It’s been a quiet start to 2025 with no core or spam updates. However, Google’s Search Relations team has been busy advising against over-using JavaScript and explaining how to identify and resolve JavaScript issues.
Google made one announcement last week, informing users that its hourly performance reports are now available on Google Search Console. And a recent study shows that sites ranking high on search engines are getting more mentions on large language models like ChatGPT4o.
From around the web, Barry Schwartz reports on Reddit`s sudden ranking drop on Google, and Roger Montti writes about Google Chrome’s Barry Pollard’s advice on optimizing for Largest Contentful Paint, which Barry says every SEO needs to know.
Google Warns Against Over-Using JavaScript
In January’s edition of the Google Search Off The Record cyprus mobile numbers list podcast, Google’s Search Relations team told us that site developers are overusing Javascript, saying doing so can reduce a site’s visibility.
Key takeaways:
Google’s Search Relations discusses the problems that AI search crawlers have with rendering sites using JavaScript.
Google’s John Mueller said, “I’ve heard at some events that developers really love JavaScript, and everyone wants to convert their websites to JavaScript frameworks.”
Search Relation team member Gary Splitt explains why overusing JavaScript is a bad idea and provides an example of what you should use it for.
Muller says many website developers over-rely on JavaScript. While it has its purposes, it isn’t suitable for modern-day search because AI crawlers can’t render it, which could decrease a site’s visibility.