Getting javascript websites crawled with Prerender.io

Curious to know how javascript based websites can get crawled by search engines? Todd Hooper is the founder of Prerender.io whom has created the service that makes it happen.

JW: What is prerender.io and what does the site and service do?

TH: Prerender.io is a tool that lets crawlers see the static HTML of your javascript web pages in order for them to be properly indexed. As browsers and websites have been getting more advanced, the crawlers haven't stayed up to date with all of the latest ways to build websites. Prerender.io helps make sure your website is indexed correctly so that customers can find your website, no matter what technology you're built on.

JW: How old is prerender.io and how long did it take for you to take to get the service live after first coming up with the idea?

TH: Prerender has been a company for 3 years. Prerender grew organically from a small project to where it is today, serving tens of millions of pages to crawlers for Fortune 50 companies.

JW: I think technology is changing at a faster rate than most people realize it, given your experience and the nature of what prerender.io does, what do you think webmasters should be doing to stay on top of all of this especially ones?

TH: You are correct that technology is changing at a faster rate than ever. The best thing to do is always be learning new things and always be aware of new trends in the industry. You don't necessarily have to have deep knowledge, but being aware of pros/cons of current trends can be really eye opening.

JW: What are your tips and advice for best SEO practices on websites that are running more on Javascript?

TH: With sites that are running more javascript, you have to be careful that you still return the right status codes to the crawlers. Lots of sites that heavily rely on javascript always return a status code 200 and then the javascript does the rest but it's still important to return 404s, 301s, 302s, etc in the server response. The crawlers use those cues to keep their index up-to-date and send users to the right place.

JW: What are some of your favourite CMS and frameworks for websites to work with?

TH: I'd have to say AngularJS is my favorite framework. Especially with a Node backend, AngularJS is a breeze to work with and lets you move really fast on the development side of things.

JW: For all the webmasters that haven't heard of or worked with some of these newer web technologies and frameworks, do you think this is important for staying ahead of the competition?

TH: It's interesting seeing frameworks like ReactJS and AngularJS 2 thinking more in terms of isomorphic rendering. It seems like that's the way things are headed with newer frameworks trying to solve the issue of first page load time and SEO. I think the main way to stay ahead of the competition isn't to pick the coolest new technology but to make sure that your technology works for your users across all of their devices.

The importance of SEO within the iGaming industry

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It contains all the techniques, tactics and strategies that websites must follow in order to improve their ranking on search engines.

Search engines are the root of every single website. This is because most users find the sites they visit through them. It is quite rare to come across a website, clicking directly on its address.

Therefore, SEOs are relevant for all e-commerce brands and anyone that is looking to become more relevant on the web.

The ultimate goal for every user that implements SEOs is improving their ranking on the most popular Search Engine, Google. But, improving your ranking on the rest of the Search Engines available is equally important.

The iGaming industry is certainly part of those sectors in which SEOs play a huge role for every brand and site that is part of it. After all, most players and webmasters that wish to find an attractive platform utilize their favorite Search Engines to help them come across these sites easily and quickly.

So, if your site is ranked very low on any Search Engine, most likely, almost no one will actually end up visiting it and thus, you will not be able to attract them with your offers and features.

The influence of SEOs in the iGaming industry

Since the position in which your site appears on Search Engines is quite important, especially if you are in charge of an online gambling site, SEOs have started to have a great influence in the way that iGaming industry brands are built and launch these days.

Factors such as speed, keywords, backlinks and header texts are more relevant than ever before.

This is because the developers know well that making mistakes in any of the mentioned aspects will result in a low ranking that could jeopardize the very existence of the online betting platform.

The influence of SEOs does not stop at that point, it goes far and beyond from that. As a matter of fact, Search Engine rankings also have to do with the reference of your site on other websites.

This means that if your site is promoted on fraudulent sites or any other low-ranked platforms, your ranking could also be dropped down.

With that being said, it is easy to see how difficult and hard-to-control it is to implement SEOs properly and correctly at all times. More often than that, you will make a little mistake that will definitely place your site lower that what you estimated.

Webmasters must catch up with the new technology that gets released

Given the importance of Search Engines and the highly competitive industry that iGaming is, it is recommended for the webmasters to stay up-to-date with all the latest trends that get released in the industry and the whole web designing world.

Losing track of the trends and the technology in demand will make you rank lower on Search Engines and ultimately, lead your online betting site into the path of failure.