Rule Details

Not all <a> elements are crawlable by Googlebot. Google's crawlable-link documentation (opens in new tab) requires a valid href, so malformed anchors break discovery in the same way they undermine broader internal linking.

Code Examples

❌ Avoid — JavaScript void href (not crawlable)

<a href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="navigate('/products')">Products</a>
<!-- Googlebot sees href="javascript:void(0)" and does not follow -->

❌ Avoid — missing href attribute

<a onclick="goToPage('/about')">About Us</a>
<!-- No href: Googlebot cannot follow this link -->

❌ Avoid — empty href

<a href="">Home</a>
<!-- Empty href: not a valid crawlable link -->

❌ Avoid — div/span navigation (common in SPAs)

<div onclick="router.push('/contact')" class="nav-link">Contact</div>
<!-- Not an <a> element: completely invisible to crawlers -->

✅ Correct — valid crawlable link

<a href="/products">Products</a>
<a href="https://example.com/about">About Us</a>
<a href="/contact">Contact</a>

✅ Correct — JavaScript-enhanced link that stays crawlable

<!-- href provides the URL for crawlers; JS enhances the UX -->
<a href="/products/modal-details" onclick="openModal(event, '/products/modal-details')">
  View Details
</a>
 
<script>
function openModal(event, url) {
  event.preventDefault()
  // Open modal instead of navigating
  showModal(url)
}
</script>

✅ Correct — fragment links with valid targets

<!-- The fragment must match an existing id on the page -->
<a href="#features">Jump to Features</a>
 
<section id="features">  <!-- id="features" exists -->
  <h2>Features</h2>
</section>

✅ Correct — React Router / Next.js links

// ✅ React Router — renders as <a href="/products">
<Link to="/products">Products</Link>
 
// ✅ Next.js — renders as <a href="/about">
<Link href="/about">About Us</Link>
 
// ❌ Avoid — useNavigate without a corresponding <a>
<button onClick={() => navigate('/products')}>Products</button>
// This is not crawlable; use <Link> instead

Why It Matters

• Discovery failure: Pages only linked via invalid <a> elements may never be discovered by Googlebot, even if the route exists in your frontend router.
• PageRank blocking: Invalid links cannot pass PageRank to destination pages.
• Accessibility: Invalid links also fail accessibility checks — screen readers and keyboard users cannot navigate them, and the underlying HTML behavior is covered in MDN's anchor element reference (opens in new tab).

Link Validity Rules (Google)

Google's crawlers can follow links that:

• Are <a> elements (not <div>, <span>, or <button> with click handlers)
• Have an href attribute
• Have an href value that is a valid relative or absolute URL (not javascript:, void(0), or empty)

Exceptions

• Staging, utility, login, account, or internal search pages may intentionally use different crawl or index signals if they are not meant to rank.
• Temporary migration states can produce noisy intermediate signals; flag the live production URL pattern, not one-off transition artifacts.
• When redirects, canonicals, robots directives, or indexability signals conflict, fix the strongest final signal first instead of reporting every downstream symptom as a separate blocker.

Standards

• Use these references as the standard for the final search-facing HTML, metadata, and crawl behavior.
• Check the implementation against Google Search Central: Crawlable links before treating the rule as satisfied.
• Check the implementation against MDN: The anchor element before treating the rule as satisfied.

Verification

Automated Checks

• Run a site crawl and filter for links that are not followed.

Manual Checks

• Use browser DevTools to query: document.querySelectorAll('a:not([href]), a[href=""], a[href^="javascript:"]')
• Review SPA navigation patterns — ensure all navigation uses <Link> or <a href> components, not raw onClick handlers.
• Fix by adding real href values or replacing non-anchor elements with proper <a> elements.