CMS & Technology

AJAX is a web design technique that enables asynchronous data transfer without reloading the entire page, for interactive applications such as dynamic forms or live searches. It combines JavaScript, XML (or JSON), and XMLHttpRequest to improve user experience and reduce server load.

The benefit is noticeable for the visitor: A filter in the shop only replaces the product list instead of reloading the entire page. The catch lies with search engines. Content that only loads after a click is not in the source code and is often not indexed.

For example, an overview with 200 entries initially loads 20 and retrieves the rest as needed. Google then only sees the first 20. To have all entries indexed, actual page addresses with page numbers are also required. This reduces the initial data volume from approximately 400 kilobytes to around 60, saving about a second on a mobile network.

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