The current state of JavaScript SEO. JS crawling and indexing across different frameworks and Search Engines.

1. Current State of JavaScript:
Chaos is the New Normal

4. Let’s assume
you are about to
launch a new website

7. ?
?
?
?
?
?
?
THE QUESTION

8. Which framework should I use?

10. I get asked
this too often.
Please don’t
do that!

11. There is only
1 framework that is
good for SEO!
1 framework

12. SEOs and Googlers hate him!
He knows the perfect
setup for JS websites
Findoutsoon!

13. With exponential
growth of JavaScript
frameworks...

14. With exponential
growth of JavaScript
frameworks...

15. artoszCoin
barti
How to be cool in 2018

17. The Big Three
Source: https://javascriptreport.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-javascript-frameworks/

18. Notable frameworks

19. Rest of the pack

20. Are they OK for SEO?

21. ?
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??
??
?
?
?
?
?
?? ??
?
??
?
???
?
?
?
?
?
?
Let’s hear framework
creators talk about
JavaScript & SEO

22. ...if you care about
SEO, you still need to
have server-rendered
content.
Jeff Whelpley
Angular U conference, June 22-25, 2015, Hyatt Regency, San Francisco Airport
“Angular 2 Server Rendering”
ele.ph/angularU

23. ...we are generally able
to render and
understand your web
pages like modern
browsers.

24. Chaos?

26. Indexing vs. Ranking

27. Can you
rank with a
JS website?

28. As Googlers would say
“there are factors at play here”

29. client rendered JS

30. Let’s search for Hulu’s exclusive shows.

35. Ctrl+C

36. Ctrl+V

37. Everyone hates him for telling the truth!
Here’s why you’re
wasting your time on
client-rendered JS
websites…
Findoutnow!

38. SEO – where the giants fight!

39. YouTube vs. Vimeo

40. Why is their
visibility declining?

41. Vimeo’s
homepage
without JS!

42. I’m about to
reveal the
YouTube secret
no one ever
told you.

43. YouTube is a
client-rendered
JS website…

44. YouTube with JS disabled

45. …and they are
prerendering for
Googlebot

46. Why would YouTube prerender
for Googlebot? Doesn’t
Google render JS just fine?

48. SEO – it’s where the giants fight

51. Rewriting
JavaScript

53. What did they need React for?
Language switcher
Buttons on the bottom of the page
Client side login library

54. ~300 lines of code written
~200 kB removed

55. 50% performance improvement

56. Key problems with JavaScript

57. Where JavaScript lives? Real world problems.
HARDWARE NETWORK

58. Where JavaScript lives? Real world problems.

59. How many of you own ?

61. ~200 KB to process
4 seconds
0.065 seconds

62. JavaScript vs. Crawler budget (crawl demand)

63. JavaScript vs. Crawler budget (crawl demand)
Oh no!
ele.ph/budget

64. JavaScript vs. Crawler budget (crawl demand)
Oh no!
(…) Also, crawling &
indexing is currently
a bit slower than
static HTML (...)
ele.ph/crawldemand

65. Crawling and
indexing
JavaScript is not
a 0/1 thing

66. GSC
fetch
URL
Indexed?
Content
Indexed?
Test
URL
External Ajax callInline

67. JavaScript
dozens of different frameworks
their different configurations
transpiling
inline vs. external

68. On top of that, there are hundreds of factors
affecting crawling and indexing

69. ?How about Search Engines other than

70. Let’s start embracing chaos

71. Search Engines

72. SEO

73. statements
reality
guy @ Pubcon
our experiment

74. THE BING THING
Fabrice Canel of
Bing said that
Bing processes
JS.
True story!
Patrick Stox @ DTD Conference 2018

76. Rich media cautions
don’t bury links to
content inside JavaScript

77. Rich media cautions
Graceful degradation
enable a clean down-
level experience so
crawlers can see your
content

78. Rich media cautions
Graceful degradation
Down-level experience
enhances discoverability
avoid housing content
inside Flash or JavaScript
– these block crawlers
form finding the content

79. It can process JS vs. It DOES process JS

80. Proof

81. 1. Go to Angular.io

82. 2. Copy any text from the website
CTRL+C

83. 3. Try to find it in Bing.com
CTRL+V
4. Find everything BUT the angular.io
website

