Raw vs. percent-encoded bracket URLs must stay consistent. Minor issue for small sites, but crawl efficiency matters at scale
Google Treats Raw and Percent-Encoded Bracket URLs as Separate
Original: Google Crawls Raw And Encoded Bracket URLs Separately via @sejournal, @MattGSouthern
Importance: URL正規化の技術的ガイダンスで、大型サイトや動的パラメータ多用サイトに該当するが、全体的な影響範囲は限定的
Summary
Google's John Mueller states that bracket URLs in raw form and percent-encoded form (where [ becomes %5B and ] becomes %5D) are treated as distinct URLs. He recommends using consistent URL formatting across links, canonical tags, and sitemaps to avoid crawl inefficiency and duplicate content issues. Mixing both forms can confuse Google's indexing.
Key Points
- Raw and percent-encoded bracket URLs treated as distinct by Google
- Maintain consistent formatting across links, canonicals, and sitemaps
- Mixed formats cause crawl inefficiency and duplicate content risk
- Official guidance from John Mueller
View developer summary
Google's crawler treats raw-form bracket URLs (e.g., example.com/?q=[term]) and percent-encoded forms (e.g., example.com/?q=%5Bterm%5D) as separate URLs. Mueller recommends consistent URL canonicalization across href attributes, rel=canonical tags, and Sitemap XML to prevent unnecessary crawl duplication and normalization failures.
Source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-crawls-raw-and-encoded-bracket-urls-separately/593765/
Outlet: Search Engine Journal
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