Online casinos offer a wide range of games from slots to blackjack, with graphics and gameplay that help encourage visitors to play more. These games are not usually created by the websites themselves but are instead 3rd party apps hosted by the site owner. These games are typically created using JavaScript (not to be confused with Java).
Such games are potential goldmines for online casino operators, and you will find them in online casinos around the world. However, despite the obvious benefits these games bring, there are drawbacks. One of these drawbacks is that JavaScript is terrible for SEO.
If your website is poorly optimized for SEO, you will likely receive little organic traffic. And less traffic means fewer paying customers, which can make it very difficult for any casino to survive.
This article takes a closer look at the issue with JavaScript and SEO and what you can do to overcome it.
What is JavaScript?
JavaScript, often referred to as JS, is a type of programming language that’s commonly used in websites, apps, and other online assets. The main reason for its popularity is that it helps end users interact with your site, adding functionality and encouraging a positive user experience (UX).
For example, slot machines often use JavaScript so the game will respond when the user pushes a particular button such as stick or fold. You will also find JavaScript in online calculators, online shopping cats, and pretty much any online asset that requires some input from you.
Such functionality is of course essential for online casinos and a wide range of other websites. The coding language lets developers do more with their sites, helping to improve your visitor’s overall experience.
However, while JavaScript is undoubtedly a valuable tool for programmers and end users alike, it comes with a flaw. This flaw being that JavaScript can be terrible for search engine optimization (SEO), and poor SEO is not good for business.
Why is JavaScript bad for SEO?
Google knows how highly to rank your website according to numerous metrics, many of which involve your website itself. For example, Google uses crawlers to read the content on your website helping them understand what their visitors can expect to find. If Google’s crawlers can’t get sufficient information on your website, it makes it harder for them to rank your site above your competitors.
One of the main reasons why JavaScript is bad for SEO is that it makes Google’s crawlers work harder. All websites have a limited crawl budget; Google will only spend so many resources crawling and indexing your site. If your crawl budget is used up after having to read through a lot of code, the rest of your content is likely to go unread by Google.
As such, the more a website is reliant on JavaScript, the less content will be crawled and indexed. This, in turn, means your website is less likely to rank well in the search engine results pages (SERPS).
Another issue is page loading speeds. JavaScript is loaded on the client side rather than on the server side. This means that instead of the information being processed by the server and sent to your screen, the data is instead retrieved and processed by your computer first.
Bearing in mind that JavaScript typically gives your machine more code to work through, your computer can stop rendering as it tries to process this code. This is known as render-blocking, which causes the page to load slower, and some might even time out altogether. And any SEO will tell you that slow-loading pages are bad news for SEO. After all, Google’s clients want fast response times, so websites that take a long time to load are less likely to rank well.
The issues don’t stop there either because JavaScript apps tend to be low on written content, making it difficult for Google to know what the site is about. However, the news is not all bad regarding JavaScript and SEO because there are steps you can take to overcome the issues.
What is Javasript SEO Optimization?
As the name suggests, JavaScript SEO optimization involves optimizing your website for the best SEO results. There are several steps you can take, including the following:
- Run Regular Site Audits: Running regular site audits is recommended regardless of any JavaScript issues you might be experiencing.You will find numerous tools on the market that will perform a thorough scan of your website to identify any issues, including those involving JavaScript. Such tools will also typically make recommendations to help you overcome problems. Google Console is one of the most popular tools available, partly because it is free.
- Check Google Is Indexing JavaScript: Google crawls the information held on websites and stores that information for later use. This is known as indexing, a process that helps Google know you have what people are looking for. As such, if your site is not being indexed then it will not show in search results. One of the most common reasons for this is that .js files are blocked in your robots.txt file, although this is usually easy to resolve.
- Use Small JavaScript Modules: If you build a page or website using long, complex modules then the site is likely to run slowly. This is because your device needs to process each module before rendering it. Where you can, it’s best to use smaller JavaScript modules that can be loaded as needed, thus reducing loading times.
- Use Internal Links: Internal links are links on your website that link to other pages on the same site. They can be powerful for SEO overall, particularly when it comes to JavaScript. Internal links help make it easier for Google’s crawlers to read your site, giving them more information that will help you rank well. You can liken internal links to corridors in an office building that help get you directly from one department to another quickly and easily and give you access to the whole building.
Create a Micro Site
One of the most popular and most effective solutions is to abandon SEO on the main site and get traffic from micro-sites instead. Such sites tend not to need JavaScript, or use it sparingly, meaning you don’t suffer the same issues.
You can then optimize your micro-sites for SEO, helping you rank well in the SERPS. This micro-site will then direct visitors to your main site, ensuring your casino continues to receive plenty of fresh, qualified traffic. Plus, of course, you can use other methods to direct traffic to your micro-sites, such as pay-per-click (PPC) marketing which can get fast results.
Another benefit of using micro-sites is that you can create as many as you like, all directing traffic to the money site. A key reason to do this is that you can tailor each micro-site to appeal to different audiences with different preferences and needs.
So, for example, you can have a micro-site focusing on poker players, another focusing on slot players, and so on. Each micro-site can also give you valuable feedback that will help enhance your marketing and even your website further.
Perhaps even better is that microsites are relatively easy to build thanks to platforms like WordPress.
Why is a WordPress site Better Than a JavaScript Based Site
WordPress is not a coding language, but a content management system (CMS). Instead of having to write code from scratch, the platform instead uses software that does the coding for you.
As such, you can add images, buttons, and other features without any coding language knowledge. Instead, intuitive menus help you build your website by adding columns, menus, and other features at the click of a button.
One of the main benefits of WordPress over JavaScript is the ease and speed of use. Even people new to web building can build a simple, professional-looking page with just a few hours of practice. Building a website with JavaScript, however, will require months/years of learning code or paying an expensive coder to do the work for you.
WordPress software uses the HTML coding language to build its websites, which is far more SEO-friendly than JavaScript. And while you can add JavaScript elements to your micro-sites, you can keep them to a minimum to help ensure your site gets plenty of online visibility.
Summary
While poor SEO is bad news for online casinos, it doesn’t mean you can’t still attract plenty of qualified traffic to your site. There are numerous steps you can take to help ensure your site is optimized for JavaScript SEO and most procedures are relatively easy to carry out.
One of the most effective and most popular methods is to use micro-sites to drive traffic to your site. Such sites are quick and easy to build and allow lots of flexibility in terms of audience targeting. One of the best platforms for building microsites is WordPress, largely for its ease of use and SEO-friendly nature.
Play your cards right and you can have multiple sources of good quality traffic helping to keep your online casino flourishing.
