Send url parameters from external website into Bubble

Does anyone know whether it’s possible to send url parameters from Webflow/Wordpress to my Bubble application?

I currently have a live website up and running - fully created on bubble. It’s a beta landing page promoting an actual application (being built also on bubble) that is yet to come out. I have just realised how awful Bubble’s SEO is. For some context, my application’s name is a VERY VERY unique one, yet when you search it on Google, it still ranks relatively low at seventh/eighth. The social media accounts of the application actually rank higher than the live beta landing page and as a result, I have decided to use Webflow to design the application’s landing page, however, I was wondering whether it’s possible to send a value from an input in Webflow to Bubble via a url parameter. Has anyone managed to do this or know whether it’s possible?

James, the on-page SEO factors (i.e., your code and structure) don’t impact SEO much unless you’re site is competing for competitive phrases with lots of traffic. If you’re ranking 7th or 8th for your own brand name then it’s because your off-page SEO sucks (i.e., you don’t have enough quality links from other domains and web pages pointing to your site).

It’s normal for new domains to have SEO that sucks. In fact, that’s how every new domain starts. And, it takes Google a while to trust you even once you have more links pointing to your site. That’s just the nature of the game. Doesn’t have anything to do with Bubble or Webflow.

So, spend your time getting more inbound links instead of redoing your site. That’s the solution.

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Before I found out about Bubble, my beta landing page was created on Wix. Due to the limitations of Wix, I could only do so much and as a result, the page only had a FEW words (i.e. “Sign up to our Beta test group”). After moving to Bubble’s platform, I’ve been able to create a much longer and more wordy beta landing page than the one created on Wix, yet for some reason it still ranks low.

I changed domain names from “myapp.com” to “myapp.co.uk”, the former was assigned to the Wix website, the latter with Bubble and every single time I type “myapp” in Google’s search engine, the former domain still ranks higher (ranks first). Now explain how a website that I have barely marketed/shared and barely has any content rank no.1? I could do a 301 redirect from the “myapp.com” domain to my Bubble application (“myapp.co.uk”), but that’s not the point. The point is that Bubble’s SEO is atrocious; let’s not pretend it’s awful (no offence to Bubble). If you don’t believe me, DM me and I’ll give you the name of the application and you can see for yourself.

What’s even more worrying is that even though I’ve cancelled my premium plan on Wix, the domain name that used to be assigned to the Wix site STILL ranks first. Therefore, I can only conclude that Wix handles SEO much better than Bubble.

So… if you understood SEO at all, you wouldn’t be obfuscating your domain here. Those are free links to your site up there in your reply to @sridharan.s. You get that, right?

Also, there’s no SEO penalty (or inherent benefit) to using platform or another. Your old site was just up for longer. Give it time.

Wanna speed things up? Here’s a very brief checklist:

Is your new site (the Bubble site) part of your Search Console sites?

Have you submitted it for indexing via Search Console?

Have you exposed your sitemap (in Bubble settings), exposed the correct pages, and is your sitemap loaded in Search Console? Have you submitted the sitemap to Search Console?

Is there SEO useful text you have in dynamic (database-fed) elements instead of in static text? Make that static text static.

And why HAVEN’T you perma-redirected your old site to your new site? Get dat link juice.

Do you have any other sites that are indexed? Did you link to your new site there? If not, why not? Those be free links.

Hope this helps,
Keith

Creator of https://grupz.com, the best vacation rental calendars site in the whole entire world of best booking widget sites.

^^^ see what I did there? :crazy_face:

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Thanks for the reply Keith, however, I’ll reiterate that we shouldn’t pretend that Bubble’s SEO isn’t awful or at least relatively poor compared to its counterparts. Here are a couple of reasons:

  1. The moment I made my Wix site live, it ranked first.
  1. I have done everything on your checklist bar the exposing of the sitemap (didn’t even think this was possible with Bubble).

  2. With Wix, I did not need to do any of these things. From what I can remember, I merely created a set of keywords in their SEO section and also a website description.

I’m obfuscating my domain for privacy reasons but more importantly, because I believe in quality not quantity when it comes to backlinking. Google are now penalising websites that have poor quality backlinks and as a result, I’ve dropped a few links on targeted forums and communities - still to no avail (again never even did this once with Wix). Furthermore, the application is an enterprise grade solution that will probably serve zero purpose/interest to the majority of bubblers and so I don’t necessarily need or want to put effort into SEO because my clients will come from referrals which means they would specifically be looking for my application - so I just need the domain to rank first when the application’s name is searched.

I couldn’t disagree with you more James. That said, the great thing about entrepreneurship is you’re able to run your business the way you want. I think you’re solving the wrong problem to get your domain to the top. And, big picture, it really doesn’t matter because if you have a unique name you’ll end up #1 for that name with any tool with just a bit or time and effort.

Best of luck.

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Your opinion is much appreciated and although you may not agree with my entrepreneurial practices, my arguments against Bubble’s SEO are plausible. I think my comparisons on how Wix handles SEO and how Bubble handles it, highlights just how badly Bubble is lagging behind.

I created a thread in the forum to look for an alternative solution to the SEO fiasco, but instead received responses that have further increased my scrutiny. If you read through this thread (and others) from top to bottom, the narrative is that you have to do considerably more, in contrast to other web builders, just to have a decent ranking. You’d think something like SEO would be a very basic thing for a website builder right? I had only SEVEN words on my Wix landing page, never used backlinks and didn’t need to do a fraction of the things I’ve had to do in Bubble. If there’s anything you take from my waffle, let it be the previous sentence; let that sink in.

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I actually agree with @jamesbond. The SEO thing is one that definitely needs a revamp. Simple things like header tags not being detected by SEO tools prove just how poor it is.

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Exactly

Lets get out of the SEO discussion. i want to point out that the main question James asked has not been answered. “How to Send url parameters from external website into Bubble”. i need an answer to this please. can someone help me out

You can reference specific url parameters with “get data from this url” so you can store them in the database on page load, or wait until the user clicks a button and then store it at that time.

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Thanks. but i need a clear direction on how to go about it. Thanks

really interested in this solution too… anyone know or can give some guidance?

@jamesbond @bennyogor @frankB18

Just add the parameter in the link on Wordpress or any framework.

Example: http://www.domain.com/profile/slug/parameter=happyplace

On the Bubble side, just make sure you have a workflow looking for the parameter using the “get data from this url” feature.

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thank you!

Check out the evolving SEO discussion on Bubble, curious to see what @keith @sridharan.s think of this.

I understand your frustations @jamesbond, creating a focused effort to fix the SEO issues if you want to take a look at this thread/show your support by liking or commenting something you’ve learned from your SEO journey on Bubble

How many posts are you going to comment in about SEO? It’s become a little annoying. Please stick to one thread.

I apologize for the annoyance. I understand your frustration but please consider how important SEO is for my business. Ultimately trying to gather as much people together to solve or for Bubble to say they will help.

I realize my comment came off as rude, not my intention. I understand it’s important, but Bubble is notorious for saying something is on their road map, but never deliver. Most move off of bubble for the landing page and SEO capabilities. Bubble is, in my mind, still the best in no code app dev. Sticking to one thread is easier for a convo, other wise people start commenting on all random posts and it’s hard to read and contribute. :wink: