Server-side rendering
Definition
Server-side rendering (SSR) is a technique where the server generates the full HTML for a page before sending it to the browser, rather than relying on client-side JavaScript.
Plain English
The server does the work, so crawlers and users get complete content immediately without waiting for JavaScript.
Why it matters
- Ensures crawlers can read content without executing JavaScript.
- Improves time-to-first-meaningful-paint.
- Critical for pages that need to be indexed and cited by AI systems.