SEO for AngularJS Developers – Part 1

AngularJS is open-source framework maintained by Google which primarily allows you to build SPA’s (single page applications) among many other features and benefits. Google state on the angularjs.org website that:

‘Angular is what the web browser would have been, had it been designed for applications.’

The concept of SPA applications / websites is not new however with AngularJS developers can now use an easy framework to rapidly develop highly intelligent and far more sophisticated websites. Some of my personal favorites include:

• YouTube Leanback
• Goodfilms
• Crunchinator
• ZapTravel
• Sky Store
• Crown Melbourne

So you have built this new jazzy website, it does all these grate things but you soon gather that search bots are not interacting with your website or app as expected. Sadly it’s often the case, the more technologically advanced your website is; the more chances you have to run into SEO crawlability issues.

The age old myth is that Google does not read JavaScript however this is simply not the case anymore and was officially confirmed on the Google webmaster central blog back in May 2014. However this post makes mentions of some important caveats that should not be overlooked:

1. Don’t block functional resources like JS / CSS files if they are required to render the website. (This would apply to all JS heavy websites not just Angular)
2. Ensure your website degrade gracefully. IE: if I accessed it with JavaScript disabled what would happen? Well in the case of skystore.com I can’t load any content… I’m sure this is a common Angular issue.
3. Sometimes the JavaScript may be too complex for Google to execute. Well that concerning… what classified as too complex?

Throughout this series will look at some of the common pitfalls and development considerations that will help you out latter on down the track. Will also take a look at solutions like prerender.io as well as try and look at some live case scenarios.

If you just build a website within the angular framework and are experiencing SEO implications please get in contact via the comments or email below. We may be able to use your website as an example and at the same time solve your issues while helping our readers. Stay tuned.