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Prerender Best Practices

Prerender generates static HTML pages from dynamic content to make your site content more available to web crawlers (good bots). The following best practices help you get the most out of Prerender and make sure no key content is left undiscovered.

Origin Configuration​

Be very careful when configuring your origins for prerender. Incorrect settings can result in caching problems and the delivery of outdated content to bots. Make sure the specified origin settings are accurate and correspond to your website's needs.

Cache Configuration​

Take advantage of the caching feature to serve the static version of your website's page faster. By using this feature, the pages are cached and served to the bots without the need of prerendering them again. Configure the cache expiration time according to how frequently your website is modified.

For more information about managing the Prerender cache, refer to Manage Cache.

Dead links negatively affect both your SEO rankings and the cost of prerender. Regularly scan your website for dead links and either remove them or update them to point to active pages. This improves user experience and ensures you're not incurring extra charges for prerendering pages that don't contribute to your site's value.

If you have a system that redirects users to a page that provides a 404 experience if they stumble on something that isn't covered, then you might want to add a 404 identifier to Prerender. For more information, refer to Manage 404 Identifiers.

Regularly Review Prerender Performance Metrics​

Examine the performance metrics generated by the prerender service. These metrics provide valuable insights into user experience and identify areas for further optimization. Make a habit of checking these metrics at regular intervals to stay ahead of any issues.

For more information about monitoring Prerender metrics, refer to Monitor Prerendering.

If the banner disrupts user navigation, then it can reduce page experience. This is a crucial factor for search engines and can affect your SEO rank negatively.

We suggest turning off the cookie consent banner for the Prerender user agents so that the banner is not included in the cached version that is served to the bots.