Since companies always want to keep up with the different technological advancements, they have a tendency to shift from the traditional HTML to the modern JavaScript framework. What is not taken into consideration on this shift of era is the traffic or the number of people using the said framework.
The following are the situations that occur in the shift of companies:
- Brands get the push of shifting from HTML to JavaScript because of the news they hear on the improved User Experiences (Uxs) upon using the latter.
- It is proven that JavaScript frameworks are formed through complex methods.
- Big brands lose customers that come from organic traffic and people only come to their website either through referral or paid traffic. They also lose their ability to give good User Experiences (Uxs).
After positioning your brand’s SEO from the traditional HTML to the modern framework of JavaScript and realizing that it was not as easy as you thought it should be, it will be difficult for you to turn things back.
Worry not for there are ways to diagnose and solve the issues that your JavaScript SEO is facing:
Step 1: Check to see if Google can render your account.
Use the URL inspection tool to check if your page can be rendered by Google accordingly. This tool can only be accessed once your website is linked to Google Search Console. To access, open Google Search Console and press the button for URL inspection. If you do not have any account yet, visit Google’s Help pages.
Fill in the URL form field with the URL of the website you wish to examine. Click on Test Live URL.
When done, view the tested page and click on the Screenshot tab in order to access the rendered website. Make sure to inspect the entire screenshot in order to secure that your page was properly rendered.
Step 2: Are your JavaScript files blocked?
One reason why your page cannot be rendered by Google properly is because you accidentally blocked important files for Googlebot in robots.txt – a file that gives instructions to the former and other search engines whether or not they are allowed to request a page or source.
Do not panic when this happens because the URL inspection tool locates any root of the rendered page that is blocked in robots.txt.
Step 3: Make use of the URL inspection tool to fix errors in JavaScript.
Click on the More info tab in the URL inspection tool to diagnose your page. A small error in your JavaScript code can stop you from rendering it successfully. Once your website only crashes in older versions of browsers, it can lead your rankings in Google to drop.
For people who are new in the field of JavaScript SEO, the URL inspection tool is more advisable because of its accuracy in giving assistance to the Google Web Rendering Service. Chrome 41, however, can also be a good alternative because of its flexibility and universality.
Step 4: Is your content indexed by Google?
Use the “site: command” to review whether Google has indexed your account properly or not. Following the syntax site:[website URL]”[fragment to be searched]”, make sure to check that there are no spaces between the “site:” and the URL.
Step 5: Links should be discoverable.
Googlebot cannot usually detect or reach webpages that do not have the traditional href links. Make sure you have the proper <a href> link in order for the URLs in your website to be discovered. Not placing the said links to subsequent paginations can prevent Googlebot from accessing them.
To check, download Chrome 41 from Ele.ph/chrome41. Right click on the View More button and choose the inspection button to see how it works, When there are no <a href> nor <link rel> links for the subsequent paginations, only the items found in the first page can be viewed. Thus, if you have 200 items in your website with 20 displayed on each page, the first 10 items are only the ones that can be viewed from your site.
Step 6: Can Google discover content on hidden tabs?
Many web-based stores have their content hidden under tabs. This may include their product descriptions, other products,etc). The auditor of every SEO must make sure that all hidden content in tabs can be seen by Google.
To check, open your Chrome 41 to go through a specific product on your site. Navigate through the Chrome Developers Tools by clicking the combinations Ctrl + Shift + J and click on the Network tab. Once done, check to make sure that the option to disable cache is enabled.
Refresh the page by clicking on F5 and after doing so, search for a product description by navigating to the Elements tab. You will be able to see whether Google can detect the product description or not.
Your website is fully diagnosed! You may continue checking for further issues to make sure that your everything is already doing fine.
