Is pre-rendering necessary for AI search? Our React site gets zero AI visibility

Your theory is correct. This is a common problem with SPAs.

The core issue:

What AI crawlers see:

When they request your page, they get:

<div id="root"></div>
<script src="bundle.js"></script>

That’s it. No content. No text. Nothing to index or cite.

The statistics:

• 25% of AI crawlers can fetch but NOT execute JavaScript
• AI crawlers have 1-5 second timeouts
• Your SPA might take 2-3 seconds just to render
• AI gives up before seeing content

The solution:

Pre-render your content so AI crawlers receive complete HTML immediately.

We did this migration. Here’s what happened.

Before (CRA):

• Pure client-side rendering
• Zero AI visibility
• Fast user experience

After (Next.js with SSG):

• Pre-rendered pages at build time
• Full AI visibility
• Same fast user experience

The migration:

Week 1:

• Set up Next.js project
• Configure build pipeline
• Test basic pages

Week 2:

• Migrate components
• Handle routing changes
• Configure static exports

Week 3:

• Testing and QA
• Performance optimization
• Deploy

The results:

Worth the effort?

Absolutely. If AI search matters to your business.

Pre-rendering service experience.

Our situation:

• Large React SPA
• Can’t do full migration right now
• Need AI visibility quickly

Solution: Prerender.io

How it works:

1. Install middleware
2. Configure bot detection
3. Service generates HTML snapshots
4. Bots receive pre-rendered version
5. Users get normal SPA

Implementation time:

Literally 2 hours to get working.

The results:

• AI crawlers now see content
• Started appearing in AI responses within weeks
• No user experience change

The limitations:

• Cache refresh delays
• Additional service cost
• Not as clean as native SSG

But for quick wins:

This bought us time while we plan proper migration.

Cost:

~$100-500/month depending on scale.

ROI:

If you’re losing traffic/visibility to AI search, easy ROI.

Technical implementation details.

Testing AI crawler accessibility:

Before any changes, verify the problem:

Method 1: Disable JavaScript

• Visit your site with JS disabled
• Can you see content?
• If not, AI can’t either

Method 2: curl test

curl -A "Mozilla/5.0" https://yoursite.com

• Look at raw HTML response
• Is content there or just empty div?

Method 3: Use AI Eyes extension

• Shows what’s visible vs invisible to AI crawlers
• Highlights JS-dependent content

Pre-rendering implementation options:

Next.js SSG:

export async function getStaticProps() {
  return { props: { data } }
}

Gatsby:

• Build-time rendering by default
• All pages pre-rendered

Hugo/Jekyll/etc:

• Static by nature
• Zero JS dependency

The verification:

After implementing, test again:

• curl should return full HTML
• JS-disabled browsing should show content
• Monitor Am I Cited for visibility changes

The broader JavaScript SEO context.

The evolution:

2015: “JavaScript sites are bad for SEO” 2020: “Googlebot renders JavaScript, it’s fine” 2025: “AI crawlers DON’T render JavaScript”

We went full circle.

Why this matters:

Many companies moved to SPAs thinking:

• Google renders JS
• Modern is better
• User experience improved

But they didn’t anticipate:

• AI search becoming important
• AI crawlers not executing JS
• Visibility gap emerging

The current reality:

The strategic question:

If AI search is 10-20% of discovery today and growing, can you afford to be invisible to it?

For most businesses: No.

Recommendation:

Pre-rendering isn’t optional for AI visibility. Plan the migration.

Content accessibility beyond rendering.

Pre-rendering solves the big problem, but also check:

Hidden content:

• Tabs that require clicks
• Accordions with collapsed content
• Modals with important info
• Lazy-loaded text

Even with SSR/SSG, this content might not be in initial HTML.

The solution:

Critical content should be:

• In initial HTML
• Visible without interaction
• Above-the-fold or linked clearly

Testing checklist:

• Key content in initial HTML response
• No important text in tabs/accordions only
• Product descriptions visible without clicking
• Pricing information accessible
• FAQ answers in page source

The principle:

If AI can’t see it in the HTML without JavaScript, it doesn’t exist for AI search.

Performance angle on pre-rendering.

Common concern: “Won’t pre-rendering hurt performance?”

Reality: Usually improves it.

Why:

Client-side rendering:

1. Browser requests HTML (nearly empty)
2. Browser downloads JS bundle (large)
3. Browser executes JS (CPU intensive)
4. JS fetches data (network round trip)
5. JS renders content (finally visible)

Pre-rendering:

1. Browser requests HTML (full content)
2. Content immediately visible
3. JS hydrates for interactivity

Performance metrics:

The bonus:

Better Core Web Vitals = Better traditional SEO AND AI accessibility.

Pre-rendering often improves both.

Migration planning framework.

Decision tree:

Is AI visibility critical?
├── No → Stay with CSR
└── Yes
    ├── Can you migrate fully?
    │   ├── Yes → Next.js/Gatsby SSG
    │   └── No → Pre-rendering service
    └── Timeline?
        ├── ASAP → Pre-rendering service now, migrate later
        └── Can wait → Plan full migration

Migration priorities:

Phase 1 (Quick win):

• Add pre-rendering service
• Verify AI crawler access
• Monitor visibility changes

Phase 2 (Foundation):

• Choose SSG/SSR framework
• Set up parallel environment
• Migrate critical pages

Phase 3 (Complete):

• Full content migration
• Remove pre-rendering service
• Optimize build pipeline

Resource estimation:

The recommendation:

Start with pre-rendering service for immediate wins. Plan proper migration for long-term.

This thread gave me a clear path forward.

My understanding now:

1. AI crawlers don’t execute JS - Our SPA is invisible
2. Pre-rendering is necessary - Not optional for AI visibility
3. Multiple approaches exist - From quick fixes to full migrations

My plan:

Immediate (this week):

• Test current site with JavaScript disabled
• Verify what AI crawlers actually see
• Set up Am I Cited monitoring

Short-term (next month):

• Implement pre-rendering service (Prerender.io)
• Quick win while we plan migration
• Verify AI visibility improves

Medium-term (next quarter):

• Migrate to Next.js SSG
• Proper pre-rendering at build time
• Best long-term solution

The insight:

Our “modern” React SPA architecture was actually blocking us from the future of search (AI). Time to adapt.

Thanks everyone for the practical guidance!