For public navigation in a JavaScript app, render a real link with an actual destination URL. A card that opens the right page when clicked can still be a weak discovery path if its address exists only inside a click handler. Audit the link element and the destination separately: one exposes the route, while the other must deliver the promised page.
This is a practical crawlable-links check for product pages, documentation and comparison guides. It is also useful groundwork for AI search optimization, without proving that any answer engine will discover, cite or recommend the page. The review below is a proposed procedure with hypothetical examples, not a report of tests on a live site.
Start with the rendered link
Google's link best practices generally call for an HTML anchor element with an href attribute. Google says it cannot reliably extract destinations from anchors without href or from other elements that act as links through script events. It also permits dynamically inserted links when they use the recommended markup.
That distinction keeps the review focused. JavaScript is not automatically the problem. The important question is whether the rendered control exposes a resolvable address. A library component named Link might produce a suitable anchor, while a component with an ordinary-looking card might produce only a div. Inspect the output rather than guessing from its name.
A route that appears in your sitemap does not answer this particular question. The sitemap may provide a separate discovery route, but it does not turn the visible card into a useful link. Record which path you are testing so that an alternate source of discovery does not hide the defect.
Separate navigation from an action
Begin with the user's intended result. Opening a public guide, product page or comparison is navigation. Saving a preference, submitting a form or expanding an explanation is an action. Some interfaces combine them, so inspect each responsibility before choosing the element.
In a hypothetical documentation library, a card titled Import contacts should lead to the public import guide. The destination belongs in a link. A filter called CSV might instead change which cards appear on the current page. That control needs to operate as an action unless the design intentionally gives the filtered view its own public destination.
A menu can contain both. Its trigger opens the menu, while its entries navigate to documents. Making the trigger a button does not mean the entries should be buttons too. Review the controls at the point where their job changes, especially when a shared component is reused across several templates.
Audit three ordinary interface patterns
Consider a fictional SaaS help center with topic cards, search results and a product menu. The topic cards contain descriptive titles but rely on an onClick handler to call the router. Search results render anchors with valid href values. Product-menu entries look like links but use a JavaScript expression as their destination.
The first pattern needs an exposed address for each public destination. The second already passes the markup part of the check, although its routes still need direct-load testing. The third requires a real URL in place of the expression. These are three different findings, even if all controls work during a normal clicking session.
Now inspect a card that contains a secondary Bookmark button. Do not solve the navigation issue by making every nested control part of one click target. Preserve the separate jobs: the title link opens the guide, while the button changes the saved state. Review keyboard behavior as part of the interaction check, without treating keyboard access as proof of crawler discovery.
Use five checks for each public destination
First, inspect the rendered element. Confirm that the actual navigation link is an anchor with href, rather than a similarly styled span or an address stored only in component state. Record the page template and exact control so another developer can locate the finding.
Second, read the href value. It should resolve to the intended public page. An empty value, placeholder hash or JavaScript expression needs investigation. A section anchor within an existing document has a different purpose from a link to another document; do not change valid section navigation merely because it contains a hash.
Third, copy the destination and open it directly in a fresh tab. Verify the expected title, answer and access state. If direct arrival fails but clicking through the app succeeds, the link and route checks have found separate issues. Repairing the anchor alone cannot fix the server response or a missing public route.
Fourth, inspect the rendered text. Does the link describe the destination accurately? Fifth, check that a relevant public page actually includes the link. A technically correct component sitting behind a private dashboard is not the same discovery path as a public help-center link.
Keep client-side navigation without hiding the address
Client-side routing and real links can coexist. Your router may intercept ordinary navigation to update the interface efficiently while preserving a usable href in the rendered anchor. Check the router's current official guidance before changing its component behavior; this article does not assume every framework uses the same API.
Review the result after rendering, including any delayed data load. A correct anchor in a component file is not enough if the deployed page replaces it with another control, strips its href or never renders the relevant cards. Likewise, an initial response without the link is not proof that JavaScript can never expose it.
For important public navigation, reduce avoidable dependence on interaction before the link exists. That is an engineering recommendation about making the path easier to inspect and use. It is not a promise about how quickly a crawler will render the page or whether a particular AI product executes the same scripts.
Make the destination promise readable
Google's guidance recommends descriptive, reasonably concise anchor text with useful surrounding context. Apply that to the actual reader task. Read the CSV field requirements sets a clearer expectation than Learn more when the destination is a field-format reference.
Avoid turning every anchor into a long keyword list. The reader needs to understand the next page, not your entire search strategy. On a card with an image, title and description, inspect which element provides the link text and whether the surrounding wording still makes the destination clear.
A mismatch can be editorial rather than technical. If a link promises supported imports but leads to a generic sales page, the markup may pass while the reader's question remains unanswered. Record that finding separately so the content team can fix the promise or provide a better destination.
Verify the repair at the template level
After changing a shared card or menu component, sample the templates that use it. Include a normal page, an empty result state, a translated page if relevant and a destination with special characters. Choose cases from the actual system rather than collecting a large number of identical screenshots.
For each sample, retain the source page, rendered element, resolved destination and direct-arrival result. Note authentication and device conditions that change the interface. The purpose is a small, repeatable acceptance record, not a claim that one sample establishes site-wide correctness.
Google's generative AI search guidance keeps foundational SEO relevant to its AI features. A crawlable link is part of that foundation, but discovery, indexing, answer inclusion and conversion remain separate outcomes. Check each with its own evidence instead of calling a repaired click handler an AI visibility gain.
Choose one public card grid today and follow a single important destination from rendered anchor to direct arrival. If either part fails, you have a concrete issue to fix and a clear way to verify the repair. Expand the audit only when another template or failure pattern gives you a reason.
Hey I'm Uriel Bitton. I write about SEO, AEO, GEO, and helping brands get found in AI answers.
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