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Rendering queue

Also known as: render queue

The rendering queue is, in SEO, the waiting list where Google places crawled pages until it renders them with JavaScript. The term refers to how Google processes web pages, not to video or 3D rendering.

How does it work?

Google’s documentation describes three phases: crawling, rendering and indexing. After a URL is crawled, Googlebot sends all pages with an HTTP 200 status code to the rendering queue, unless a robots meta tag or header tells Google not to index the page. A page may stay in the queue for a few seconds, but it can take longer. When resources are available, a headless Chromium renders the page and runs its JavaScript. Google then parses the rendered HTML, extracts links and indexes the content.

From URL to search resultFive stations from left to right: discovery via links and sitemaps, crawling after checking robots.txt, rendering after waiting in the render queue, indexing with duplicate clustering and canonical selection, serving matching results. Links found in the rendered HTML lead back to discovery. Below each station are typical hurdles according to Google.1 · CRAWLING2 · INDEXING3 · SERVINGDiscoverlinks onknown pages,sitemapsCrawlcheck robots.txt,then fetchthe URLRenderrender queueChromium runsthe JavaScriptIndexcluster pages,pick canonical,storeServeresults fromthe index forthe querynew links from the rendered HTMLTYPICAL HURDLES ACCORDING TO GOOGLEno link,no sitemap*server ornetwork errors,robots.txt blocksno 200 statusor noindex: mayskip renderinglow quality,noindex, duplicateof another URLnot relevant,low quality,robots meta ruleSchematic. Google counts discovery and rendering as part of the crawling stage.* An inference, not a Google statement.
Schematic path of a URL through Google Search. Google describes three stages: crawling (including discovery and rendering), indexing and serving search results. Indexing is not guaranteed. Sources: Google Search Central: In-depth guide to how Google Search works; Google Search Central: Understand JavaScript SEO basics.

What does it mean for JavaScript sites?

Content and links that exist only after JavaScript runs reach the index after this step. Content delivered in the initial HTML does not depend on it. Google does not state exact waiting times.

Example

A product list is loaded with JavaScript, so the initial HTML contains no product links. Google finds the products only after the page has passed through the rendering queue.

More on the searchVIU blog

Sources

  1. Understand JavaScript SEO basics – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com
  2. In-depth guide to how Google Search works – Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com

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