Do AI crawlers run JavaScript? What is known, and how to test
Do AI crawlers render JavaScript? Googlebot does. Most AI crawlers did not in Vercel's 2024 study. What that means for your pages and how to test them.
9 min read
8 guides
Rendering and content
Many AI crawlers read the raw HTML your server sends and never run JavaScript. If your text is added in the browser, they receive an empty shell. These guides explain how to see what a crawler sees and how to move content into the server response.
Client-side rendering, SEO and AI: the empty HTML problem
Client-side rendering can hand AI crawlers an empty HTML shell. See what they receive, the symptoms, the fixes ranked by effort and how to verify each one.
9 min read
Lazy loaded content and crawlers: tabs, accordions and scroll
Is lazy loaded content readable by crawlers? Tabs and accordions in the HTML are fine; content fetched on click or scroll is not. How to test each pattern.
8 min read
Prerendering for crawlers: when dynamic rendering still helps
Prerendering for crawlers serves bots an HTML snapshot of a JavaScript app. Google calls it a workaround. When it helps, the risks, and how to test AI crawlers.
8 min read
Raw HTML vs rendered HTML: seeing what a crawler sees
Raw HTML vs rendered HTML: what each one is, how to compare them with view-source, curl, DevTools and Search Console, and when the gap hides content from crawlers.
9 min read
See your page as an AI crawler: curl with the GPTBot user agent
Use curl with the GPTBot user agent and other AI crawler strings to check status, redirects, challenge pages and visible text, then compare with a browser.
8 min read
SSR vs CSR for SEO and AI search: SSG, ISR and islands compared
SSR vs CSR for SEO and AI crawlers: what HTML each rendering strategy sends, how SSG, ISR, islands and streaming compare, and which one fits your type of site.
9 min read
Text in images SEO: what crawlers miss in canvas and video
Text in images, canvas and video is not in the HTML crawlers read. How to find words locked in pixels on your pages, and the alt text and transcript fixes.
8 min read