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Search Visibility

Some links cannot be followed by search engines

What this means for your business

Some links on your site can't be followed by Google's crawler, meaning those destination pages won't show up in search results even if they have great content.

How to fix it
Medium
30–60 minutes

  1. 1Identify non-crawlable links: these are <a> tags without an href, or with href="#", href="javascript:void(0)", or event handlers instead of real URLs.
  2. 2Replace JavaScript-only links with real URLs. If a link navigates to a page, its href should contain that page's URL, not a JavaScript function.
  3. 3For links that open modals or trigger JavaScript actions, use a real fallback URL in href and intercept the click with JavaScript — this way Google can still follow the link.
  4. 4Check navigation menus especially — dropdown menus built entirely in JavaScript often have this issue.
  5. 5Use Google Search Console → URL Inspection tool to see which pages Google can and can't access from your site.

On WordPress

This often comes from mega-menus or custom navigation plugins. Check your menu settings in Appearance → Menus and ensure all links have real destination URLs set.

On Shopify

Check your navigation in Online Store → Navigation. Ensure all menu items have real URLs set. Custom theme sections with JavaScript-driven menus may need developer attention.

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