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JavaScriptSEO

JavaScript Redirects: The Hidden SEO Risk

January 15, 20266 min

What Is a JavaScript Redirect?

Unlike server-side redirects, JavaScript redirects happen in the browser after page load.

window.location = 'https://www.example.com/new-page/';

Why They're Problematic

  1. Crawlers may not execute JavaScript immediately
  2. No reliable link equity signal
  3. Other crawlers can't see them at all

The Fix

Replace with proper server-side 301 redirects wherever possible.

Instead ofUse
window.location301 in .htaccess/nginx
meta refresh301 in .htaccess/nginx