Published on August 27th, 2019 | by Sunit Nandi

Practical Tips on How to Boost SEO on jQuery Websites

There is a huge choice of programming options for website developers. While JavaScript is one of the most popular programming languages used by developers to bring functionality to the websites being developed, there are some inherent restrictions, especially concerning search engine optimization. jQuery has become extremely popular with web developers due to its ability to stylize web page elements and convert a static HTML page into a more dynamic user interface. The process of web development has been made much easier with the launch of jQuery. Making it more attractive is its lightweight build and its compliance with all industry standards, including CSS3. However, JavaScript and some jQuery factors may prove to be detrimental to SEO because of the inability of the search engine bots to crawl through the content and index it properly. Consequently, the web pages do not get the visibility on the search engine results page. Some tips on how to ensure your website remain SEO-friendly, as well as an excellent user interface expected of a JavaScript and jQuery implementation are given below.

Ensure That All Relevant Content Is Offered on a Non-JavaScript Version of the Website

While making available relevant content on an alternative website version may seem to be a contradiction, there is perhaps a no better way to ensure that the contents will be indexed by the search engines when the script has been made inactive on the JavaScript website. For example, if you are uploading valuable content using jQuery or AJAX, then it is preferable to have a link that points to a static version that contains the page contents as that is easily discovered by the search engine bots and indexed properly for boosting your SEO.

Streamline Your (x)HTML

It is a fact that a lot of additional HTML tags come into play when jQuery features are used for website development, however, these tags are not relevant to the bots of the search engines. It is possible to make the HTML code streamlined by either dynamically adding elements to the page after it has loaded or eliminating redundant code by optimizing the website structure. The logic behind streamlining the HTML code is that JavaScript-free pages just contain the basic contents and the code that is required for dynamically working the user interface can be loaded when it is necessary or after the page has fully loaded. This makes available the best of both the worlds – the search engines can index the site and the users have the benefit of a smart UI, according to a leading New York SEO agency. According to https://www.forbes.com, voice search is among the biggest SEO trends in the coming years. It is interesting to note that the use of jQuery will not obstruct optimal voice searches.

A solution that is far better than dynamically adding code is to eliminate the unnecessary code. By checking the code carefully, you can determine if you need the wrapper div or if it is possible to use CSS smartly to target the content differently. For boosting the speed of the website, it is preferable to load only the div tags that are necessary for the page to load. By doing this, you will be able to display the content the users seek on the page and the rest of the div tags can be allowed to load whenever they are needed.

Avoid Blank or Inoperable Link Usage

In most of the cases, an anchor tag with a href that either contains a JavaScript Call or points nowhere is the trigger that fires jQuery events. It may be perfectly okay to use anchor tags as the trigger for events such as when the jQuery script gives an alternative page option to a content page where the link points. However, it should be kept in mind that it is necessary to consider whether at all using such links are warranted as it could negatively impact your SEO efforts.

Restrict jQuery from the HTML Pages

It is required that you exercise abundant caution and ensure that jQuery is not used in the HTML pages. The preferred method of avoiding confusion is keeping the jQuery scripts in a referenced external JavaScript file. While web developers may knock it as being an extremely old technique, the point is that it is still very effective in boosting search engine optimization. In the past, it was necessary to keep JavaScript blocks elsewhere in the code markup to make sure that it was executed only when a DOM element was written. However, by using jQuery’s ready () function, it is possible to keep the code in external files very easily because you can now make them executable only after the required elements have loaded.

Code JavaScript to Fit Into HTML and Not the Other Way Round

If you want the web pages to be easily discoverable by search engines as well as accessible to the users, it is imperative that the coding should be done to ensure that the JavaScript fits into the HTML and not the opposite way. By developing the web pages in this manner, the web pages will become SEO-friendly and automatically rank higher in the SERPs leading to better website traffic generation. For example, if the page requires to have tabbed content, the basic page must have all the tab contents sequenced properly so that it is possible to use jQuery to allocate event handlers and CSS classes for loading the page. All the content that needs to be hidden will be collapsed; however, if the page loading is done without JavaScript, then all the contents can be seen.

Conclusion

Some areas can make SEO ineffective due to the use of jQuery or JavaScript. This is because the search engines bots are prevented from crawling the site contents and obtaining any information regarding the accessibility or the context of the contents for use in page rankings. The website structure should also ensure that the scripts are arranged according to priority to maximize the user experience. The tips mentioned above will help web developers to avoid common mistakes that hinder search engine optimization. With some amount of patience and attention to detail, it is possible to make the jQuery websites properly respond to SEO.

Tags: boost, jQuery, practical, tips, websites

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.