Boost Your Angular Web App's SEO with These Tips

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Angular and SEO: The Challenge
3. Server-Side Rendering with Angular Universal
4. Setting up a New Angular Application
5. Installing Angular CLI
6. Initiating a New Project with Angular CLI
7. Exploring the Default Output of the Angular Application
8. Understanding How Search Engine Crawlers View Angular Websites
9. Using curl to View the HTML Document Retrieved by Crawlers
10. The Solution: Server-Side Rendering with Angular Universal
11. Introducing Angular Universal and its Benefits
12. Installing the ng-toolkit/universal Package for Easy Setup
13. Verifying the Package Installation
14. Updating webpack-cli to the Required Version
15. Building and Generating HTML Pages with Server-Side Rendering
16. Starting the Web Server to Compare the Results
17. Analyzing the Rendered Output in the Browser
18. Verifying the Rendered Output with curl Command
19. Conclusion
20. Resources

😎 Angular and SEO: Boosting Search Engine Rankings

Search engine optimization (SEO) plays a crucial role in driving organic traffic to your website. However, when using Angular as your single-page web application framework, SEO becomes a challenge. The default client-side rendering of Angular restricts search engine crawlers from accessing and understanding your website's content and structure.

But fear not! In this tutorial, we'll explore how to overcome this limitation by implementing server-side rendering with Angular Universal. By rendering your Angular website server-side, you can ensure that search engine crawlers can properly index and display your website in search engine result pages (SERPs).

Introduction

Angular, known for its powerful capabilities as a single-page web application framework, excels in delivering dynamic and interactive user experiences. However, its client-side rendering approach poses a challenge for SEO. Search engine crawlers cannot execute Angular's client-side JavaScript code, leaving them unable to comprehend the content and structure of your Angular website. As a result, your website may not rank well in search engine results.

Angular and SEO: The Challenge

The client-side rendering nature of Angular leads to an inherent disadvantage when it comes to SEO. Search engine crawlers typically do not execute client-side JavaScript code, making it impossible for them to access and interpret the content of an Angular web application. As a consequence, your website may not be accurately listed in search engine results.

Server-Side Rendering with Angular Universal

Server-side rendering, the solution to Angular's SEO challenge, involves rendering your website on the server before delivering it to the client's browser. By applying server-side rendering with Angular Universal, you can generate static HTML pages that search engine crawlers can easily understand. This allows your Angular website to be indexed and ranked appropriately in search engine results.

Setting up a New Angular Application

Before implementing server-side rendering, let's set up a new Angular application. Follow the steps below to get started:

1. Install Angular CLI globally by running npm install -g @angular/cli if you haven't already.
2. Use the Angular CLI (ng) to create a new project by executing ng new project-name --routing.
3. Once the project is created, navigate to the project directory using cd project-name.
4. Verify that everything is set up correctly by running ng serve -o to start the development server and open the application in your browser.

Installing Angular CLI

Angular CLI simplifies the process of creating and managing Angular applications. If you haven't installed it globally on your system yet, follow the instructions below:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Execute the command npm install -g @angular/cli.
3. Wait for the installation process to complete.

Initiating a New Project with Angular CLI

Angular CLI provides a convenient way to create a new Angular project. Follow the steps outlined below to initiate a new project:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Use the Angular CLI command ng new project-name --routing to create a new Angular project. Replace "project-name" with the desired name for your project.
3. Wait for the project initialization process to complete.

Exploring the Default Output of the Angular Application

Once you have successfully created a new Angular application, it's essential to examine its default output. This step will help us understand how Angular renders the website by default. Follow the steps below to explore the default output:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Navigate to the project directory using cd project-name.
3. Start the development server and open the application in your browser by executing ng serve -o.

Understanding How Search Engine Crawlers View Angular Websites

To gain insights into how search engine crawlers perceive Angular websites, we can simulate their behavior using the curl command. By comparing the output obtained from curl with the content visible in the browser, we can assess the limitations of client-side rendering. Perform the following steps to observe the differences:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Execute the curl command followed by the URL of your Angular application running on localhost:4200. For example, curl localhost:4200.
3. Observe the HTML document returned by curl.

