# How do I match a specific URL query parameter value in an audience?

Asked by kev_marketing on 2026-10-08. Tags: cql, audiences, page.

our newsletter links all carry a query parameter, something like
`?newsletter=daily-news`, and I want a tailored hero only for people who arrive
with that exact value.

How does CQL read a query parameter and match on its value? I run these
campaigns myself so a copy-paste example would be great.

## 2 answers

### Answer from Tom Becker (2026-10-09)

page exposes the query, so you reach into it by parameter name:

```cql
page's query's newsletter is "daily-news"
```

That only matches visitors arriving with that exact value. One thing to watch,
string literals are case-sensitive, so `"Daily-News"` would miss, match the
casing your links actually use.

### Answer from nina_k (2026-10-10)

Works great until you have a parameter name with a dash in it, then the
`query's name` form does not parse. For those use bracket notation:

```cql
page.query['coupon-code'] is "10off"
```

Same idea, just the syntax that survives the dash. There is a whole
[dashed query parameter](/answers/cql-query-param-with-dashes) thread on it if
you hit that. If the traffic is UTM-tagged you might also read it off the
campaign instead, like the [UTM campaign audience](/answers/cql-utm-campaign-audience).

#### Reply from kev_marketing (2026-10-10)

the plain form did it for this one, but good to know about the brackets
since half our coupon params have dashes. thanks!