JavaScript SEO: How to Avoid Server Side Rendering Issues

A website’s SEO pursuits highly depend on the site’s resources and how well search engines are able to crawl it. When it comes to JavaScript websites, search engines have not been able to quite advance the way they crawl and index JavaScript, including Google. As a result this factor, JavaScript websites might not get properly crawled and indexed, which can lead to the failure of their SEO efforts. To negate this issue, JavaScript SEO comes into the scenario.

Although JavaScript is a key element in the dynamic world of the web and is the interactivity king, JavaScript websites have a difficult time with their SEO. JavaScript SEO is necessary because the truth is that the websites in JavaScript are failing due to the lack of a perfect crawling and indexing framework. Something as simple as a single error in the JavaScript code of your website can lead to the search engines not being able to render your page. There’s a lot of work in progress if we are talking about creating modern JS frameworks that can be successfully searched.

In order to be a successful SEO handler, one must know how the JavaScript on a website is connected with the performance of the search and how the search engines crawl and index it. To make sure that your JavaScript website is getting well ranked, JavaScript SEO should be well understood. While the HTML on a website is about the structure and the CSS is about the appearance, the JavaScript on a website imparts the dynamism and the action. Since we are talking about keeping the website in action, ensuring that your site’s security and reliability are maintained is also a major task. So, if you are looking to secure the connection, you can check out Tunnelbear review if you are looking for a highly reliable VPN service.

In early 2018, Google came up with support for JavaScript websites and it addresses its inability to crawl JavaScript websites. The company announced support for dynamic rendering as a solution for these websites, by serving search bots a server-side rendered (SSR) page and offer users a client-side experience.

So, in order to ensure that Google is able to render JavaScript effectively and is able to index and rank the pages correctly, using server-side rendering is an option. However, as helpful as server-side rendering can be in terms of helping search engines crawl and index JavaScript websites, it is not entirely error-free and if the developers end up making mistakes, that can be an absolute disaster. Hence, it is best to avoid the pitfalls of server-side rendering and yet get the work done before you set up your website.

About Server-Side Rendering and its Pitfalls

Using static SSR rendering means that when a page is rendered, the rendered HTML is cached on the server. The pitfall here is that with server-side rendering, every time a new user interaction takes place, the server generates a new page. Once this page is generated, it has to be returned to the user. This entire repeat process can cause a dramatic increase in the loading time that is not quite desirable. Server-side rendering is used by websites that sport a very simple UI and have only a few pages.

In SSR, aka Server-side rendering, HTML is sent to the browser and this HTML contains a description about the page. With the content being already available, the only thing that remains to be downloaded is the CSS. When a user clicks a page’s link, a request is sent to the server by the browser and the process is accomplished by the server. This process is a burden on the server and its bandwidth. With its frequent server requests and the slow page rendering, server-side rendering is also replete with full-page reloads and the site interactions are also not rich.

• With the server-side rendering approach, search engines are able to crawl pages and render the first page and end up mirroring the remaining ones. This mirroring is not good because it ends up providing Google the same content for all pages rendered. This is the opposite of what should happen because, in order for good SEO rankings, Google should get unique pages and unique content for each page.
• SEO for JavaScript can be a challenge because of several factors, such as crawlability, obtainability, and critical site rendering path. When the bots are unable to index and crawl the JavaScript, they do not get to experience your website the way you intend them to. If this happens, the search engines might drift away from their interest for your website and well. You don’t want that for your website and its SEO.
• Since the page is completely rendered on the server side in server-side rendering, the rendering is done before the page is sent to the client. As a result, a complete HTML page is delivered. This is an SEO benefit for JavaScript since this complete rendered webpage is capable of getting crawled completely. Also, the speed of the pages is enhanced. It is advisable that frameworks, such as NextJS should be put to use for performing server-side rendering with React to help the web pages get indexed easily.

Conclusion

With more and more websites coming up with JavaScript-based web infrastructure and the world of SEO evolving every now and then, ensuring that search engines are able to effectively render JavaScript, server-side rendering is a go-to option. Entailing its own risks and other considerable factors, the task can be accomplished by avoiding the above-mentioned pitfalls of server-side rendering.

Once you have a grasp of what works for your site’s JavaScript SEO and what does not, you will be able to make the right decisions regarding your site. At the end of day, all decisions should lead to search engines being able to successfully render, crawl and index your JavaScript-focused websites.

About the Author

Catherrine Garcia is an experienced Web Developer at WPCodingDev and a passionate blogger. She loves to share her knowledge through her articles on web development and WordPress.