What is Server-Side Rendering?
Server-side rendering (SSR) is a technique where a web page's HTML is generated on the server for each request, then sent to the browser fully formed. The user — and the search engine crawler — receives meaningful content immediately, instead of a blank shell waiting for JavaScript to execute.
SSR vs. CSR vs. SSG
- SSR (server-side rendering) — HTML built per request on the server; fresh data, great SEO
- CSR (client-side rendering) — the browser downloads JavaScript and builds the page itself; fast navigation after load, but weak SEO and slow first paint
- SSG (static site generation) — HTML built once at deploy time; fastest delivery, best for content that rarely changes
Why SSR matters for SEO
Search engines index the HTML they receive. With SSR, titles, descriptions, structured data, and body content are all present in the initial response, which improves crawlability and Core Web Vitals like LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) — both ranking signals.
SSR in Next.js
Next.js makes SSR the default: React Server Components render on the server, stream HTML to the browser, and hydrate only the interactive parts. You get SSR's SEO and speed without managing servers or writing hydration logic by hand. Boilerplates like Nexty build on this foundation, pairing SSR with metadata, sitemaps, and i18n so every page is search-ready from day one.