To effectively handle SEO for JavaScript-heavy websites, focus on ensuring search engines can crawl, render, and index your content.
JS-heavy sites can be tricky for SEO, but not impossible. I’ve had decent results using server-side rendering (SSR) with frameworks like Next.js, which helps make the content more crawlable for search engines. Also, tools like Screaming Frog (with JS rendering enabled) and Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can help you see what content is visible to crawlers. Don’t forget to pre-render important pages or use dynamic rendering if full SSR isn't an option. It’s not a perfect fix, but it works well in many cases.
Server-side rendering (SSR) or static site generation (SSG) are your best bets for JS-heavy sites. Make sure critical content renders without JavaScript first. Use proper meta tags and structured data in the initial HTML. Google's gotten better at JS crawling but still prefers pre-rendered content. Monitor your indexing regularly - you can catch rendering issues that block crawlers. Also check if your JS is breaking Core Web Vitals. Key thing: don't rely solely on client-side rendering if SEO matters.
Use server-side rendering (SSR) or dynamic rendering to ensure that search engines can fully crawl and index your JavaScript-heavy website. Tools like Prerender.io, Next.js, and Google Search Console help make your JS content SEO-friendly by rendering content for bots and ensuring visibility in search results. Always test with real bots using tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test or Rich Results Test to confirm what content is visible during crawling.