Official source
1 How Google Search crawls pages
How does Google Search crawl pages? This walk-through goes from finding URLs to fetching and rendering them, and explains what Googlebot is and why sitemaps can help.
Older: check current guidanceTopic
Rendering
8 videos.
Rendering is the step where a search engine runs a page's code, such as JavaScript, to build what a visitor would see. Crawling fetches the raw HTML first. Rendering can come later, and some content only appears after it. If a page relies on scripts to show text or links, this is where problems can hide.
Beginners can start with Google's own walk-through of crawling and fetching, which is brief. For JavaScript-driven sites, the podcast episode Rendering JavaScript for Google Search brings in a Google engineer. A Tech SEO Connect talk on layout and hidden content is technical, written for people who debug. Advice from the 2019 and 2020 talks is worth testing on a live page before relying on it. AI crawlers are a newer worry, and one short clip argues that many of them do not render pages yet.
Practise with: Tools for page speed and Core Web Vitals
Order
First steps
Official source
2 Rendering JavaScript for Google Search | Search Off the Record
JavaScript rendering in Google Search is explained by Zoe Clifford, who joins Martin Splitt and John Mueller to talk about the DOM, whether every page is rendered and how long it takes.
Once the basics are clear
Trade press or conference
3 Martin Splitt | Technical SEO for JS Web Apps | ComponentsConf 2019
Martin Splitt explains to web developers how Googlebot and other crawlers see JavaScript pages, and which common pitfalls to avoid when building for search.
Older: check current guidanceSells in this field
4 Jamie Alberico - Think Like a Bot, Rank Like a Boss: How Googlebot Renders
Why might content on a page fail to rank? Jamie Alberico explains Googlebot rendering, the difference between the page a visitor sees and the one Google processes.
Older: check current guidanceTrade press or conference
5 Rendering, Style, and Layout When Things Go Wrong - Giacomo Zecchini
Why can crawlers see a page differently from users? Giacomo Zecchini explains rendering, style and layout, Googlebot's viewport expansion and implementation mismatches that hide content.
Going further
Official source
6 How to make your content shine on Google Search (Chrome Dev Summit 2019)
Martin Splitt looks inside the evergreen Googlebot and goes through rendering best practice and debugging steps for developers who want their content found in Search.
Older: check current guidanceSells in this field
7 Webinar: "Rendering SEO" with Martin Splitt (Google)
Martin Splitt of Google joins Bartosz Goralewicz and Tomek Rudzki to talk rendering SEO, the future of technical optimisation and why SEO should look beyond JavaScript.
Older: check current guidanceSells in this field
8 Show AI crawlers what you want them to see – with Arnout Hellemans
AI crawlers do not need full access to your content, says Arnout Hellemans, who suggests comparing rendered pages with raw HTML because many of these crawlers do not render yet.
