Checks / Content and readability
Page is empty without JavaScript
AI crawlers do not run JavaScript. The server HTML has almost no text, so the crawler sees an empty page.
js_empty · Content and readability · Error
What to change
Server-render or pre-render the page (SSR/SSG), or put the key text in the HTML.
How common it is
On a sample, the study measured homepages with under 60 words of text in the HTML sent (the check also needs 3 or more scripts, which the study did not record, so at most this many): 41 of 293 Show HN sites (14%), and 48 of 66 Lovable sites (73%).
Fetched 20 and 21 Oct 2026 as CitedBot, robots.txt obeyed, no JavaScript. Study: Launch crawl 2026-10 (English).
Counted with the check's own rule, leaving out sites that refused the request (HTTP 403): CSV of the counts.
About this check
| Check ID | js_empty |
|---|---|
| Report section | Content and readability |
| Severity | Error |
| How it is decided | Measured: read directly from the page or the server's response. |
| Added | Before 19 Oct 2026 (versions 1 and 2), or a site-wide check with no version date yet |
| Status | Measured in every report |
| Report gives the code | No, the fix is described in words |
Related checks
- Scripts change or remove what the page says
- Product or item list loads with JavaScript
- Prices appear only after scripts run
- Duplicate or near-duplicate content
- Page is set to noindex
- Long redirect chain
See whether it applies to your site
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