Google Prefers Content Tweaks Vs URL Redirection For Personalization

Google‘s John Mueller said it would be better to offer personalization to users through dynamically tweaking the content on the page versus redirecting that user to a different page with personalized content on that page.

The question was posted on Twitter asking what is better for search when you want to “personalize the homepage experience based on known attributes like referral site or paid search keyword.” She asked is “it better to dynamically alter content on the homepage or redirect to an alternate homepage url?”

John said go with the tweaking of the content because URL redirection can get tricky. He said also make sure the content is equivalent to the original content when you tweak it.

Here are the tweets:

I’d tend towards dynamically tweaking content rather than redirecting (new URLs = much more complexity). At least for search landing pages, the primary content should be equivalent, which is easier done through tweaking rather than new URLs. IDK about ads landing pages ????

— ???? John ???? (@JohnMu) April 9, 2019

Forum discussion at Twitter.