Recently, I conducted research on optimizing search engine visibility and page indexing for a project using React.
As many already know, there don't seem to be many ways to optimize search engine results in React projects.
React is a single-page app, which means if you're not using server-side capabilities, only the tags initially added to the HTML file can be crawled by search engines.
To improve this limitation, you can use a library called React Helmet to add meta tags dynamically.
Its syntax is like this.
The limitation of using React Helmet on the client side is that since the tags are added by compiling JavaScript, the search engines, which can only crawl tags from static HTML, can’t read these tags.
However, the major search engines, such as Chrome, Bing, or Selenium, execute JavaScript on the web page to retrieve the content of a fully rendered page.
Also, dynamically added tags are positioned at the bottom of the head and don’t replace statically added tags.
So, it’d be better to add an attribute that lets the search engines know the priority of the tags, like data-react-helmet="true"
React Helmet also supports server-side rendering.
In my opinion, however, it’d be better to use frameworks that support SEO, such as Next.js or Remix, if you want to maximize the SEO of your website.
I’m using Next.js for this website and deployed the site to Vercel, which offers Open graph validation.
Next.js supports both static and dynamic metadata in various ways.
So you can easily optimize and set up metadata.
To optimize for search engines, it's crucial to understand the necessary metadata.
Metadata helps provide search engines with more information about your web page, making it easier for them to index and display your content effectively in search results.
Essential metadata includes:
- Title Tag: This is the title of your web page. It should be concise and include keywords relevant to the content of the page.
- Meta Description: This is a brief description of the page content. It appears under the title in search results and should be engaging and informative, using keywords strategically.
- Meta Keywords: Although less important than before due to changes in search engine algorithms, including relevant keywords can still be helpful for some search engines.
- Robots Meta Tag: This tag tells search engines whether to index a page and follow its links. It's crucial for controlling search engine behavior.
- Sitemap: This is a file where you can list the web pages of your site to tell search engines about the organization of your site content. Search engines read this file to crawl your site more intelligently. A sitemap is especially important if your site has pages that are not easily discoverable by search engines during their normal crawling process.
To help search engines understand and show your website better, you need to use some important details.
These include the Title Tag, which names your page; the Meta Description, which gives a quick summary of the page; and the Robots Meta Tag, which tells search engines what they should do with your page.
A Sitemap makes it easier for search engines to find all your pages, and Open Graph Tags make your links look better on social media, making them more appealing.