Prerender.io and similar services to index content - legit?
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A client has a huge, unique, updated list of B2B products that are in javascript and not indexed. Reading around, I think I've found that:
- Google allows showing bots and users different content (if it's fundamentally the same) with no penalty
- There are good, bad, and ugly ways to do it
- It's a semi-common problem
- There are services like prerender.io and formerly ajaxsnapshots.com that can help with this
However.....
I can't find a single authoritative (read: from Google or Moz) that says the above point 1. I found this White Hat Cloaking: It exists. It's permitted. It's useful. But can't tell where my situation fits (or if it does).
So... if I use prerender.io to surface content to get it indexed... is that a smart move? I'm 95% sure it is, but I need 100% to make the decision.
-
Prerender.io is great and I highly recommend it, although it doesn't necessarily guarantee that your site will get indexed. What it allows you to do is make certain JS technologies like AngularJS or BackboneJS to play more nicely with bots.
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