iFrames make it easy to embed external content such as forms, videos and HTML documents onto your website, but there’s a price to pay for that convenience. iFrames come with more drawbacks than they do advantages, and they can harm your website in a number of ways.
While there’s no database or central tracking system keeping tabs on how many sites are using iFrames, it’s safe to say the number is high. Both web users and brands are paying the cost and dealing with the reality of iFrames, with negative effects on user experience, search engine optimisation (SEO) and tracking.
You may not know whether or not your website contains iFrames or even what these elements are. Where did they come from, and how did they become such an issue for brands, marketers and consumers?
What are iFrames?
Short for ‘inline frame’, an iFrame is an HTML tag that allows you to embed a separate HTML document (such as a video, ad, form, widget or piece of interactive content) inside your webpage. The biggest benefit of iFrames is how simple and accessible they are to use. You can add elements like Google maps or submission forms to a page without writing complicated code or fully integrating it into the document. But as you’re about to find out (or may have already learnt the hard way), this approach comes with its share of disadvantages.
iFrames were introduced by Microsoft in the late 1990s, making them one of the oldest HTML tags still in use today. For a long time, they were one of the easiest options for embedding external content onto your website. However, with the fierce competition for search engine rankings and the limitations of iFrames revealed, there are now several better alternatives to iFrames to choose from.
The Impact iFrames Have on a Website
Why should you avoid using iFrames to implement digital solutions into your website? Here are some of the most common problems related to this approach:
Tracking issues
Google sees an iFrame as a webpage embedded in a separate webpage. Unless they’re installed on the embedded webpage, tracking tools like Google Analytics can’t log actions like clicks or form submissions within the arc of the frame. This makes it a lot harder for businesses to gauge the effects of their marketing and optimise for conversions.
Security risks
iFrames load external resources, which makes them easy targets for hackers looking to steal data or introduce harmful JavaScript to your page. Hackers can exploit the vulnerability of iFrames through techniques like phishing, clickjacking and cross-site scraping (XSS) attacks.
User experience issues
User experience (UX) is a crucial factor in rankings these days, and using iFrames frequently leads to a subpar experience for web users. When you have iFrames on your page, you’re basically loading two pages at once, which slows down your page’s loading time quite a lot. Most users will quit a webpage if it takes more than a few seconds to load.
Embedded content on iFrames also lacks the ability to adapt to different screen sizes, negatively impacting the all-important area of mobile responsiveness. Navigational issues, text alignment problems and other poorly optimised elements can drive potential customers away fast.
SEO issues
iFrames don’t help you when it comes to SEO rankings: all of the metadata and text is on another site. When you upload a video via an iFrame, you won’t benefit from the boost to visibility that video potentially provides. This can give Google the impression that visitors aren’t finding what they’re looking for on your website, no matter how useful a resource it is.
Maintenance
When your website has issues that need sorting out, it’s a lot more difficult to modify iFrames than it is to work within the structure of your own site. Even simple updates and tweaks can mean having to make troublesome manual updates.
How to Know if iFrames Are on Your Website
If your website is using iFrames, it probably wasn’t your choice, and you may not even be aware that it’s happening. Here’s how you can find out:
- Open your website.
- Navigate to the page you want to take a look at.
- Use the inspect tool.
- Either right-click on the page and click on Inspect or press Ctrl + Shift + I/Cmd + Option + I
- Search for <iFrame>
- Open the Developer tools panel and the Elements tab. Press Ctrl + F/Cmd + F, type <iFrame> and hit the Enter key.
- Review the iFrame details.
- You’ll see the tag ‘iFrame’ highlighted. Click on it to see attributes like the width and source URL.
- Check the content
- In Developer Tools, right-click on the iFrame to open it up in a new tab.
Alternatives to iFrames
Without iFrames, you still need a way to embed HTML content into your webpages. Fortunately, there are alternatives that allow you to accomplish the task:
Embed the content directly into your page’s HTML
Integrate the HTML of the external context directly into the HTML of your own webpage instead of using an iFrame. This will allow you to make sure that the embedded content is secure, easy to track with Google Analytics and consistent with the design of your site.
Use APIs
Application programming interfaces (APIs) allow you to load and display external data without needing to embed an iFrame. APIs are safer and more efficient and give you a higher level of control over how external resources interact with your website.
Use modern JavaScript frameworks
JavaScript frameworks are pre-built collections of code libraries that simplify the process of building web and mobile applications. Modern JavaScript frameworks like React, Angular, Vue.js, and Svelte allow for the easier integration of components, which makes the user experience more straightforward to control.
Prioritise responsive embedding
Ensure that any external content you need to embed (e.g. videos) is fully responsive and optimised for mobile devices.
Boost the Performance of Your Website with Anchor Digital
You can launch a successful marketing campaign and improve your SEO rankings while embedding external content and without using iFrames. Let Anchor Digital show you how.
As a branding company in Brisbane, we can help you build the right brand identity and keep it consistent across all channels of marketing and written communication. If you’re a new business, we’ll help you define yourself and share your unique vision with the world. Going beyond colours and logos, we help you gain clarity on every aspect of your brand identity, including your values and goals.
There are many ways we can help you share your vision, from conceiving the right brand design, logo and assets to making sure you communicate with the right tone of voice. We’ll help you stand out from the crowd in an interesting way and improve your rankings without having to resort to outdated, spammy or second-rate techniques.
To find out more, call 1300 971 392, contact the team at Info@anchordigital.com.au or fill out our form, and a member of the Anchor Digital team will get back to you.
