Technical SEO for custom, headless and JavaScript sites
When your site is built in code, SEO lives in the code too. We work with your developers on rendering, routing, metadata and sitemaps so search engines see complete pages.
Custom Website SEO: what it covers
Custom and headless sites give you full control, with nothing set up for you by default. A React app that renders content only in the browser may show search engines a nearly empty page first. Routes can return a 200 status for pages that do not exist, metadata may be identical on every URL, and sitemaps often fall out of sync with the CMS. Each framework, whether Next.js, Nuxt, Remix, Astro or Laravel, handles these things differently.
BOOST STAR Experts works with in-house engineers and development partners on custom and headless builds, including headless storefronts in front of Shopify, BigCommerce or a custom backend. Our engineers and SEO specialists work remotely from India with teams worldwide. A named lead coordinates with your developers, posts a written update every week and meets on calls in your working hours. We write SEO requirements as clear tickets, review pull requests or staging builds, and verify results in Search Console after each release. If maintaining a custom store has become a burden, a move to Shopify is something we can scope separately.
- Server or static rendering for key pages
- Correct status codes for every route
- Unique metadata generated per page
- Sitemaps built from live content
- Redirects handled at the server or edge
- Schema present in the initial HTML
What Custom Website SEO has to get right
Client-side rendering
When content and links only appear after JavaScript runs, search engines must render the page before they can understand it. Google can do this, but it adds delay and fails quietly when scripts error or are blocked. Other search engines and many AI crawlers handle JavaScript less reliably.
Soft 404s and loose routing
Single-page apps often return a 200 status for every route and show a not found message inside the page. Search engines may then index error pages as real content. Trailing slash variations, uppercase URLs and query parameters also create duplicates when routing rules are loose.
Metadata and sitemaps out of sync
Titles, canonicals, Open Graph tags and sitemaps are often added once at launch and never revisited. As the CMS grows, new pages ship with default titles, deleted pages stay in the sitemap, and canonical tags point to staging or to the wrong locale.
Our Custom Website SEO services
Rendering review
We check what search engines receive in the raw HTML, then recommend server-side rendering, static generation or incremental regeneration for the routes that need to rank.
Routing and status codes
Rules for trailing slashes, case and parameters, real 404 and 410 responses, and 301 redirects handled in the server, framework config or edge layer.
Metadata framework
A pattern for titles, descriptions, canonicals, hreflang and Open Graph tags generated from your CMS or data, so every new page ships complete.
Sitemaps and indexing
Sitemaps generated from live content with accurate last-modified dates, robots rules, and Search Console monitoring of index coverage after each release.
Schema in the build
JSON-LD rendered on the server from the same data as the page, covering products, articles, organization, breadcrumbs and FAQs.
Release checks
SEO checks on pull requests or staging before release, so changes to templates, routing or rendering do not quietly break crawlability.
How we work
SEO Audit & Research
We analyse your website, competitors and keyword landscape.
Strategy Development
We create a structured SEO roadmap aligned with your business goals.
Optimisation Implementation
We implement technical fixes and on-page improvements.
Content & Authority Growth
We strengthen visibility through strategic content planning and appropriate authority-building activities.
Monitoring & Reporting
We track rankings, traffic and performance metrics regularly.
Related SEO services
Frequently asked questions
Is a React or Next.js site bad for SEO?
No, React and Next.js sites can do very well in search when pages are rendered on the server or generated in advance. Problems come from relying on client-side rendering for important content. Next.js and similar frameworks make server rendering straightforward, but it still has to be set up route by route.
Do you write the code or just recommend changes?
We can do either, depending on how your team works. Often we write detailed tickets and review pull requests from your developers, since they know the codebase best. For smaller sites or clearly scoped fixes, our developers can implement changes directly in your repository.
Do you work on headless Shopify builds?
Yes, we work on headless Shopify builds, including Hydrogen storefronts and Next.js frontends that use the Storefront API. The same rendering, routing and metadata checks apply, along with making sure product and collection data reaches the HTML in a form search engines can read.
What do you need from us to get started?
To get started, we need read access to Search Console and analytics, access to a staging environment and a contact on the development team. Repository access helps but is not required at first. We begin with a free 120-point SEO audit and a review of how the site renders.