This translation has not been editorially reviewed yet. The German version is authoritative. Deutsche Fassung
Indexing
How do scroll-reveal effects affect indexing?
Scroll-reveal effects — content that gently fades in on scroll — are a design technique with a technical catch: the elements are present in the source code, but set invisible via a style rule until a script reveals them on scroll. What the search engine makes of this depends on whether and how it executes the page. Our check counts such elements and flags them as a note — a risk inventory, not a violation.
Present in the source code, hidden on screen
Libraries for scroll effects mark elements with a data attribute and set them invisible at first. Only once the element scrolls into view does the script reveal it. Google does render pages with script execution, but with a delay and no real scrolling — modern effect libraries usually still reveal the content regardless. That's not guaranteed in every case, though: if the script fails or loads too late, the machine assesses a page whose content is hidden. The more essential content depends on effects like this, the bigger the risk.
What the check exactly measures
The check counts the elements with scroll-reveal attributes in the page's initial HTML. The finding is deliberately classed as informational: it doesn't forbid the design technique, it just makes visible how much content depends on it. The rule of thumb for weighing it up: decoration may fade in — the text visitors and search engines come for should be visible without a script.
- Use scroll effects for illustrations and visual variety — not for key statements, service descriptions, or contact details.
- Make sure there's a visible base state with no JavaScript: only the script should hide elements for the effect.
- Check the page with JavaScript switched off: whatever's missing then is tied to the effect.
