Is React SEO-Friendly? React Search Engine Optimization Tips

React is a declarative, modular, and cross-platform UI library designed for building interactive user interfaces. Today, it is perhaps the most well-known JavaScript framework for developing speedy front-end software. React was originally designed for the development of single-page apps (SPAs), but it is now widely utilized for the development of more complex online and mobile apps. The same elements and features that contributed to React’s initial success also provide a number of obstacles for search engine optimization.

 

Experienced web developers who switch to React will see a significant chunk of their familiar HTML and CSS code transformed into JavaScript. This is due to the fact that React promotes defining the “state” of the UI rather than simply generating or changing UI components. The DOM will be updated by React to reflect the current state as quickly as possible.

Therefore, it is necessary to update the DOM or user interface exclusively using the React engine. While this is helpful for developers, it might negatively impact search engine optimization (SEO) for React websites by increasing load times for visitors and making it harder for search engines to detect and index the information.

In this piece, we’ll talk about the difficulties of making SEO-friendly React apps and websites, as well as some solutions to those difficulties.

SEO: what is it, and why is it so crucial?

Increasing a website’s position in a search engine’s unpaid results is what SEO is all about. In response to a user’s query, search engines like Google and Bing employ their own algorithms and web crawlers to determine which websites best meet the user’s criteria.

The search engine then adds these pages to its index, where they are evaluated for relevancy and given a rating. A website’s pages need to perform well in search engine results if they are to be seen by as many people as possible and if they are to be visited.

 

What is React?

Facebook software developer Jordan Walke created the React Frontend Framework. It was created as part of a larger effort to streamline the UI development process.

React was created as a JavaScript library that relies on modular components. The declarative framework relies on a virtual DOM to manage the components. As it breaks down parts into smaller pieces and only updates essential elements, this feature is a game-changer for React because it can update the content and structure of a page faster than a Real DOM.

As with other stateful component frameworks, React.js allows its complicated UI systems to anticipate events, keep track of data, and use user feedback to reconstruct the interface. Using stateful components, developers may save time and work while creating a more responsive application. Developers are given the tools they need to rapidly create web applications that are both scalable and user-friendly thanks to React’s flexibility to connect plugins or libraries with existing code.

 

What’s a single-page app and why React? 

 

A one-page web application is one that provides all of its functionality from a single HTML page. In response to user input, this page is dynamically changed without requiring a full page reload. In a single-page web app, the client only requests and loads data that has changed since the page was initially loaded, eliminating the need to send and receive several requests to the server for each interaction.

Multimedia websites like Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Trello, Google, and Slack are all single-page applications.

A single development team may work on both the front end (the presentation layer) and the back end (the data layer) of an SPA since these two layers are kept apart. Additionally, a single-page app (SPA) is simpler to scale and implement a microservices architecture than a multi-page app.

When it comes to the user experience, single-page apps provide the best of both worlds for online applications. These applications can also save information in local storage for speedier reloading the next time you use them.

To create a SPA, programmers can utilize any of the three most well-known JavaScript frameworks: React, Angular, or Vue. React is the most popular of these three major frameworks. According to the results of the 2019 State of JavaScript Survey, React is the most widely used JavaScript framework.

With React’s component-based architecture, you can easily reuse code and break down a big program into more manageable chunks. Therefore, huge SPA applications are considerably simpler to maintain and troubleshoot than massive multi-page apps. The efficiency of the app is guaranteed by the virtual DOM. The React library is compatible with the latest and previous versions of all major web browsers.

However, you probably already know that React isn’t SEO-friendly, and this is one of the greatest drawbacks.

 

Is there ever a period when SEO is irrelevant?

Public-facing sites, such as blog posts and marketing or services pages, are where your SEO efforts should be concentrated, not authenticated pages, such as user dashboards and profiles. You should direct your efforts toward the pages you wish to get discovered. You hope that hundreds, if not millions, of people will read your blog article. However, ideally only the user will ever view your user dashboard. Put the time and money into SEO that it deserves.

Of course, not every company can reap the same rewards from SEO. Companies that solicit bids or submit proposals directly are one such example. These companies won’t worry too much about their Google page rank because it doesn’t matter much to their bottom line. It’s also worth noting that many SEO best practices are also standard fare for sound website design. Consequently, a company should still use SEO best practices even if they aren’t crucial to their business strategy.

