What exactly is SPA?

To be more responsive, a single-page application (SPA) is a web app solution that is loaded through a single HTML page. When separate content is to be processed, the page updates the body content of that single document using JavaScript APIs such as XMLHttpRequest and Fetch.

Because of their responsiveness and user-friendly flow, single-page mobile applications are presently the most common type of website creation. Making these single-page websites SEO-friendly, on the other hand, becomes a difficult challenge. However, employing the top front-end JavaScript frameworks such as Angular, ReactJS and Vue becomes a breeze.

Among these prominent frameworks, we will discuss React here. Let's start with some of the most compelling reasons for opting for react js development services.

Why Should You Use React?

• Code Stability

You should not be concerned about code stability when using React JS. Because when you modify something in code, the changes are made just in that single component; the parent structure is not affected at all. This is one of the primary reasons why React JS is chosen for stable code.

• Provides a useful set of development tools

Because you have the developer toolkit when working with React JS, your development process will be simpler. This toolkit simplifies the development process and saves developers & a reactjs development company a significant amount of time. Because it is available as a browser plugin, this toolkit can be used with both Chrome and Firefox.

• Declarative Phrase

The DOM in ReactJS is declarative. We may construct interactive UIs while altering the state of the component; React JS immediately updates the DOM. That is, you do not need to interact with DOM. Thus, developing interactive UIs and debugging them is a breeze. All you have to do is change the program state and check the UI. You can make the modifications without having to worry about DOM.

• Accelerate Development

ReactJS basically allows firms providing reactjs development services to use every component of their application on both the server side and the client-side, allowing them to spend less time developing. Different developers can work on different sections of the software and the modifications made will not disrupt the application's logic.

The Most Difficulties in Making a ReactJS Website SEO-Friendly

React SEO is a difficult concept to grasp, but once mastered, it provides you with excellent Google rankings and outcomes. Before diving into the best practices, consider the following common issues:

• Additional loading time

It takes a little longer to parse and load JavaScript. Because JavaScript requires network calls to execute the content, the user may be required to wait until he is assisted with the sought information. The Google bot will rank the website lower the longer users have to wait for the content on the page.

• Sitemap

Sitemap is the file where you explain all the information about every page of your website and also mention the link between those pages. This leads search engines like Google to crawl your website more swiftly and properly. React does not include a system for creating sitemaps. If you use React Router for routing, you will come across some tools that generate sitemaps. Nonetheless, it is a time-consuming operation.

• Inadequate Dynamic Metadata

Single-page applications are created dynamically and provide a seamless experience to the user by displaying all necessary information on a single page. However, when it comes to SPA SEO, metadata is not updated on the fly when crawlers click on the SPA link. As a result, when Google bots explore the website, they deem the page empty because that particular file cannot be indexed by Google bots.

To overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, contact a reputed react js development company.

Best Practices for Optimising Your React Website for SEO

• Creating either static or dynamic web applications

When it comes to SEO, SPA (single-page apps) are frequently tough to retrieve by Google. Static or dynamic web apps can aid you since they use server-side rendering, which allows Google pods to crawl your page more smoothly. You do not have to choose the SPA all of the time. It is primarily determined by the market you are in.

• URL case

Google bots always treat some pages as distinct when their URLs contain lowercase or uppercase letters (/Invision and /invision). Because of the differences in their cases, these two URLs will now be regarded as distinct. Always strive to generate your URL in lowercase to avoid these typical errors.

• 404 code

Any page with an error in the data returns a 404 code. As a result, try to set up files in server.js and route.js as soon as possible. Updating files using server.js or route.js can significantly increase traffic to your web app or website.

• Avoid using salted URLs

This isn't a big deal, but the Google bot doesn't see anything after the hash in URLs.

• Use <a href> only if required

Using a <div> or a <button> to modify the URL is a common SPA mistake. This is not a problem with React, but rather with how the library is used. The problem is with search engines. When Google bots analyse a URL, they look for further URLs to crawl within <href> parts.

Google bots will not crawl the URLs and pass PageRank if the < href> element is not there. What we can do is define links with a <href> for the Google bot to see in order for it to fetch and go through the other pages.

• Prevent lazy loading of vital HTML

Because the library makes it so simple, it's typical for sites built with React to inject content into the DOM when a user clicks or lingers over an element. This isn't necessarily harmful, but content added to the DOM in this manner will be ignored by search engines.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, dealing with React applications adds to the already lengthy list of challenges that a technical SEO must address. However, frameworks like Next.js have made the work of SEO a lot easier than it was previously.

This guide should have given you a better understanding of the additional considerations you need to make as an SEO while working with React applications.