Problem with Google Search Console and CTA parameter pages

[LWirtz]

Hi everyone,

one week ago, we received an error notification from Google Search Console because of noindex pages. It seems that for some reason we are now having problems because of our CTA parameter pages. So, we are getting error because of all the URLs with ourdomain.com?cta_guid=.... 

These are noindex pages, which is correct, but we are now getting errors in our Google Search Console because of it. We did not change anything about our CTAs or anything else. Does anyone else have this problem or knows what we can do about it?

Thank you!

L

[Harmnapt · Accepted solution]

I had the same issue and fixed it by setting URL parameters in Search Console to tell Google not to crawl CTA-related variations—cuts down on weird indexing and keeps reports cleaner.

[ASchertoon]

I ran into a similar issue a while ago and realized that adding those CTA parameters made Google treat the URLs like duplicates or low-value redirects. What helped me clean things up faster was using a link indexing service  to speed up how changes were picked up after updating canonical tags and parameter handling in GSC. Gave me more control over what actually got indexed.

[PamCotton]

Hey @LWirtz, thank you for posting in our Community!

It sounds like your CTA parameter pages with noindex directives are causing issues in Google Search Console. First, verify that the noindex meta tags are correctly implemented. Also, ensure that your robots.txt file isn’t blocking Googlebot from accessing these pages. You can use the URL parameter tool in Google Search Console to inform Google that the parameter doesn't create unique content and should not be indexed. Additionally, check that your pages have correct canonical tags pointing to the main version of the content. 

After making these adjustments, resubmit the affected pages for indexing and monitor the situation. If the problem persists, consider reaching out to a web developer for further assistance.

I hope this helps.

Pam

[LWirtz]

Hi Pam,

So according to our Marketing team, the Google URL parameter tool has been discontinued in 2022. So that does not work unfortunately.

L

[LWirtz]

Hi Pam, 

Thank you for your support! I will check all that with our Marketing Team and get back to you then. Just one question about the canonicals in HubSpot: when I do not put in anything within the canonical url field in the editor it just uses the url of the page that I am editing, correct?

Thank you!

L