search Console data, including BigQuery exports. This could mean you have data missing when trying to assess the impact of this parameter on your organic traffic.
Misleading Rank Tracking
SEO tools are now falsely tracking these tagged URLs as ranking pages, which creates confusion regarding a site’s performance.
How to Address the Issue
While the issue doesn’t affect crawling, ranking, or indexing, it can play havoc with third-party tracking tools and some internal reporing.
The solution to fixing this is simple, as stated by John Mueller on LinkedIn:
Yes, you can just filter out the parameter. It’s not a part of crawling or indexing, it’s just added when the result is shown. You can turn it off in Merchant Center (auto-tagging).
It is important to note that Merchant Center is often not in the remit of the SEO Manager or appointed SEO agency, but this is a great opportunity to improve inter-department relations.
Turning auto-tagging off in Merchant Center might however be detrimental to the wider customer acquisition strategy, so “eliminating” this issue might not be possible and something to adjust to with reporting.
Google’s Internal Silos
The ?srsltid bug is another sign of broader issues within Google’s systems. Major brands like H&M, Adidas, and Tesco are already seeing their URLs affected by the bug.
Merchants and SEO experts are frustrated, as Google seems reluctant to fix the problem, even after public complaints.
If you’re concerned about this bug affecting your site, consider implementing the available solutions, and regularly check your site for these problematic URLs to protect your search ranking and analytics accuracy.
Non-Merchant Center Pages Also Affected
As well as product URLs being affected ad hoc, we’re also now witnessing website homepages and non-product URLs being appended with SRSLTID parameters. For example, RS Components:
Example Affected Websites
If you need further examples to aid internal communications, below are some websites I’ve observed that are affected by the SRSLTID “bug”:
- H&M
- Footasylum
- The Original Factory Shop
- Adidas (South African website… Ranking in UK SERPs)
- END Clothing
- Tesco
- B&M
- Cartridge Save
- Goddiva
- Little Black Dress
- Sports Shoes (.com)
- Direct Running
- Hawes & Curtis
- Columbia Sportswear
- Black & Decker