SEO and Speed: The Advantages of Server-Side Rendering

According to a Google report, 53% of people leave a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. On top of that, in this digital landscape, fast-loading pages tend to rank higher in search engines. This is where Server Side Rendering (SSR) steps in. It is a powerful technique that boosts website speed and SEO by rendering HTML on the server.

This technique improves the website’s crawlability and ultimately pushes its ranking upward. So, this article aims to delve into the importance of SSR for web performance and SEO and how you can achieve it.

What is Server-Side Rendering?

Server side rendering (SSR) is often known as isomorphic or universal rendering and is also an alternative rendering technique for single-page applications. That’s what makes the differences between SSR vs. client side rendering or CSR. Unlike CSR, which renders the content on the client’s browser, SSR generates the HTML content on the server. It does not rely on the browser to download content, which is something CSR does. But how does it really work?

The process of SSR begins with a user entering a URL request to the browser and clicking it. The browser sends an HTTP request to the server that hosts the website. Once the request is received, the process begins, which involves facing data from the database. Once the HTML rendering is done, the fully formed content is sent to the client.

Two of the most common key technologies used in SSR that streamline the process are Next.js for React and Nuxt.js for Vue.js. These types of technologies are widely used in e-commerce websites, news sites, service sites, etc.

How SSR Improves Website Speed

Page load speed optimization is crucial, as one-second delay can cause a 7% conversion loss. However, as server side rendering (SSR) renders HTML directly to the client’s browser, it leads to a faster initial page load. This procedure reduces the time needed to download and proceed with Javascript. As a result, it minimizes rendering time, which is beneficial if the network is slow and ensures faster page loading.

SSR is also beneficial for web performance optimization and effective for improving user experience. Reducing bounce rate with SSR helps websites retain more visitors.

SEO Benefits of SSR

One of the common questions people ask is, “What are the SEO benefits of SSR?” SSR or server side rendering offers substantial SEO benefits in various ways. One of the methods is by delivering pre-rendered HTML or making content that’s already published readily available. You can also improve the website SEO by improving crawling and indexing with SSR because they can read the content without proceeding with Javascript. Moreover, this method can handle Javascript SEO more efficiently.

Not only that! Improving SEO with SSR also benefits mobile users by reducing load time and enhancing user experience even with a slower internet connection. SSR also helps optimize website content for rich snippets and enhanced search engine results. Moreover, faster page load and SEO ranking automatically improve a website’s organic traffic.

Technical SEO with SSR

The deeper crawling of Googlebot is vital to determine how your web content is indexed and your search engine ranking. SSR has several key strategies for the website’s Googlebot optimization. How? First, it ensures the bot can crawl into the content efficiently and, secondly, enhances its search engine visibility. SSR also serves pre-rendered dynamic content for effective indexing. As a result, they became easily accessible by both users and the search engines.

SSR also helps create search engines and user-friendly URLs that are easy to read and offer a clear idea. Unlike cryptic strings or complex queries, this type of URL is more descriptive. Moreover, SSR also manages canonical tags to prevent duplicate content issues and ensure that users get original and accurate content.

Implementing structured data is yet another critical strategy for SEO. However, SSR can ensure Google understands your page content, product, or website's content. As it improves the search results, it also enriches the click-through rates. Utilizing server-side caching, server-side rendering maximizes your website's technical SEO.

User Experience Enhancements

One of the best things about SSR for better user experience is that it can make critical components more interactive, which makes everything faster and smoother. As SSR sends fully rendered HTML to the browser, users can interact with it almost immediately. This quality improves user experience by ensuring faster content delivery. It also leads to seamless navigation, which allows the pages to load swiftly as the user navigates through the various options around the website, reducing wait time.

Other than those, server side rendering also enhances website accessibility, making the content visible for all users. The confident layout rendering ensures the contents will be accessible by different screen sizes, browsers, and internet speeds, making it better for lower-powered devices.

Common Challenges with SSR

Despite its numerous benefits, server side rendering often meets various challenges. One significant challenge involves server load time and scalability. Most of the time, it happens when a user enters the page for the first time, but handling multiple requests at the same time can strain the server. It results in slow loading and comparatively poor performance.

