👀 Views: 24 💬 Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-10-05

next.js jwt authentication seo server-side-rendering JavaScript

I just started working with I'm following best practices but I'm working on a personal project and Working on a project where user authentication is crucial, I've decided to implement JSON Web Tokens (JWT) in a Next.js application... The challenge arises because I want to ensure that my authentication process does not negatively impact my SEO rankings. I understand that server-side rendering (SSR) can help, but I'm unsure how to securely handle JWTs while making sure search engines can still access important user profile pages. To start, I've set up an API route for login that returns a JWT upon successful authentication. Here’s a simplified version of my login function: ```javascript // pages/api/login.js import { sign } from 'jsonwebtoken'; export default async function handler(req, res) { const { username, password } = req.body; const user = await authenticateUser(username, password); if (!user) { return res.status(401).json({ message: 'Invalid credentials' }); } const token = sign({ id: user.id }, process.env.JWT_SECRET, { expiresIn: '1h' }); res.setHeader('Set-Cookie', `token=${token}; HttpOnly; Path=/; Max-Age=3600;`); res.status(200).json({ message: 'Logged in successfully' }); } ``` I’m aware of the importance of the `HttpOnly` flag for security, but it also complicates my SEO efforts. When search engines crawl the user profile pages, they won’t receive the JWT, which means they can't fetch protected content. To address this, I've considered using a two-part approach. My idea is to create public profile pages that are SSR-friendly while keeping sensitive data behind an API that requires authentication. Here’s how I'm attempting to fetch user data on the server side: ```javascript // pages/profile/[id].js import { verify } from 'jsonwebtoken'; import { getUserProfile } from '../../lib/api'; export async function getServerSideProps(context) { const { req, params } = context; const { token } = req.cookies; let userProfile = null; if (token) { try { const decoded = verify(token, process.env.JWT_SECRET); userProfile = await getUserProfile(decoded.id); } catch (error) { console.error('Token verification failed:', error); } } return { props: { userProfile } }; } ``` While this method works for authenticated users, I'm struggling with how to serve a fallback for unauthenticated users or search engines. Would it make sense to render a simplified version of the user profile when the JWT isn't present? I've also thought about using a separate, public-facing API endpoint that allows limited access to user data without authentication. Furthermore, I’ve looked into Next.js’ `getStaticProps` for pre-rendering static pages, but that doesn’t suit my dynamic user data needs. Any insights on maintaining security while enhancing indexability for SEO would be greatly appreciated. Security audit considerations suggest ensuring that user-specific data is shielded, but I don’t want to compromise on discoverability. Thanks in advance! Any feedback is welcome! What would be the recommended way to handle this?