 

Why Should You Use React?

 

 

If you’re in the market for a new web development framework, consider React JS for the following reasons:

Security in the code

You need not be concerned about the reliability of the code in React JS. Simply said, if a modification must be made to some code, it will only be made to the relevant subsystem; the overall framework will remain unchanged.

When it comes to reliable code, this is a major selling point for React JS.

React provides a practical set of programming tools.

Having the developer tools on hand will make your time spent developing in React JS much more productive. This toolkit simplifies the development process and allows programmers to save significant amounts of time.

This set of tools is accessible in the form of an add-on for Chrome and Firefox.

React JS is a declarative framework.

The DOM is declarative in React JS. By using React JS, we can make dynamic UIs and update the DOM without lifting a finger. That eliminates the requirement for direct manipulation of the DOM.

As a result, developing and troubleshooting UIs with interactivity is a breeze. Changing the program’s state is all that’s required to test the UI’s quality. You can make the modifications without having to learn DOM.

The use of React JS can speed up the development process.

The time spent writing code is reduced thanks to React JS since developers may utilize the entire application on the server and the client.

The app’s logic will not be disrupted if many developers work on different parts of it independently of one another.

 

Key Issues in Creating an SEO-Friendly Website with React JS

Although implementing React SEO might be difficult, the benefits of higher search engine rankings and higher quality output are well worth the effort. Here are some common problems that must be addressed before discussing solutions:

1. Delay in loading

There is a slight delay caused by parsing and loading JavaScript. The user may have to wait until he receives the requested information since JavaScript must make network calls in order to execute the content.

A website will drop in Google’s rankings if users are forced to wait too long for the content to load.

2. Sitemap

A sitemap is a file that lists all of the pages on your site and describes how they are linked together. Search engines like Google will be able to more efficiently and effectively crawl your site as a result.

The generation of sitemaps is not supported natively in React. Tools that create sitemaps are available if you use React Router for routing. It still takes a lot of time.

3. Insufficiency of Live Metadata

Because all the necessary information is displayed on a single page, the user experience with single-page applications is smooth.

Metadata is not immediately updated when crawlers click on a link to an SPA, which is a problem for search engine optimization. Since Google bots can’t access that particular file during their crawl, they treat the page as if it were blank.

The developers, however, may address the ranking issue by making separate sites for the Google bots. Another issue with regard to business costs arises when creating individual pages, and the ranking process can also be slightly impacted.

Optimizing React applications for search engines

Here are some search engine optimization recommended practices for JavaScript to implement in your React projects.

Server-side rendering (SSR)

SSR is a method for rendering the first state of a React web app on the server before sending it to the client for display. The SEO performance of the app is enhanced since the content of a web page may be indexed more quickly.

The SSR method involves the server generating the first HTML and JavaScript code of the React web page before sending it to the client. This ensures that search engine spiders can read and understand the page content even if JavaScript is not installed or enabled on the client’s device.

Libraries like Next.js exist to make it easier to create SSR-enabled React apps. They make the difficult process of SSR easy for developers by providing a straightforward API.

Since the client’s device will already have the initial HTML and JavaScript code loaded, SSR can also help improve the web app’s speed. This can improve the user experience and reduce the time required for the initial painting.

Noting that SSR implementation can be complex and may necessitate additional resources and server-side infrastructure is essential. In addition, it may not be absolutely necessary for all varieties of online applications, therefore its implementation merits careful consideration.

Pre-rendering

With pre-rendering, an initial HTML and JavaScript code of a React web page is generated on the client side before the page is rendered on the user’s device. The major goal is to enhance the SEO-friendliness of React-based web apps.

The content of a web page, even if it is a React-based SPA, can be readily accessed and understood by search engine crawlers thanks to pre-rendering. When a page’s initial state is rendered in advance, search engine spiders have an easier time indexing its content and displaying it in search results.

Pre-rendering React web pages may be done in two different ways. Static pre-rendering is the first option; it involves generating the HTML and JavaScript code during the development process and then delivering that code to the user’s browser as a static HTML file. The second method is called dynamic pre-rendering, and it involves the creation of new HTML and JavaScript code at the time of each page request.