Another shortcoming of SSR is its complexity in setup. It requires expertise in both server-side rendering and client-side rendering. On top of that, maintenance costs are higher than CSR. Debugging and troubleshooting the server can also lead to various complexities. Handling dynamic data efficiently is yet another critical factor, as it can slow down the site's performance due to an overwhelming data load.

The same goes for SSR’s ability to balance SEO and user experience (UX). While SEO attracts users or visitors to the website, UX aims to offer seamless interaction to retain them. SSR needs to find the right balance by maintaining all the necessary aspects. If not, it can easily affect the website’s performance and visibility.

Implementing SSR: Best Practices

Implementing SSR effectively requires choosing the right framework. Though it is a crucial task, Next.js and Nuxt.js are two of the most popular frameworks for React and Vue.js, respectively. These are reliable Javascript frameworks for building mobile applications. SSR also needs to manage server resources to handle increased loads without strain. Moreover, implementing caching strategies and mastering them is one of the best approaches to enhancing a website’s overall performance.

You can also try hybrid rendering, which is a combined approach to implementing SSR and CSR. In this process, the initial server rendering by SSR handles faster loading time, while CSR handles interactions. But no matter what implementation scenario you choose, it is necessary to monitor the performance to identify shortcomings and optimize them.

Case Studies: SSR in Action

Implementing SSR has tangible benefits for many businesses and organizations. Take Airbnb, for example. After optimizing its Javascript file loading, the company improved its Time to Interactive (TTI) by 50%. Its SSR implementation has also improved overall customer engagement by 13% in a year. Pinterest also witnessed an outstanding performance boost after the implementation of SSR. Its SEO traffic gained a 15% boost, and user engagement increased by 40%.

AliExpressed has an uplift in conversion rate and a decrease in load time after improving its metrics. The lesson that can be learned from this is that SSR and SEO best practices play a critical role in such success. Additionally, balancing SSR and CSR is crucial yet vital for dynamic content and robust caching to manage the server’s loading.

Tools and Technologies for SSR

As discussed before, the implementation of SSR requires specific tools and technologies. While Next.js and Nuxt.js are two popular frameworks, ReactDOMServer is the go-to server side rendering library. Vue/server-renderer also facilitates rendering HTML on the server. Other than these, you will need various server performance monitoring tools.

Google Lighthouse is one such open-source automated tool that offers quality and correct data. You can also use New Relic, Datadog, ScienceLogic, LogicMonitor, etc. If you need caching solutions, Varnish, PrimoCache, or Redis can be your go-to solutions. You should also have a deployment strategy to ensure continuous and effective change and upgrading of the web application.

Alternatives to SSR

It is always best to have backup and alternative plans. But what can be a better alternative to SSR? There are a few! The first alternative anyone would go to is client-side rendering (CSR) because the browser can easily handle the rendering. There is also static site generation (SSG) that pre-renders HTML to improve performance, security, and faster delivery. Hybrid approaches combine both SSR and CSR, which optimizes load time and interaction. Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are also highly convenient, behave like native apps, and are SEO-friendly.

Future of SSR and SEO

Several trends have emerged in the web development landscape in recent years. There has been a significant rise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, CMS, etc., enabling smarter and personalized web interaction. The advancement in SSR technologies is ensuring faster load time and a better user experience, which ensures higher traffic for web apps. As SEO practices and AI in SSR and SEO are evolving, they are helping with automated and personalized content optimization.

Summary

Server-side rendering (SSR) can significantly increase a website’s SEO performance by providing meaningful and indexable content. By reducing loading time and ensuring deeper crawlability, it easily earns users' trust and increases search engine ranking. It also helps optimize website content and allows users to navigate through the websites more effortlessly.

However, it is vital to choose the right tools, frameworks, and strategies for implementing SSR effectively. Yet, SSR remains to be one of the crucial aspects of web development and performance due to several shortcomings. Despite all that, exploring SSR is ultimately the best choice to improve SEO and achieve user satisfaction.