How this works
For a visitor, only the second one matters. For most AI crawlers, only the first one does. They take the file, read it, and stop. If your text isn't in the file, they never see it.
Why it matters
A page built this way looks completely normal. It scores well on speed tests, the design is right, visitors read it without noticing anything. But the source file might contain a dozen words and a lot of empty containers.
Google documents that Googlebot renders JavaScript as part of how it processes pages. AI assistants' own crawlers largely don't, and none of them promise to. So you can be fully present in Google and nearly absent everywhere else, which is exactly the gap people find confusing, because their Google traffic looks healthy.
How to check
Open the page, press Ctrl+U (Cmd+U on a Mac). That's the source: the file as it was sent.
Now search it for a distinctive sentence from the middle of your page, something you know is there.
- You find it: your text is in the file. Nothing to fix.
- You don't: the text is being added afterwards by scripts, and most assistants aren't getting it.
Be careful not to confuse this with the inspector (right-click → Inspect). The inspector shows the page after scripts have run, so your text will always look present there. Only "view source" shows what was actually delivered.
How to fix
1. Turn on server-side or static rendering for your main content. Most modern themes, page builders and frameworks support this; it's usually a setting rather than a rebuild. The goal is that your headings and body text arrive in the file instead of being assembled in the browser.
2. Leave interactive parts as they are. Booking widgets, filters, maps and chat are supposed to be scripts, and no assistant needs them. This is about your words: what you do, what it costs, where you are, why someone should choose you.
3. Watch for content that only loads on interaction. Text inside tabs, accordions and "read more" sections is often added only when someone clicks. If that's where your service descriptions live, they may not be in the file either.
4. Check the source again after publishing, with the same search.
Where to change this on your platform
WordPress
depends on your theme and builder. Some builders output plain HTML by default; others assemble everything with scripts. Check your builder's performance or rendering options.
Shopify
standard themes output product and page text in the source. Risk comes from custom sections and third-party apps that inject content.
Wix and Squarespace
both render a lot of the page with scripts by design, and you can't change that. See below.
If your platform doesn't let you change it
On some hosted builders this isn't adjustable, and that's an honest answer rather than a workaround to hunt for. Two things still help. Make sure your most important facts (what you offer, where you are, your prices) appear as plain text in headings and paragraphs rather than inside interactive elements, since those are the parts most likely to arrive intact. And keep your page titles and descriptions filled in, because those are in the file regardless.
