In the Google discussion, Martin Splitt talked about how web developers and website owners can make sure that the link is working correctly with JavaScript. Splitt focused on the importance of connections. He mentioned how essential they are for both the users and the crawlers. Splitt also explained the dos and don’ts of connecting links with JavaScript.
Essentiality of links for human and bot
In Google’s lightning talks, Splitt discussed the most prominent topic that is linked. He explained the critical roles that links play for both the users and the crawlers.
The purpose of links is to allow users to navigate between one content to another. But website owners also need to be aware of the role that links play for both the users and Google.
Crawlers find other pages of a website by using links. Once they follow a link, they get a proper understanding of the information and structure of a site. It also helps them understand which pages are relevant to a topic. Links are an essential part of SEO. SEO strategies are applied by site owners to boost traffic. For a good ranking of your website on Google, you need to contact a company that can provide affordable SEO packages.
Do’s and don’ts of creating links with JavaScript
The creation of a link is not a simple process. Adding JavaScript functionality to a connection is even more difficult. JavaScript enables the web developers to customize the links of their site in several ways. But doing it more often makes the link unusable for crawlers.
Here are the things that Splitt recommends that we should keep in mind while adding JavaScript to a link.
Do: Keep it simple
Splitt always suggests the website owners to not run after the complicated process is when there is a simple and straightforward way of doing things is available. He recommends the users to utilize the Ahrefs tags and upgrade the standard links.
If you follow a straightforward process for adding links, then you would face no difficulty in connecting links with JavaScript. And you would easily create a proper link that would be useful for both the crawlers and the users. Both the crawlers and users will quickly understand the structures of your page.
Don’t: Ignore the Ahrefs attribute
As mentioned earlier, suggest the users use the Ahrefs attribute. But many times, the users, when adding JavaScript with a link they choose to ignore the Ahref attribute. He suggests that ignoring the Ahref attribute is never a good idea if you want your link to work correctly, then the JavaScript of your site will also work correctly. If there would be no attribute in your connection, then the crawlers would find it difficult to determine at what place your link goes.
Don’t: Utilizing Pseudo URLs
Most users, instead of adding an Ahref attribute, consider using Pseudo URLs, which is also not a great idea.
Don’t: Utilize buttons
At the time of connecting JavaScript to your link, you may feel tempted to add buttons, but adding buttons is also not a useful idea.
If the purpose of your link is to take your user to another page, then you should always use a standard link. The main point is if the purpose of your connection is taking the users to another page, then it should not be a button. But if the use of your link is to trigger something, then it should be a button.
Don’t: Depend on click handlers
Many website owners tend to use different HTML elements and utilize a click handler in JavaScript. The problem of depending on the click handler is that it breaks the built-in features.
Do: Using Semantic HTML
If you want to connect your link to JavaScript, you should consider utilizing semantic HTML that would be useful for pointing your connection to a proper URL.
What do you mean by a proper URL?
The URLs that consist of the below-mentioned attributes are known as proper URLs. They must include a protocol, host, and path. They may or may not contain a fragment identifier.
Fragment identifiers
As mentioned earlier, fragment identifiers are optional because crawlers tend to ignore them. The purpose of fragment identifiers is to point to locations of the same piece of content. Fragment identifiers are useful when you are creating a single-page app.
The crawlers would ignore the links, and they would not succeed in understanding the web application.
Key takeaways
In the lightning talks, the members discussed the importance of using proper link markup. They also focused on avoiding using fragments when making a single-page app. Last, of all, they suggested the users create such websites that work well with JavaScript.
Bottomline
In lightning talks, discussion about other important stuff also took place, but the debate was not done in person. Everyone connected through video conferencing. While in this article, we have focused on links, especially adding links in JavaScript. If you keep in mind, those above do’s and don’ts, you will no longer face difficulties in adding links with JavaScript.
