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Master SEO in Inertia.js: A Clear, Practical Guide

Seo on page

Inertia.js apps render on the client, which can make SEO tricky. This guide shows how to add proper SEO using a reusable component.

Why SEO Matters for Inertia.js Apps

Even though Inertia isn’t a full-blown SPA framework, it still renders pages dynamically and relies heavily on JavaScript. For marketing sites, blogs, landing pages, SaaS dashboards, or any content that needs ranking, proper SEO ensures:

  • Your content gets indexed correctly
  • Titles and descriptions reflect each page
  • Social media previews display cleanly
  • Google understands your structure and relevance

How Inertia.js Handles SEO

Inertia.js does not render HTML on the client side like classic SPAs. Instead:

  • Your backend (Laravel, Rails, etc.) still controls routes and HTML.
  • Pages load via JSON responses and dynamic component replacement.
  • Metadata must be manually handled—especially titles, descriptions, and social tags.

The solution: a reusable SEO component that sets meta tags for each page.

Building the SEO Component

Create a component that handles all meta tags.

// resources/js/components/seo.tsx
import { Head, usePage } from '@inertiajs/react';
import { SharedData } from '@/types';
 
interface SEOProps {
    title?: string;
    description?: string;
    image?: string;
    imageAlt?: string;
    url?: string;
    type?: 'website' | 'article';
    publishedTime?: string;
    modifiedTime?: string;
    author?: string;
    keywords?: string[];
    noindex?: boolean;
    nofollow?: boolean;
}
 
export default function SEO({ ...
    title = 'Mountaga Diao Leye Diop | モンタガ',
    description = 'Fullstack Web Developer crafting high-performance web applications with Laravel & React JS. Passionate about clean code, scalable solutions, and bringing ideas to life through technology.',
    image,
    imageAlt,
    url,
    type = 'website',
    publishedTime,
    modifiedTime,
    author = 'Mountaga Diao Leye Diop',
    keywords = [],
    noindex = false,
    nofollow = false,
}: SEOProps) {
    const page = usePage<SharedData>();
    const appUrl = page.props.appUrl ? String(page.props.appUrl) : '';
    const siteUrl = appUrl || (typeof window !== 'undefined' ? String(window.location.origin) : 'http://mdld.test');
    const fullUrl = url ? String(`${siteUrl}${url}`) : String(siteUrl);
    const fullImage = image ? (image.startsWith('http') ? String(image) : String(`${siteUrl}${image}`)) : String(`${siteUrl}/favicon.png`);
 
    const robotsContent = String([
        noindex ? 'noindex' : 'index',
        nofollow ? 'nofollow' : 'follow',
    ].join(', '));
 
    const titleString = String(title);
    const descriptionString = String(description);
    const typeString = String(type);
    const authorString = String(author);
    const imageAltString = imageAlt ? String(imageAlt) : '';
 
    return (
        <Head>
            <title>{titleString}</title>
            <meta head-key="description" name="description" content={descriptionString} />
            {keywords.length > 0 && (
                <meta head-key="keywords" name="keywords" content={String(keywords.join(', '))} />
            )}
            <meta head-key="author" name="author" content={authorString} />
            <meta head-key="robots" name="robots" content={robotsContent} />
 
            <meta head-key="og:type" property="og:type" content={typeString} />
            <meta head-key="og:url" property="og:url" content={fullUrl} />
            <meta head-key="og:title" property="og:title" content={titleString} />
            <meta head-key="og:description" property="og:description" content={descriptionString} />
            <meta head-key="og:image" property="og:image" content={fullImage} />
            {imageAltString && (
                <meta head-key="og:image:alt" property="og:image:alt" content={imageAltString} />
            )}
            <meta head-key="og:site_name" property="og:site_name" content="Mountaga Diao Leye Diop | モンタガ" />
            <meta head-key="og:locale" property="og:locale" content="en_US" />
 
            {type === 'article' && publishedTime && (
                <meta head-key="article:published_time" property="article:published_time" content={String(publishedTime)} />
            )}
            {type === 'article' && modifiedTime && (
                <meta head-key="article:modified_time" property="article:modified_time" content={String(modifiedTime)} />
            )}
            {type === 'article' && author && (
                <meta head-key="article:author" property="article:author" content={authorString} />
            )}
 
            <meta head-key="twitter:card" name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" />
            <meta head-key="twitter:url" name="twitter:url" content={fullUrl} />
            <meta head-key="twitter:title" name="twitter:title" content={titleString} />
            <meta head-key="twitter:description" name="twitter:description" content={descriptionString} />
            <meta head-key="twitter:image" name="twitter:image" content={fullImage} />
            {imageAltString && (
                <meta head-key="twitter:image:alt" name="twitter:image:alt" content={imageAltString} />
            )}
            <meta head-key="twitter:creator" name="twitter:creator" content="@MDLD_" />
 
            <link head-key="canonical" rel="canonical" href={fullUrl} />
        </Head>
    );
}

What This Component Does

  1. Accepts props with defaults so you only pass what changes.
  2. Builds full URLs for SSR and client-side.
  3. Handles absolute and relative image paths.
  4. Uses head-key so Inertia updates tags on navigation.
  5. Supports basic SEO, Open Graph, Twitter, and article tags.

