If you set variables in
Define Query Params in main layout page, then you should be able to select it via picker on content page, and it should work.I created a fresh project to test this some time ago. Resulting bidnding looks like
{{query.param1}}
But, in one of my client’s existing project, this was not working and I had to resort to doing what you are doing.
Would be very interested to see what the issue here is.