Getting Your Nuxt Site Indexed

Deployed your Nuxt site to production? Two steps remain: get Google to crawl it, then get Google to index it.

SSR by Default

Nuxt renders pages on the server by default, which means Google sees fully-rendered HTML immediately—no JavaScript execution delays.

This gives you faster, more reliable indexing compared to client-side SPAs. Your meta tags, content, and structured data are all present in the initial HTML response.

If you need client-side rendering for specific routes:

• Use ssr: false in route rules
• Pre-render pages at build time with prerender: true
• Set meta tags during SSR to ensure they're always present

For authenticated pages or dashboards where SSR isn't needed, configure it per-route:

export default defineNuxtConfig({
  routeRules: {
    '/dashboard/**': { ssr: false },
    '/blog/**': { prerender: true }
  }
})

Canonical URL Configuration

Multiple domains or subdomains pointing to your site? Only one version should be indexed.

Example: www.example.com and example.com both serve your app, but only example.com should appear in Google.

Solutions:

1. Server-level redirect (preferred): 301 redirect all non-canonical URLs
2. Canonical tags: Tell Google which version is authoritative

const route = useRoute()

useHead({
  link: [
    { rel: 'canonical', href: `https://example.com${route.path}` }
  ]
})

If you're using the Nuxt SEO Module you can use the redirectToCanonicalSiteUrl option to automatically redirect non-canonical URLs.

See Canonical URLs guide for implementation details.

Set Up Google Search Console

Google Search Console is required for monitoring indexing. Set it up before launch:

1. Visit search.google.com/search-console
2. Add your property (Domain property recommended)
3. Verify ownership via DNS, HTML file, or meta tag
4. Submit your sitemap at Indexing > Sitemaps

For Nuxt apps, use the Sitemap module for automatic sitemap generation:

Or use the full Nuxt SEO module which includes sitemaps plus robots.txt, OG images, and schema.org:

Request Indexing

After sitemap submission, request indexing for important pages:

Manual method:

1. Open URL Inspection in Search Console
2. Enter your URL
3. Click Request Indexing

You get ~10 requests per day. Use them for homepage and critical pages.

Bulk method: Use RequestIndexing by @harlan_zw to submit multiple URLs automatically.

Instant notification (Bing/Yandex):IndexNow notifies search engines immediately when content changes. Google doesn't support it, but Bing and Yandex do.

Core Web Vitals Check

Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal. Check your scores before launch:

Use PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse to test. Don't chase perfect scores—fix red flags and move on.

See Core Web Vitals for Nuxt for optimization techniques.

Lighthouse SEO Audit

Run Lighthouse on your key pages. Focus on the SEO and Accessibility categories—they catch issues Google cares about:

• Missing meta descriptions
• Images without alt text
• Missing lang attribute
• Low contrast text
• Non-crawlable links

Use Unlighthouse to audit your entire site in bulk.

Build Initial Backlinks

New sites have zero authority. Google is skeptical of them. Signal legitimacy with a few quality backlinks:

• Share on Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Reddit (relevant subreddits)
• Submit to industry directories
• Write guest posts on established sites
• Build open-source tools that get linked

Quality over quantity. One link from a respected site beats 100 from spam directories.

Common Nuxt-Specific Issues

Meta tags not updating on navigation:

• Use reactive values in useSeoMeta() or useHead()
• Verify tags appear in View Page Source (not DevTools)
• Check Mastering Meta guides

Slow Time to First Byte (TTFB):

• Optimize server response time
• Use a CDN for static assets
• Enable Nuxt's built-in caching with routeRules
• Check Core Web Vitals for LCP fixes

Pages "Crawled - currently not indexed":

• Content may be too thin or duplicate
• Site may lack authority (needs backlinks)
• See Debugging Indexing Issues

After Launch

1. Check Search Console weekly for errors
2. Monitor Core Web Vitals in field data
3. Track organic traffic with SEO Monitoring tools
4. Keep publishing content and building backlinks

SEO is a long game. Most sites take 3-6 months to see meaningful organic traffic. Don't panic if rankings don't appear immediately.