Unlocking the Power of Search Engine Optimization with React

One of the pain points businesses face is the need for interactive websites that they can scale according to their needs. According to a Google report, 53% of users abandon the website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. In this scenario, frameworks like React work like saviors to build efficient, high-performance web applications.

React is a Javascript library that aims to easily create fast user interfaces for websites and applications. Products built with React are simple, can work on the server/client/mobile side of things with outstanding productivity, offer UI code that is readable and maintainable, and more.

Being first deployed for Facebook and Twitter, coding Instagram completely using React gave it hype and made it one of the favorites of many tech giants. While React excels at handling complex websites to build responsive user experiences, the website using this framework needs some work to optimize SEO.

This blog will discuss React SEO optimization and how to make ReactJS websites SEO-friendly. Continue reading to find out!

How To Make React SEO Friendly?

Here is a closer look at what makes SEO challenging for React websites and what you can do to optimize React SEO.

React websites rely on Javascript and work on app shell models by default. The HTML page doesn’t contain any meaningful content. You need to execute JavaScript to see the page’s content. It means Google only sees the content when the page is rendered. It causes a delay in the indexing of content.

Here are two ways to make your ReactJS website SEO-friendly:

1. Isomorphic React Application

You should choose isomorphic JavaScript. With isomorphic Javascript, applications can work on both the server and client sides. It helps to fetch the rendered HTML file. Google bots and others who try to search for the particular app can now execute this particular file.

Also, when it comes to client-side scripting, applications can use the same HTML file and execute it in the browser. The data is added using Javascript when required, while the app remains dynamic.

Isomorphic apps ensure that the client can operate the scripts, and when JavaScript is not active, the code renders on the server. Now, the browser can fetch all the meta tags and text in HTML and CSS files.

Building Isomorphic might be challenging. You can use frameworks like Gatsby and Nextjs to build real-time isomorphic apps.

• Nextjs:

You should choose Next Js when building an application on the server side. It does a full-fledged server-side rendering. Also, here, HTML is generated on demand for each request. Also, it allows for automatic code splitting.

In contrast with traditional client-side rendering, HTML pages are fetched from the server and dropped into the browser. Generating pages on demand or by request when a client sends a request makes it the best choice for applications with dynamic data—for example, any media applications and forums.

• Gatsby:

You should use Gatsby if you want to build powerful websites. Unlike Nextjs, it doesn’t offer full-fledged server-side rendering but generates a static website beforehand. It stores HTML files in the cloud or on the hosting server.

Such websites are fast as HTML pages are not generated at runtime but beforehand. It doesn’t have to wait for the data from the database or any other application programming interface.

Here, data is only fetched during the build phase. You need to run the build function to display any updated content. This approach works best for apps that don’t update data too frequently—for example, a blog section for any website.

2. Pre-rendering

Pre-rendering is the second method that you can use to make a website rank higher. When crawlers check your web page, pre-renders send a cached static HTML version of your website. If a user sends a request, the normal page loads. HTML pages are cached with headless Chrome, making the process easy for developers.

Also, developers don’t need to make any changes to the code; if required, the changes are minimal. Pre-renders transform any Javascript code into basic HTML.

Key Tips From Innoraft While Building A ReactJS SEO-Friendly Website

Having your webpages in the top search bar results grants your business many benefits over your competitors. Here are some key tips from us to help you achieve this:

• You must use a clean URL for your website and avoid any long query strings with numbers.
• You should include keyword-rich anchor text in your links.
• Make your website mobile-friendly.
• It would be best if you chose to reduce server response time by optimizing HTTP requests to load your website faster.
• You should use browser caching and store frequently accessed files.
• Promote your website on social media platforms.
• You should use Google Analytics tools to analyze the performance of the website.

Conclusion

Thanks to the component-based architecture of ReactJs, you can easily divide the large app code into smaller ones that are easy to test and debug. However, developers should work on reactjs SEO, as search engines take time to crawl and index React pages.

React SEO optimization needs an expert hand to address and overcome challenges. If you are looking for one, Innoraft offers them. We have a team of website developers and SEO experts to deliver customized IT solutions. Try Innoraft to amplify your website's rankings.