Advice on URL structure: Forced to have a question mark in the URL

I am building a php website on an IIS server. I don't have access to the server and the admin won't install any url_rewrite modules ... so i am forced to have a question mark in my urls.

I want to know which of these is better (regarding SEO and visitor experience, also technical problems that can appear):

1. http://www.mysite.com/?section=articles&action=show&article_slug=i-like-cars
2. http://www.mysite.com/?articles-show=i-like-cars
3. http://www.mysite.com/?/articles/show/i-like-cars

Thanks

this is my URL logic i strive for on every project i do some SEO

* unique (1 URL == 1 ressource)
* permanent (they do not change)
* manageable (1 logic per site
* section, no complicated exceptions)
* easily scaleable logic 
* short 
* with a targeted keyword phrase

as you have the (ugly) requirement to have ? in your URLs, i would go with

• http://www.mysite.com/?news=i-like-cars

(news= if you have a new site, another very very short keyword if you have another kind of site)

i would stay within the ?key=value logic as google - and the common internet user - is perfectly aware of how these URLs work (there are billions of site using such URLs) instead of creating a new logic.

From a user perspective I'd say 3, with the minor modification that the initial / in the query string can be dropped: http://www.mysite.com/?articles/show/i-like-cars.

This URL is easy to read, although a user might find it difficult to remember the ?.

Also, there is at least one more alternative: http://www.mysite.com/?article=i-like-cars (default action = show).

Stick with the ?name=value&name=value pairs structure that is the standard syntax for query string parameters.

Try and keep to one parameter to define the actual page, and use keywords like in your examples.

Use secondary parameters for other signals like page numbers or on page actions/events.

Note that you can tell Google to ignore some parameters via their Web Master Tools. This can be a good way to avoid duplicate content issues, like a sort parameter.

I would go with:

http :// www. mysite.com/?section-article=i-like-cars

Have your code look for any *-article parameter to find the id of the article. The section text is just a way to add an extra keyword into the URL.