Lovable vs Static HTML: Which is better for SEO?
Lovable says your SEO score is 90%+. But Googlebot sees an empty page.
Quick Verdict
Lovable builds client-side rendered React apps with Vite. Google's crawler receives <div id="root"></div> — no content. Lovable's SEO score measures browser rendering, not what Googlebot actually receives. Static HTML delivers everything in the first response.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Lovable (React SPA) | Static HTML |
|---|---|---|
| Google reads content | No — empty shell | Yes — full content |
| SEO score accuracy | Misleading — 90%+ but not indexed | Accurate — what you see is what Google sees |
| Navigation links | onClick handlers (invisible to crawlers) | Real <a href> tags (crawlable) |
| Meta tags | Same tag on every page (falls back to index.html) | Unique per page, so each page can rank for its own keywords |
| Social previews | Broken or generic | Full Open Graph support |
| Page speed | JS framework overhead | Loads in under a second |
| Indexing status | "Crawled — currently not indexed" | Clean indexation |
| Code ownership | Tied to Lovable platform | Your files, your hosting |
| Can edit after | Lose Lovable editor if you migrate | Edit with any code editor |
What Google Actually Sees
Here is the raw HTML that Googlebot receives from each approach. No JavaScript is executed. This is what determines whether your content gets indexed.
Lovable (React SPA)
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8" />
<title>Vite + React + TS</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id="root"></div>
<script type="module" src="/src/main.tsx"></script>
</body>
</html>
Static HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Your Page Title | Your Site</title>
<meta name="description" content="Unique page description">
</head>
<body>
<h1>Your Main Heading</h1>
<p>Your content, visible to every crawler.</p>
<a href="/about.html">About Us</a>
</body>
</html>
The Misleading SEO Score
Lovable reports 90%+ SEO scores. But that score is from Lighthouse, which runs in a browser that executes JavaScript. Googlebot makes an HTTP request and reads the raw HTML response. These are two completely different things.
Your browser sees your full site. Google sees nothing.
Lighthouse measures technical quality of the rendered page — valid HTML, alt tags on images, contrast ratios. It does not measure whether Google can actually discover and index your content. A perfect Lighthouse SEO score and zero Google indexation can and do coexist on Lovable sites.
When Lovable Makes Sense
- Internal tools and dashboards behind authentication
- Rapid prototyping where SEO doesn't matter
- Apps where all traffic comes from direct links
When Static HTML Makes Sense
- Anything that needs Google traffic
- Landing pages, marketing sites, blogs, directories
- Sites you want to keep running without a platform subscription
We convert your Lovable project to static .html. Same design. Google can finally see it. And you own those files forever.
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