Rendering
Learn how search engines render your hotel’s website and how to optimise this process for better rankings
Rendering is the process by which search engines and web browsers process and display your website's content to users. For SEO, ensuring that your hotel’s website renders properly is essential because search engines rely on this process to understand what your site offers and how it should be ranked.
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If your site doesn’t render correctly, key information—such as room availability, booking options, and hotel amenities—might not be visible to search engines, leading to lower search rankings. For hotels, which often use dynamic content and interactive elements like booking engines, optimising rendering can make a significant difference in your visibility online. This guide will explain the core concepts of rendering, common challenges, and best practices to ensure your hotel’s website is fully optimised for search engines and users alike.
Understanding Search Engine Rendering Process
Client-Side vs. Server-Side Rendering
In client-side rendering (CSR), the website content is generated by the browser after the initial page load, typically using JavaScript. This approach offers flexibility for user interaction but can pose challenges for SEO because search engines need to execute the JavaScript before they can fully index the page. This delay can lead to missed content or slow indexing, which affects rankings.
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For instance, if your hotel’s booking system is heavily reliant on client-side JavaScript, search engines might struggle to fully capture these key features, reducing their visibility in search results. While search engines like Google can handle JavaScript rendering, it’s not always as efficient as server-side rendering (SSR), especially on large or complex sites.
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In server-side rendering, content is generated on the server and sent to the browser as fully rendered HTML, making it faster and more reliable for SEO. When using SSR, search engines can easily crawl and index all your important pages—such as room descriptions, reviews, and booking forms—without needing to process complex scripts. This makes SSR a preferred option for hotels that rely on dynamic content but want to ensure optimal crawlability and indexing.
JavaScript and Rendering
JavaScript plays an essential role in modern websites, enabling interactivity and dynamic content like booking forms, calendars, and customer reviews. However, when it comes to SEO, JavaScript can complicate the rendering process. If search engines can’t properly execute JavaScript on your site, key content might be invisible to crawlers. For hotels, this could mean that critical elements—like booking widgets, special offers, or guest reviews—don’t get indexed, reducing the chances of these features appearing in search results.
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It’s important to ensure that any JavaScript-heavy features on your hotel’s website are fully crawlable and render properly for both users and search engines. Tools like Google’s Search Console can help identify any JavaScript-related rendering issues, allowing you to fix them before they negatively impact your rankings.
Crawl Errors
Several issues can arise during the rendering process that can negatively affect your site’s SEO performance. For hotels, these might include problems like unrendered JavaScript elements, slow-loading pages, or content that looks different across devices. The most common rendering problems include:
JavaScript Blocking: If JavaScript files block important content from being displayed during the initial rendering, crawlers may not index key information.
Slow Rendering: Heavy scripts or large images can slow down the rendering process, affecting both user experience and SEO. Search engines prefer fast-rendering sites, and slower ones might be ranked lower as a result.
Mobile Rendering Issues: With mobile-first indexing now in place, it’s essential to ensure your hotel’s website renders correctly on mobile devices. Pages that don’t display properly on mobile will face penalties in search rankings, particularly for mobile users looking for accommodation.
Optimising Your Hotel’s Website Rendering
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Test JavaScript
JavaScript is often necessary for your hotel’s dynamic content—such as booking forms or interactive maps—but it must be handled correctly. Use tools like Google Search Console’s Mobile-Friendly Test and URL Inspection tools to ensure that JavaScript elements are rendering properly across both desktop and mobile devices. Regular testing helps you identify and fix any issues before they hurt your SEO performance. For hotels, ensuring that booking widgets, room availability calendars, and special offer pop-ups are visible and usable on all devices is key to maintaining a positive user experience and strong search rankings.
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Check Mobile Rendering
With Google’s mobile-first indexing, ensuring that your hotel’s website renders correctly on mobile devices is no longer optional—it’s a necessity. Use mobile testing tools to verify that all content, including navigation menus, booking options, and room descriptions, displays correctly on various screen sizes. Pay special attention to mobile load times, as slow-rendering mobile pages can lead to significant ranking drops. Since many users search for hotels while on mobile devices, optimising your mobile rendering can result in increased bookings and a stronger online presence.
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Monitor Rendering Performance
Regularly monitor your website’s rendering performance using tools like Lighthouse or Google PageSpeed Insights. These tools provide valuable insights into areas where rendering can be improved, from reducing JavaScript execution times to optimising image delivery. For hotels, ensuring fast and efficient rendering can lead to higher engagement rates and more bookings, as users are more likely to stay on a site that loads quickly and functions smoothly.
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Use Server-Side Rendering
While client-side rendering offers flexibility, server-side rendering provides faster and more reliable delivery of content to both users and search engines. For hotels with a lot of dynamic content, SSR ensures that important pages—such as room details, contact forms, and dining options—are immediately available for search engines to index. Implementing SSR can improve the overall speed and SEO performance of your website, leading to higher rankings and better user engagement.
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Reduce Rendering Time
The faster your site renders, the better both user experience and SEO performance will be. Reduce rendering times by optimising images, compressing CSS and JavaScript files, and using a content delivery network (CDN) to deliver content from the server closest to the user’s location. For hotels, this means that potential guests can access your site’s content—such as booking forms, room photos, and nearby attraction guides—more quickly, leading to increased user engagement and conversion rates.