AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot) generally do not execute JavaScript — client-side React/Vue without SSR is invisible
Created 2026-05-22
Claim: Multiple measurement sources confirm: AI crawlers do not execute JavaScript at scale.
- OtterlyAI 1M-citation study: 73% of audited sites blocked AI crawlers via robots.txt or JS-only rendering
- Cloudflare crawler logs (Jan-July 2025): GPTBot / ClaudeBot / PerplexityBot fetched raw HTML; no JS execution observed
Sources: https://otterly.ai/blog/the-ai-citations-report-2026/; https://ekamoira.com/blog/ai-citations-llm-sources
Confidence: Industry-consensus.
Implication for Candid stack choices: Client-side React/Vue/Angular without server-side rendering is invisible to AI engines. Static generation (Next.js App Router export, Astro, Hugo) or true SSR is a prerequisite. The Candid Creative marketing site is server-rendered Next.js — it satisfies this constraint by design. KW SMB clients on Wix-default or single-page-app sites do not. See RULE: Always server-render or statically generate content for AI crawlers. Never ship client-side-only HTML..
Referenced by (6)
- reference OtterlyAI (Sept 2025): community platforms (Reddit, Quora) capture 52.5% of AI citations vs 47.5% brand domains relates-to
- rule RULE: Always server-render or statically generate content for AI crawlers. Never ship client-side-only HTML. depends-on
- reference Astro vs Next.js (eastondev benchmark, Dec 2025): ~40% faster, ~90% less JS for static content relates-to
- reference Astro on Cloudflare Pages: ~$0/month vs Next.js SSR ~$20-200/month (Bobes 2026 benchmark) relates-to
- reference Reference: what page builders cost a small-business site — 10 categories ranked by long-term impact depends-on
- rule RULE: For content-heavy SEO/AI-critical clients (~$10k+ budget), default proposal is headless WordPress + Astro on Cloudflare Pages depends-on