There are a number of libraries and tools available to help in pre-rendering React web pages, such as React-snap, React-static, and Prerender.io. By using them, a page’s first rendered state may be optimized for search engines and sent to the user faster. Pre-rendering should be carefully assessed before being implemented, as it may not be appropriate for all web applications.

Prioritized rendering in advance

Instead of pre-rendering the complete React web app, selective pre-rendering allows only certain parts of the app to be rendered in advance. This is helpful in cases when some sections of the app are more important than others for reasons like search engine optimization or performance.

Libraries like React-snap and React-static allow for selective pre-rendering. They allow you to choose which routes or components should be pre-rendered and which should be rendered locally on the client’s device.

Since the most important elements of the app are pre-rendered and straightforward to index, this can improve the app’s speed and SEO. Selective pre-rendering can be used to pre-render only the pages that are very important for search engine optimization in a React web application, for instance.

Static site generation (SSG)

Static Site Generator (SSG) creates HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files that mimic a running React web app. Without requiring server-side rendering or complicated client-side JavaScript setup, they may be sent to the user’s browser.

Because of this, it’s the best option for creating search engine optimized web apps with React. With SSG, search engine crawlers have an easier time reading and comprehending the content of a web page, which boosts the website’s rankings.

The React application is packaged as a set of static files and then published to a web server or a CDN (content delivery network) in order to make use of SSG. This method has advantages over dynamically created websites such as faster load times and increased security.

Several libraries and tools, including Gatsby, Next.js, and React-static, are available to help with SSG for React web apps. Hot reloading, code splitting, and data management are just a few of the features that can be found in these solutions for creating and delivering React web apps as static webpages.

React Helmet

The React Helmet package facilitates the dynamic administration of a web page’s document head. The document’s title, meta tags, and other header information can be updated with this feature. This is useful for improving the search engine optimization of a React web project.

When crawling a website, search engines utilize the metadata in the document head to make sense of the page and rank it accordingly. Using React Helmet, programmers may easily modify the document’s top level in response to user input. This guarantees that the data crawled by search engines is reliable and up-to-date.

Bettering Performance of the DOM

DOM is a tree-like structure that stores information about a website. This format is read by spiders and helps them understand the page’s content. Web applications that are optimized for search engines must have a well-structured DOM and make use of relevant tags, such as title tags, meta tags, and header tags, among others. This aids search engines in comprehending the page’s information, which ultimately raises the page’s ranking.

Increasing Velocity

The loading time of a website is a factor in how it is ranked by search engines. Users will have a bad opinion of the site and its search engine ranking if pages take too long to load.

Tools like Lighthouse may be used to diagnose and fix bottlenecks in a React web app’s performance. Also, rather of loading the full program at once, methods like code-splitting and lazy loading can help load only the required components for a certain page.

Labels and data structures

Meta tags and structured data are essential for a React-based web app’s discoverability in search engine results. Structured data provides extra information like reviews, ratings, and other metadata, whereas meta tags provide search engines with information like the page’s title and description.

We can increase traffic to a React web app by optimizing it for search engines by using these features.

Implementing a Responsive Layout

With more and more people using smartphones and tablets to surf the web, it’s crucial that a React app be compatible with all of these platforms. A responsive layout may be achieved with the help of media queries and CSS tools like Tailwind and Bootstrap.

URLs optimized for search engines

Using SEO-friendly URLs is also an important part of optimizing a React web app for search engine visibility. This requires the use of URLs that are not only easy to remember, but also properly describe the content of the website they go to.

A URL like “www.example.com/about-us” instead of “www.example.com/page1” makes it easier for search engines to understand the page’s content and boosts its ranking in search results.

Fixing dead links and pages on a regular basis

In order to maintain a high-quality user experience and search engine rankings, it is essential to regularly check for and fix broken links inside a React web app. Damage to a site’s reputation with search engines and the user experience might result from a high number of broken links. These problems may be found and fixed with the aid of broken link-checking software, many of which are easily accessible online.