Using curl to View the HTML Document Retrieved by Crawlers

Using the curl command, we can directly access the HTML document retrieved by search engine crawlers. This provides valuable insights into what the crawler sees when attempting to access an Angular website. Follow the steps below to use curl to view the HTML document:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Execute the curl command followed by the URL of your Angular application running on localhost:4200. For example, curl localhost:4200.
3. Analyze the HTML document obtained by curl.

The Solution: Server-Side Rendering with Angular Universal

To address the SEO challenges associated with Angular, we can leverage the power of server-side rendering. Angular Universal, a tool provided by the Angular team, enables server-side rendering for Angular applications. In this tutorial, we will focus on an easy-to-use package called ng-toolkit/universal to simplify the setup process. By adopting server-side rendering with Angular Universal, our website's HTML is pre-rendered on the server, making it accessible to search engine crawlers.

Introducing Angular Universal and its Benefits

Angular Universal is a comprehensive solution for achieving server-side rendering in Angular applications. By rendering your website server-side, Angular Universal ensures that search engine crawlers can fully interpret and index your website's content. This leads to better search engine visibility, improved rankings, and increased organic traffic.

Installing the ng-toolkit/universal Package for Easy Setup

To seamlessly integrate server-side rendering into your Angular project, we will use the ng-toolkit/universal package. This package simplifies the setup process and allows you to quickly enable Angular Universal. Follow the steps below to install the ng-toolkit/universal package:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Navigate to your Angular project directory.
3. Execute the command ng add @ng-toolkit/universal.
4. Wait for the installation process to complete.

Verifying the Package Installation

After installing the ng-toolkit/universal package, it is essential to verify that the installation was successful. Follow the steps below to ensure that the package is correctly installed:

1. Open your code editor and navigate to your Angular project.
2. Locate the package.json file.
3. Check the dependencies section for the @ng-toolkit/universal package.

Updating webpack-cli to the Required Version

To ensure compatibility with the ng-toolkit/universal package, we need to update webpack-cli to version 3.1 or later. Follow the steps below to update webpack-cli:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Navigate to your Angular project directory.
3. Execute the command npm install --save-dev webpack-cli@3.1.0 (replace 3.1.0 with the latest version if available).
4. Wait for the update to complete.

Building and Generating HTML Pages with Server-Side Rendering

With the ng-toolkit/universal package installed and the necessary updates applied, we are ready to generate HTML pages with server-side rendering. Follow the steps outlined below to initiate the build process:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Navigate to your Angular project directory.
3. Execute the command npm run build:prerender to start the build process.
4. Wait for the build process to complete.

Starting the Web Server to Compare the Results

After the build process is complete, we can start the web server to compare the server-side rendered output against the client-side rendered output. By observing these differences, we can confirm the effectiveness of server-side rendering. Follow the steps below to start the web server:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Navigate to your Angular project directory.
3. Execute the command npm run serve:ssr to start the web server.
4. Access the URL provided by the web server to view the server-side rendered output.
5. Compare the server-side rendered output with the client-side rendered output.

Analyzing the Rendered Output in the Browser

After starting the web server, open your browser and navigate to the URL provided by the server. Analyze the rendered output and compare it with the client-side rendered output. You should observe that the server-side rendered output contains the complete content, including the headline, images, and other elements. This demonstrates how server-side rendering with Angular Universal enables search engine crawlers to fully comprehend your website's content.

Verifying the Rendered Output with the curl Command

To further validate the effectiveness of server-side rendering, we can once again use the curl command. This time, we will compare the output obtained from the command with the content displayed in the browser. Follow the steps below to retrieve the rendered HTML using curl:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt.
2. Execute the curl command followed by the URL of your Angular application running on localhost:8080. For example, curl localhost:8080.
3. Observe the HTML document retrieved by curl.
4. Compare the curl output with the content visible in the browser.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we explored the challenges posed by Angular's client-side rendering approach in terms of SEO. We learned how server-side rendering with Angular Universal can overcome these challenges, ensuring that search engine crawlers can index and rank Angular websites effectively. By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you can boost your website's search engine visibility and drive organic traffic. Embrace the power of server-side rendering and elevate your Angular website's SEO performance today!

Resources

• Angular: https://angular.io
• Angular Universal: https://angular.io/guide/universal
• ng-toolkit/universal: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@ng-toolkit/universal