How to Protect Your Shopify SEO from Google’s "srsltid" Parameter Change

Data-driven decisions are the key to success for our eCommerce clients, requiring meticulous measurement and attribution.

Google's introduction of the srsltid parameter into organic search results changes attribution for products from Organic Search to Organic Shopping.

Additionally, the additional URL parameter introduces new SEO problems.

Google’s motive appears to center on increasing visibility and attribution for its Merchant Center products. Historically, Google Search was “walled off” from other areas, such as Ads and Shopping.

This change signals a shift toward integrating paid and organic elements to bolster the performance of merchant-focused features.

Whether this bolsters Google's bottom line remains to be seen, what's certain is the complications for businesses relying on clear distinctions between Organic Search and Shopping.

Let's break down this change, it's implications on attribution and SEO, and how you can protect your Shopify SEO.

Google introduced the srsltid parameter to Shopping results in 2022 as part of its Merchant Center auto-tagging feature.

This addition aimed to improve attribution by tracking clicks from product listings and attributing to Google Shopping.

However, in August 2024, Google expanded the use of this parameter to organic search results.

This seemingly small change has caused a major shift in attribution:

• Organic product listings are now commonly attributed as Organic Shopping.
• Organic traffic is now frequently misattributed to Organic Shopping rather than Organic Search.
• Shared links containing srsltid parameters are inflating Google Shopping attribution.
• Indexing of these parametered URLs are further compounding the problem.

The change did not go unnoticed in the SEO community, prompting a response from Google's Senior Search Analytics and go to spokesperson, John Mueller.

Here's what he had to say:

The gist of the message here, is that Google is attributing organic search to organic shopping now, and you could turn it off - but it's not recommended... in fact Google's documentation reads "Auto-tagging is a required feature."

For Shopify stores and other eCommerce websites, the clear distinction between Google Shopping and Google Organic Search has been historically crucial to properly gauge SEO success.

Google organic search provides users with a broad spectrum of information by indexing web pages, making it ideal for driving informational or transactional traffic through SEO strategies that have traditionally focused on improving rankings.

In contrast, Google Shopping was designed to display products directly from merchants’ feeds, streamlining the purchasing process. In Merchant Center, visibility was influenced by optimized product feeds and paid listings, making it a distinct channel for SEO efforts.

The introduction of the srsltid parameter has blurred these lines. Organic listings and Shopping results now overlap, making it harder to measure SEO improvements, especially in year-over-year (YOY) comparisons.

Additionally, it's increasingly important to optimize product pages for both organic and merchant listings.

The srsltid parameter causes additional SEO issues outside of attribution, particularly as it relates to the sharing of links and the indexing of this Urls with parameters.

When users share product links from Google’s search results, they often copy the URL directly from their browser’s address bar.

These URLs now frequently include srsltid parameters, leading to:

• Misattribution of traffic to Organic Shopping, inflating its metrics.
• Inconsistent analytics that make it harder to gauge the performance of actual organic search efforts.

Google’s search engine also sometimes indexes these parameterized URLs, even though they are technically dynamic.

We've seen parameters on many non-product pages that are indexed, including home pages and blogs.

You can see these indexed in Google by searching for: inurl:srsltid -intext:srsltid

This creates the following challenges:

• Duplicate URLs: Google sees numerous variations of the same page, which can result in the wrong page being indexed.
• Canonical Tag Confusion: While canonical tags aim to consolidate duplicate URLs, Google doesn’t always honor them.

Disabling auto-tagging in Google Merchant Center is one potential fix.

However, proceed with caution:

• Benefits: Eliminates the automatic inclusion of the srsltid parameter, preventing misattribution.
• Drawbacks: Disabling auto-tagging might disrupt Google Analytics 4 (GA4) tracking and reporting, or worse, result in a drop of rankings due to conversions not being reported to Merchant Center.

Google’s own documentation emphasizes the usefulness of auto-tagging, leaving SEO professionals in a difficult position: maintain clean data or risk conversions.

If you’re a Shopify store owner, here’s how to address the srsltid parameter issue and protect your SEO:

1. Optimize On-Page SEO
   • Ensure your rich snippets, page titles, and meta descriptions are fully optimized to maintain strong organic rankings.
   • Create quality product pages with content that includes both text and media.
2. Ensure Correct Canonical Tags
   • Make sure that your site has correct canonical tags to decrease the risk of misindexing.
3. Identify Indexed srsltid URLs
   • Run this search query in Google, changing example.com to your website url:

     site:example.com inurl:srsltid -intext:srsltid

   • If you find indexed URLs, set them to noindex and request reindexing via Google Search Console.
4. Analyze Attribution Data
   • Re-evaluate your analytics setup to account for the blending of Organic Search and Organic Shopping data.
   • When conducting YOY comparisons, consider the potential inflation in Organic Shopping metrics

Google’s srsltid parameter has introduced a complex challenge for eCommerce SEO and attribution. While the change may align with Google’s strategic goals, it creates significant hurdles for Shopify store owners and SEO professionals striving for clean, actionable data.

By staying vigilant and implementing the strategies outlined above, you can mitigate the impact of this change and continue driving growth through informed, data-driven decisions.