JavaScript is something of a mystery to most people, but it’s a critical part of the web, especially for eCommerce sites. JavaScript can be used to build dynamic experiences like interactive product cards and filters, or it can be used in more complex ways by developers. Some might think of JavaScript as a programming language, though it’s just a code that runs on all websites, whether that site is built from scratch or uses frameworks like WordPress.
Why You Need Javascript SEO for Ecommerce
You may be wondering why you need JavaScript SEO for eCommerce. If you’re selling online, your site needs to be fast and secure to increase conversions. The user experience on your website must be consistent across all devices and browsers, including those with limited functionality. JavaScript makes that possible.
According to estimates gathered in July this year, more than 63.1% of the world’s population accesses the internet via smartphones, tablets, or other mobile devices, a rise of 178 million or 3.7% since 2021. The widespread usage of mobile devices has resulted in a large proliferation of real-time apps, putting pressure on databases to satisfy the need for ultra-fast content delivery. Because page speed affects the entire user experience, search engines like Google incorporate site responsiveness as part of their ranking algorithms.
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Speed is so important that the target they set a target for a website visitor to find your phone and contact form in less than 7 seconds. Furthermore, this performance needs to be replicated on both desktop and mobile, echoing the point regarding consistency that was mentioned earlier.
JavaScript has become ubiquitous on modern websites thanks to its widespread adoption by developers and consumers alike. By implementing JavaScript on your e-commerce store, you can offer visitors a more seamless experience. This includes increased speed as well as greater usability for search engines like Google or Bing by improving accessibility features. These include things such as forms with autocomplete fields or drag-and-drop sorting abilities within lists.
What Is Javascript? Is It a Programming Language?
JavaScript is a programming language. It’s one of the most popular programming languages, and it’s used to create interactive web pages.
Stack Overflow held its 2022 Developer Survey in May 2022. It intended to discover which tools developers use, how they learn them, and what they think of them. Over 70,000 developers took part in the study, with 72% of them working as developers. The most often utilized language, according to the poll, was JavaScript.
JavaScript is a client-side programming language, which means that it’s run on your computer rather than on the server. It adds functionality to webpages and makes them more dynamic, so you can do things like change images or text by clicking buttons, inputs, or links. This lets you build interactive websites like eCommerce stores.
The Basics of Javascript and How It Works in Search Engines
JavaScript is a programming language that is used to create dynamic content, which means the content on your website can change depending on what the user does. JavaScript can be used to create interactive elements, such as buttons that change color when you hover over them or pop-up boxes with information. It can also be used for things that aren’t visible to users, such as tracking how many people are using your site or where they’re clicking.
Search engines use JavaScript and other techniques like web crawling and page indexing to find pages that aren’t linked to other sites but still contain valuable information about specific topics.
This means that there are two types of search queries: those containing keywords (also known as explicit) and those not containing keywords (also known as implicit). For example, if someone searches “buy shoes online,” then their query will be explicit because they’ve told us exactly what they want. However, if someone searches “online shopping,” then we have no idea what product they’re looking for.
Javascript Scenarios That Can Cause Problems
JavaScript content that is not visible to search engines or crawlers. When your JavaScript is not rendered correctly by the browser, the content will not be indexed. It will also, therefore, have no impact on your site’s performance in search results.
JavaScript content that is visible but not indexed properly. When your JavaScript has been rendered but doesn’t follow proper SEO best practices, it could end up being indexed as HTML instead of being considered valid JSON. Or it could end up being processed incorrectly by the search engine bots crawling your website and thus resulting in errors in how they index your pages or elements.
How to Detect Crawling or Indexing Issues With Javascript Pages
A web crawler’s objective is to gather information and to do it often to fuel a search engine. A web crawler works around the clock. This is attributable not just to the massive number of new pages published every minute throughout the world (according to Siteefy, over 252,000 new websites are created every day worldwide) but also to the revisions and updates to existing pages.
If you want to know that your JavaScript pages are being crawled or indexed, there are a few tools you can use.
The Fetch As Google tool is the easiest way to see how Google sees your page. This tool will show what was found on the page and whether it passed the validation checks for mobile friendliness and structured data markup.
You can also check for errors or warnings in Search Console’s crawl section by clicking on any link under Crawl Errors or Crawl Warnings on the left side of the Search Console. Then filter the results by “Start Date” until today’s date appears at the top of your results list.
How to Fix Javascript Issues That Impact SEO
Consider the following:
- Use a sitemap. This can help search engines find all of the pages on your site.
- Use a robots.txt file to tell search engines what pages you don’t want to be crawled and indexed.
- Use a meta tag within the section that tells search engines about your site’s title, description, keywords, and other important information.
- Use canonical tags for each page/product variant so Google knows which URL should rank for each keyword query (read more here).
- Use rel=alternate tags when you have multiple copies of content across different URLs (e.g., http://www/variant1/product-name-here vs. https://example_hosted_site/variant2), so Google knows which URL should rank for each keyword query (read more here).
- You might also consider adding meta keywords or descriptions to help users find your products or services when they search online.
We hope that this article has given you a better understanding of how JavaScript SEO works and the different scenarios that can cause issues with your eCommerce site’s SEO. If you’re having trouble with your website’s search visibility, we recommend contacting an experienced developer who is familiar with these challenges and knows how to solve them quickly.
