A recent update has meant that Google Search now requires JavaScript for all users when they’re performing searches. The reason behind this change is so that Google can increase security from bots and reduce abuse and spam.
What Does Google’s JavaScript Requirement Mean for Search?
Since Google updated its search engines, all users (even bots) now have to have JavaScript enabled when they’re interacting with search results. Only around 1.1% of users have JavaScript disabled when browsing online so day to day users of Google are highly unlikely to be affected and chances are if you use Google it will continue to be a very similar experience for you.
Who Will This Affect?
As mentioned above, only around 1.1% of users disable JavaScript in their browsers, however, as Google is one of the most visited websites in the world, with approximately 6.25 billion users per month this does mean that around 69 million users that have JavaScript disabled are likely to be affected by this change.
Having said that, the biggest hit will be to the bots, tools and services that scrape Google search results. Bots are often seen as negative online but there are such a thing as good bots. For example there are bots and crawlers that SEO tools such as Ahrefs use in order to collect data and show search engine performance. This is a useful bot that can help website owners understand issue and improve their organic search performance.
How This Affects SEO
So we know this change will affect SEO tools but why? Well put simply, crawling is much more complex. Now that Google requires JavaScript, it will be harder for SEO tools and other bots to crawl content efficiently. The more complex it is to crawl Google, the more resource and time it takes. This has led to a lot of SEO tools having to innovate and develop advanced scraping solutions to adapt to the change in order to ensure their data is still accurate and correct. Previously, scraping Google search results was fairly straightforward with a simply HTTP request and some basic code to parse the response. This change now means much more sophisticated solutions are required instead.
How SEO Tools May Be Impacted
As mentioned above, the JavaScript requirement could increase the use of resources for SEO tools. With the update, tools and crawlers will require much more computing power. These tools may need to be adjusted too, to deal with potential rate-limiting and JavaScript rendering.
With these impacts, there is a strong possibility that the end-user of SEO tools, i.e. businesses, will see increased costs. This is due to the additional resources required to handle rate-limiting and JavaScript. Users of SEO platforms will likely pick up the bill with higher fees.
Have Google Implemented Rate Limiting?
Whilst no one knows exactly what code has been implemented, it is highly likely that Google could be using rate-limiting and exponential backoff. Let’s take a look at what these two terms mean:
Rate limiting:
Rate limiting enforces a limit on the number of actions a user or system can perform within a certain period. This helps manage traffic—and prevents bots from spamming searches.
Exponential backoff:
Exponential backoff, on the other hand, limits the amount of retries a user or system can make for a failed action—and the period between each retry increases at an exponential rate.
The worries some have with this new update is that crawling will likely require an increase in resources. Users may see rate increases for SEO as a result. This is because scraping Google using JavaScript takes more power and involves extra steps. This means hosting costs are more expensive and processes are slower.
SEO Best Practices for Adapting to Google’s JavaScript Update
Like any Google update, there’s not a lot you can do to change things. However, there are ways to adapt—and more adaptations will appear with time.
The main thing to focus on following these changes are for those using SEO tools such as Ahrefs, and just keeping a closer eye on the data to ensuring its accuracy. For our accounts we did see quite big shakeups in terms of the keyword ranking positions and domain authority scores but things do seem to have settled back down again now.
Potential Future Impact on SEO Tools and Strategy
There are still many unknowns about the future impact on SEO, its tools and strategies. What is clear is that as search engines like Google become more sophisticated and keener to block bots and scrapers, SEO professionals and tool providers will have to adapt.
SEO Tools and Platforms
Platforms like SEMrush, Moz, Ahrefs and Screaming Frog will need to support more effective JavaScript rendering. They may also start offering better tools to stimulate Google’s behaviour. This will then allow SEO professionals the opportunity to assess how content is indexed with better accuracy.
It’s also likely that SEO tools will need to modify their data collection processes. With rate-limiting, collecting and processing data is more of a challenge. Crawlers will probably have to introduce smart scheduling so that they’re not blocked by these JavaScript-based measures. In real terms, this means a more resource-intensive process for data retrieval. And this will require increased bandwidth and server power.
Will This Change Make SEO More Expensive?
As we’ve mentioned, this change could certainly make SEO more expensive but it isn’t yet set it stone. What it does mean is that SEO platforms will probably have to invest in more advanced crawling infrastructure which could require more resource and cost to maintain.
Final Thoughts on the Effects of JavaScript on Google Search and SEO
While Google has the best intentions for its requirement of JavaScript for search interactions, it does mean there will be a major shift in how bots and SEO tools are able to interact with the ecosystem.
Google’s changes could have an impact far and wide. It could affect crawling efficiency, indexing speed and costs—particularly of SEO tools dealing with rate-limiting.
As usual, to navigate through these latest changes, businesses and tools will need to stay ahead of the search requirements. Contact us at Key Principles to discuss how this latest change may impact your SEO strategy.