Understanding the Code

URL Handling

const siteUrl = page.props.appUrl || window.location.origin;
const fullUrl = url ? `${siteUrl}${url}` : siteUrl;

In SSR, use appUrl from props. On the client, fall back to window.location.origin. Always build full URLs for social sharing.

Image Handling

const fullImage = image
  ? (image.startsWith('http') ? image : `${siteUrl}${image}`)
  : `${siteUrl}/favicon.png`;

Social platforms need absolute URLs. If the image is already absolute, use it; otherwise prepend the site URL. If no image is provided, use the favicon.

The head-key Attribute

<meta head-key="description" name="description" content={description} />

Inertia uses head-key to identify and update meta tags on navigation. Without it, tags may not update when navigating between pages.

Default Values

title = 'Your Default Title',
description = 'Fullstack Web Developer...'

Defaults values let you skip props on simple pages. Override them when needed.

Using the Component

Example 1: Home Page

import SEO from '@/components/seo';
 
export default function Home() {
  return (
    <MainLayout>
      <SEO 
        title="Home"
        description="Welcome to my website"
        url="/"
      />
      {/* Your page content */}
    </MainLayout>
  );
}

Explanation: Only pass what differs from defaults. The component handles the rest.

Example 2: Blog Post

export default function PostShow({ post }) {
  return (
    <MainLayout>
      <SEO 
        title={post.title}
        description={post.excerpt}
        image={post.image ? `/storage/${post.image}` : ''}
        imageAlt={post.image_alt || post.title}
        url={`/posts/${post.slug}`}
        type="article"
        publishedTime={post.published_at}
      />
      {/* Post content */}
    </MainLayout>
  );
}

Explanation:

  • type="article" tells platforms this is a blog post.
  • publishedTime helps with article-specific features.
  • Image and alt text improve social previews.

Example 3: List Page

export default function PostsIndex() {
  return (
    <MainLayout>
      <SEO 
        title="Posts"
        description="All blog posts"
        url="/posts"
        keywords={['blog', 'posts', 'articles']}
      />
      {/* Posts list */}
    </MainLayout>
  );
}

Explanation: Keywords are optional. Use them for list/category pages if helpful.

Understanding Meta Tags

Basic SEO Tags

  • <title>: Page title in browser tabs and search results.
  • <meta name="description">: Snippet in search results (keep it under 160 characters).
  • <meta name="keywords">: Optional; use sparingly.

Open Graph Tags (Facebook, LinkedIn)

  • og:type: website or article.
  • og:url: Full URL of the page.
  • og:title: Title for social shares.
  • og:description: Description for social shares.
  • og:image: Image for social shares (1200x630px recommended).

Open Graph tags control how links appear when shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, and similar platforms.

Twitter Card Tags

  • twitter:card: summary_large_image shows a large image.
  • twitter:title, twitter:description, twitter:image: Content for Twitter.

Twitter uses its own tags. If Open Graph tags are present, Twitter may use them, but explicit Twitter tags give more control.

Article-Specific Tags

article:published_time: When the article was published (ISO format like 2024-01-15T10:00:00Z).

Why: Helps search engines and platforms understand the content better.

Canonical URL

<link rel="canonical" href={fullUrl} />

Tells search engines which URL is the primary version, avoiding duplicate content issues.

Real Examples from my Blog

<SEO
    title={post.title}
    description={post.excerpt || post.title}
    image={postImage || ''}
    imageAlt={post.image_alt || post.title}
    url={postUrl}
    type="article"
    publishedTime={post.published_at}
    modifiedTime={post.published_at}
/>

type="article" tells platforms this is a blog post, enabling article-specific features and the fallback description is there if there’s no excerpt to use the title as the description.

Conclusion: That’s It!

Inertia.js is powerful, flexible, and modern—but SEO isn’t automatic. Thankfully, you don’t need heavy SSR engines or complex setups. A few simple steps are enough to make your app discoverable:

  • Manage titles and metadata
  • Use clean URLs
  • Add structured data when relevant
  • Optimize performance
  • Ensure your pages can be crawled

Follow these guidelines, and your Inertia.js app will not only feel fast—it will be visible, discoverable, and ranking.

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