As I delve into the intricacies of JavaScript and SEO, I came across a fascinating update from Google that caught my attention. It’s about how Google handles JavaScript execution on pages that don’t return a typical 200 HTTP status code.
Google recently updated their JavaScript SEO documentation to shed light on this topic. They explained that all pages with a 200 HTTP status code are automatically queued for rendering, irrespective of the presence of JavaScript.
However, if a page returns a non-200 status code, like a 404 error page, rendering might be bypassed, which is something Google emphasized in their updated guidelines.
Diving deeper, I discovered that Googlebot efficiently queues all pages with a 200 status code for rendering. This clarification came as a pleasant surprise to me as it paints a clearer picture of how Google handles such pages.
In fact, the specific section in the documentation that got an update provides a visual explanation, and I appreciated the added clarity it brings.
Google explained further that while pages with a 200 status code head to rendering, pages with other status codes might not meet the same fate.
Google’s weekly updates to the JavaScript SEO documentation also included other significant changes. Notably, they clarified aspects like JavaScript’s role in canonicalization and cautioned against using JavaScript for noindex tags directly in the original page code.
Why do we care about these updates? Well, understanding these nuances ensures I make informed decisions about my web pages. Ensuring my pages return a 200 status code is crucial; otherwise, Google might skip rendering them, which could negatively impact my website’s search ranking.
Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.
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