Official Google statement: JavaScript content won’t be indexed

On Twitter, Google’s Gary Illyes confirmed that Google does not index content that is hidden in a JavaScript array. Google said similar things before. If important parts of your content require JavaScript, you might want to reconsider your website design.

What exactly has Google’s Gary Illyes said?

Gary Illyes sent a public service announcement (PSA) on Twitter: “PSA: If you put contents in a javascript array and only expand them when you click e.g. ‘…’, those contents won’t be indexed by Google.”

JavaScript and Google

Can Google index content in JavaScript?

In general, Google is able to parse web pages that require JavaScript or AJAX. However, this can also cause problems.

For example, Google’s Gary Illyes said in July that Google “won’t see the content behind tabs if the content under the tab is dynamically generated.” Similar things have been said by Google’s John Mueller before.

How to check if you Google can index your web pages

If Google cannot index your web pages correctly, the rankings of your web pages won’t be as good as they could be.

For that reason, it is important to check your web pages regularly to make sure that a) Google and other search engines can index them and that they b) have everything that search engine robots require from a web page.

SEO website audit

The website audit tool in our Internet marketing tool SEOprofiler automatically checks your web pages for things that can cause problems with Google. The Top 10 Optimizer tool in SEOprofiler checks if your web pages contain everything that is needed for high rankings.

If you haven’t done it yet, try SEOprofiler now. SEOprofiler offers many powerful tools that help you to get better rankings on Google and other search engines.

View plans and pricing

Tom Cassy

Tom Cassy is the CEO of SEOprofiler. He blogs about search engine optimization and website marketing topics at “http://blog.seoprofiler.com”.