Optimization of content posting

Adding SEO-friendly posts to a React app can boost its visibility in search results and attract more users. The following procedures may be used to produce high-quality articles for a React website:

1. Research acceptable keywords for your content and audience, then sprinkle them across your title, header, and body tags.
2. Publish original and well-researched articles: articles that are both original and interesting to readers are more likely to be shared.
3. Improving the user experience and search engine rankings requires optimizing the pictures and videos used on a website. Compressing media files and giving them descriptive labels is part of this. As a result, the files will load faster, and indexing will be easier.

How to Make React SEO-Friendly?

 

 

Pre-rendering

One of the most successful methods for creating single-page and multi-page websites that are SEO-friendly is prerendering, and it is utilized frequently in cases when crawlers or search bots are unable to render web pages effectively. In order to control the number of times a website is accessed, prerendering software is used. The prerender provides a cached static HTML version of the page if the request comes from a crawler, but loads the whole page properly for a user.

The process of pre-rendering is substantially less complicated. For execution, JavaScript files are first translated to HTML. Pre-rendering reduces the number of modifications to the core code. It works nicely with cutting-edge web design trends. It does, however, suffer from a number of serious flaws. Its services come at a price. It’s not the best choice for sites with infrequent content updates. It takes a long time if the website is big and has a lot of pages.

Every time you make a change to a page’s content, you’ll need to generate a new pre-rendered version of that page.

Applying Isomorphism to a React

Both server-side and client-side React apps can be isomorphic. Isomorphic JavaScript allows you to work with a React JS application and retrieve the rendered HTML file, which is normally done by the browser. Not only do Google’s automated crawlers process this HTML page, but so do people who are actively looking for this app. If the program needs to utilize client-side scripting in the browser, it can do so by reading this HTML file. In cases where additional information is required, JavaScript is used; otherwise, the isomorphic program continues to operate normally.

Isomorphic applications verify whether or not the client is capable of running the scripts. With JavaScript turned off, the browser is free to read any and all HTML and CSS files, including their meta tags and contents. Real-time isomorphic app development, however, is arduous and time-consuming. Gatsby and Next.js are two frameworks that could make the process quicker and easier. Gatsby is a free and open-source compiler for creating highly reliable and scalable web applications. However, it relies on client-side rendering, which is not supported. To save space in the cloud, it creates HTML files from the static website. Next.js is a React framework that simplifies the application design process. Hot code reloading and automatic code splitting are also supported.

Rendering on the Server with Next.js

If you’re using a single-page application, server-side rendering is the best way to improve the page’s SEO. Google bots can easily index and rank pages that are rendered on the server. Building server-side rendering is best accomplished with Next.js, a react framework. To fulfill client-side requests, Next.js acts as a server, converting JavaScript files to HTML and CSS so that Google bots can retrieve the data and display it in search engine results.

Server-side rendering allows visitors to your website to start interacting with its pages immediately. Web pages are enhanced not only for search engine optimization but also for social media sharing. It’s a huge boon for search engine optimization (SEO) and helps with social media marketing as well. In addition, server-side rendering has several advantages that improve the program’s user interface. There are, however, drawbacks to consider. There is a lag in page loads. The cost of rendering on the server is typically much higher than pre-rendering. It’s more difficult to catch and has longer delay times.

Summary

To help your website stand out from the crowd, hire a website development company that is well-versed in influencing best SEO practices during the development of your website. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process of improving a website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) in order to attract a larger and more relevant audience. People use search engines to find information, so having a high ranking in search results is crucial. React was developed to supply declarative, modular, and platform-independent interactive user interfaces.

It has quickly become one of the most widely used JavaScript frameworks for creating cutting-edge front-end software. When properly audited and optimised during development, websites built with React perform exceptionally well in search engine rankings.

Transform your digital footprint with the assistance of SEO consultancy services.

 

SEO for React: Frequently Asked Questions

 

Is React good at SEO?

When it comes to picking a framework for an SEO-friendly website, React JS is among the best choices. In addition, you can consult our in-depth tutorial on optimizing your website for search engines using React JS.

When should you use a React Helmet?

A document’s header can be dynamically modified with the help of a component called React Helmet. Its primary use is to define the document’s title, description, and meta tags.

Is rendering on the server quicker than on the client?

It takes less time for server-side applications to load than client-side applications with the same functionality. They can be loaded quickly even on less powerful devices because the server handles all the processing.