What is Server-Side Rendering?
Server-Side Rendering (SSR) means HTML pages are generated on the server before being sent to the browser. In contrast to Client-Side Rendering (CSR), where JavaScript runs in the browser first and renders content. SEO benefits: Search engines immediately see complete content without waiting for JavaScript execution. Performance benefits: Faster First Contentful Paint (FCP), better Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). Frameworks: Next.js (React), Nuxt (Vue), SvelteKit, Astro. Trade-offs: Higher server load, more complex architecture. SSG (Static Site Generation) is an alternative for pages that rarely change.
Key Points
- HTML generated on server
- Immediate full content for SEO
- Better Core Web Vitals (FCP, LCP)
- Frameworks: Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit
- Trade-off: Higher server load
- Alternative: Static Site Generation (SSG)
Practical Example
“With Next.js SSR, Google indexes our React app without issues - without SSR it was invisible.”