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When building a web application, SEO is often a major concern. Poor SEO settings can limit your website's audience reach. In this post, we’ll explore how to implement effective SEO for a Next.js website, ensuring better visibility and audience engagement.
If you’re considering developing your blog or website with Next.js, this guide will help you achieve your SEO goals.
Why React.js Faces SEO Challenges
React.js uses client-side rendering (CSR), which poses significant challenges for SEO. Search engines like Google can only index pre-rendered pages, making it difficult to optimize dynamic content like blogs.
Next.js, a super cool React framework that helps you tackle SEO and security challenges.
Adding Metadata to Dynamic Pages
In Next.js, you can use the Head component in the layout file to set up initial metadata. However, for blogs or other dynamic pages, you'll need a more robust approach. That’s where the generateMetadata function comes in.
Example: generateMetadata Function
The generateMetadata function lets you dynamically generate metadata for your pages, making SEO for blogs and other dynamic content much easier.
Key Points About generateMetadata:
> Use it with server-side rendering (SSR); it does not work with client-side rendering.
> Do not call it manually. Next.js automatically handles its execution.
> Ensure that you provide accurate dynamic data like title, keywords, and description.
> It supports Open Graph, which enhances how your links appear when shared on platforms like WhatsApp or Facebook.
Open Graph Example
// Customize this function values with your real data
export async function generateMetadata({ params }) {
return {
title: `Blog - ${params.slug}`,
description: "A detailed post about modern web development.",
keywords: // your keywords,
openGraph: {
title: `Blog - ${params.slug}`,
description: "A detailed post about modern web development.",
url: `https://example.com/blog/${params.slug}`,
images: [
{
url: // Image url path ,
width: 1200,
height: 630,
alt: "Article Thumbnail",
},
],
type: "article",
},
};
}Combine client and server side components for SEO
To improve SEO, avoid client-side pages, but NextJS has restrictions. We can’t write events or hooks like useEffect or useState in server-side components. Consider combining techniques, which is possible in NextJS and its beauty lies in this.
Separate client-side components (such as forms or state-dependent components) from server components. Call these client-side components from within the server component. It is important to note that this process should not be reversed, as it will result in significant changes to the application’s functionality.
Importing a server component into a client component in Next.js will force it to run on the client. This removes the benefits of server-side rendering, such as improved SEO and smaller bundle sizes. To maintain SEO performance, keep server and client components separated and pass data through props instead of importing server components directly.
Example.
If you’re creating a contact page for your website, it’s important to make sure it’s SEO-friendly. One way to do this is to create a separate component for the contact form and then call it from your main contact page(server-side). This way, you can keep your page SEO-friendly and also have a client-side feature like a contact form.
Your main client component (server side)
import ContactForm from ‘./contactForm’
export default function Contact(){
return (
<ContactForm>
………
)
}
Contact form (Client Side)
‘use client’
export const ContactForm = () => {
return (
——
)
}By combining both type components, you can maintain SEO of your site as well as can use client features. I really like this concept from NextJS.
Important Notes
Test generateMetadata during development to ensure it works correctly. (using browser inspector tool)
If there are errors in your data, they might not throw runtime errors but will impact functionality.
The Three Pillars of Optimization
To fully optimize a website, focus on these three areas:
1. Technical Optimization:
Improve your website's crawlability and performance.
2. Content Creation:
Develop a strategy targeting specific keywords.
3. Popularity:
Build trust with search engines by earning backlinks from reputable third-party sites.
By following these steps and leveraging Next.js’s powerful features, you can ensure your website ranks higher in search results and provides an excellent user experience.