# Noindex URLs With Sorting and Filter Parameters

> Adds noindex to pages opened with sorting or filter parameters (such as ?orderby= or ?filter_color=), so crawlers do not index endless variations of the same list.

- Type: PHP
- Runs: Frontend only
- Category: [SEO](https://wpide.com/library/category/seo/)
- Tags: noindex, parameters, crawl-budget
- Author: WPIDE Team
- Installs: 0
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Page: https://wpide.com/library/seo-noindex-filter-params/

## Code

```php
// Query parameters that make a page a duplicate (a trailing _ matches any name starting with it).
$wpide_noindex_params = array( 'orderby', 'order', 'sort', 'view', 'per_page', 'min_price', 'max_price', 'rating_filter', 'filter_', 'query_type_' );

add_filter( 'wp_robots', function ( $robots ) use ( $wpide_noindex_params ) {
    if ( empty( $_GET ) ) { // phpcs:ignore WordPress.Security.NonceVerification
        return $robots;
    }

    foreach ( array_keys( $_GET ) as $param ) { // phpcs:ignore WordPress.Security.NonceVerification
        foreach ( $wpide_noindex_params as $blocked ) {
            if ( $param === $blocked || ( '_' === substr( $blocked, -1 ) && 0 === strpos( (string) $param, $blocked ) ) ) {
                $robots['noindex'] = true;
                $robots['follow']  = true;

                return $robots;
            }
        }
    }

    return $robots;
} );
```

## Notes

Names ending in an underscore match as prefixes. Tracking parameters like utm_source are left alone, since the canonical tag handles them.

## How to use it

Install the free WPIDE plugin (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpide/), find "Noindex URLs With Sorting and Filter Parameters" in its snippet library and add it in one click; or create a new PHP snippet in WPIDE (or any code snippets plugin) and paste the code above. More snippets: https://wpide.com/library/