SEO and JavaScript: Things you Need to Know

Today, most of the website developers are using JavaScript frameworks, but many of these websites fail in search engine results. Well, a proper understanding of JavaScript and its impact on search performance is necessary for SEO experts. If search engines would not be able to crawl a website and understand the content, then why will it get indexed? There’s no point in putting a hell lot of effort into the optimization when it all comes to zero.

Here are six vital things every SEO specialist should keep in mind while working with JavaScript-based website:

Make your JavaScript Visible to Search Engines

If you are working in an SEO service company, you might have an idea of how relevant it is to provide search engines with correct robot.txt file for better crawling opportunities. In case the search engines do not see your JavaScript, it appears completely different in front of users and web crawlers. This will turn out to be a worst-case scenario if Google interprets it as cloaking, and your website will be removed from its index. So, the point here is that you need to show a web page to crawlers precisely in the same way as you show to the users. If you want any page to be hidden from search engines, you must have a word with the development team.

Do Not Replace Internal Linking With JavaScript

SEO specialists know that internal linking plays an extremely significant role in optimizing your website so that web crawlers can see your site’s architecture. You should always keep this in mind that replacing internal linking with JavaScript on-click events is not a good option. When you do this, it causes an effect on your website’s performance in search engine results page. Although web crawlers can locate and crawl end URLs, they would not link them with the global navigation of the site. So, keep internal linking, in the same way, using anchor tags within HTML or DOM.

Focus on URL Structure

Google does not recommend lone hashes and hash bangs within URLs, which you might know as an SEO professional. These fragment identifiers are not crawlable, and whatever follows, it is not sent to the server. One of the most highly recommended strategies is to use pushState History API, which helps in updating the URL in the address bar. It leads to the application of changes only to the required pieces of content. pushState History API allows sites to get clean URLs, which is supported by Google. A benefit of using it correctly is that users can return to the same spot they were seeing before refreshing the page.

Check for JavaScript Feasibility

Some forms of JavaScript make it difficult for Google to crawl and understand. For such cases, SEO experts need to check their websites in order to take out some mistakes and get proper results from their optimization efforts. When you test your website, it is mandatory to check if the content of the webpages comes in the DOM and also ensure that Google is not facing any problem in indexing your content.

HTML Snapshots

A diligent SEO expert must be familiar with HTML snapshots, which may be required in some circumstances. For example, when the web crawlers find it challenging to grasp JavaScript on your website, you can show HTML snapshots to them. Why not be on a safer side as some coding mistakes might take you to such a situation. It is always better to provide search engines with HTML snapshots, rather than leaving your content unindexed. You must speak to the development team if you want to avoid such problems. Also, you can install a user-agent detection on the server-side in order to view the snapshots to users as well as web crawlers during an emergency.

Enhance your Site Latency

Website latency becomes extremely important when it comes to serving up your content around the globe in an efficient manner. When your site consists of some JavaScript files clogging up your page loading time, it is recommended to use render-blocking JavaScript and enjoy the fast performance of your website. This is what site latency is. Well, you can reach out to a website design company and ask them to help you with your JavaScript to add value to your website.

Search engines will put all their efforts to crawl and interpret your JavaScript, but it is not confirmed. So, it’s always a better option to keep your site crawlable and understandable. Above were some basic things that SEO professionals of any SEO service company should keep in mind when it comes to SEO and JavaScript.