84. Or search for any content from jsseo.expert

85. Google vs. Bing

86. Thanks, Dan Petrovic!

89. ele.ph/beyondgoogle

90. 63.4%
22.8%
11.7%
1.3% 0.8%
Google Bing Yahoo! Ask AOL
Search Engine market share
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/267161/market-share-of-search-engines-in-the-united-states/

91. 83.5%
11.1%
3.8% 0.8% 0.6%
Google Bing Yahoo! MSN DuckDuckGo
Search Engine market share
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/280269/market-share-held-by-search-engines-in-the-united-kingdom/

92. 94.5%
4.2% 1.0% 0.1% 0.1%
Google Bing Yahoo! T-Online Ask.com
Search Engine market share
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/445002/market-shares-leading-search-engines-germany/

93. ele.ph/beyondgoogle

94. Let’s take a closer look at Google

96. JavaScript is REALLY easy to break

97. It’s all very shaky,
based on duct tape rather than…

98. Let’s start from Angular.io
and their GitHub issue

100. https://angular.io/guide/language-service
https://angular.io/guide/security
https://angular.io/guide/architecture
https://angular.io/api/animations/group
https://angular.io/guide/quickstart

101. https://angular.io/guide/language-service
https://angular.io/guide/security
https://angular.io/guide/architecture
https://angular.io/api/animations/group
https://angular.io/guide/quickstart
https://angular.io
https://angular.io/events
https://angular.io/api
https://angular.io/resources
https://angular.io/about?group=Angular

102. https://angular.io/guide/language-service
https://angular.io/guide/security
https://angular.io/guide/architecture
https://angular.io/api/animations/group
https://angular.io/guide/quickstart
https://angular.io
https://angular.io/events
https://angular.io/api
https://angular.io/resources
https://angular.io/about?group=Angular
url / / url /

103. UPSIDE DOWN
The only thing that pages (…)
have in common is the number of
path segments in the url.
Igor Minar

105. SEO Visibility

106. http://yourdomain.com/category/shoes/
url / / url /
How much would that cost you?
http://yourdomain.com/category/

107. Prerender.io – is partial indexing in Google possible?

111. Visibility

112. vs. Developers
SEOs
vs. Search Engines
vs. Framework’s creators

113. Developers are confused af…

114. …We’ve created what will be
remembered as the world’s
most confusing JavaScript
survey ever.

115. …it contained only
1 question…

116. …but proved to be the most
difficult question you can
ask your developer.

117. ARE YOU
READY TO
HEAR IT?
?
?

118. Can client-side rendered JavaScript
websites rank high in Google?

119. Node.js developers group
35
7

120. ReactJS group
6
21

121. Angular2+ group
4
9

122. JavaScript group
2
34

123. TAKEAWAYS!!!
Google is too close
to their technology
to see its flaws
(they are still #1 in
JS rendering tho).
Developers are
confused af…
SEO is the only way
to look at the Big
Picture.
Facebook surveys
are useless ☺
Eat vegetables!

124. Solution?
SEO
team

125. Solution?
SEO
team

126. Can you rank well with a Client
Rendered JavaScript Website?

129. Quick check

130. JavaScript Enabled

131. JavaScript Disabled

132. React Native

133. How about
their rankings?

134. .com

135. #1
for

136. #1 for

137. Is there hope for client-rendered JS websites?

138. Well…

139. .No

143. Ranking with a CSR JavaScript website
Ranking without it

144. Google Flights
ele.ph/flights

145. Google Flights
ele.ph/flights

146. Wrapping up

147. How can we summarize chaos?

148. Life is meaningless.
What’s the point?
Death is inevitable.
If can’t find you, do you even exist?

149. The REAL wrap up JS

150. The REAL wrap up JS
1
JS can kill
crawler budget

151. The REAL wrap up JS
1
JS can kill
crawler budget
2
JS websites have
ranking problems

152. Ranking well with
CSR JavaScript
websites is very
hard if not
impossible.

153. Going back to the original question…

154. , really?

155. Which framework should I use?

156. 2
yet
…one that is Server Side Rendered?

157. We are still looking for a pioneer!

158. Bartosz@Goralewicz.com
@bart_Goralewicz