What is the Difference Between SPAs, SSGs, and SSR?

The Modern Web's Hidden SEO Problem

Building modern web applications today means choosing between user experience and search visibility—or does it?

Frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular have transformed how we build web apps. They create smooth, app-like experiences that users love. But there's a catch: search engines often can't see your beautiful, dynamic content.

Why Search Engines Struggle with SPAs

Single Page Applications (SPAs) work by loading a minimal HTML shell first, then fetching the real content with JavaScript. Here's what happens:

User visits your site → Gets a nearly empty HTML page

JavaScript executes → Fetches and renders the actual content

Content appears → User sees the full page

This creates an amazing user experience, but search engine crawlers are impatient. They often won't wait for JavaScript to finish executing, meaning they see a blank page instead of your valuable content.

Example of a successful SSG implementation: Shorter Loop's homepage delivers both great UX and perfect SEO

Even platforms like Notion have publicly struggled with this JavaScript SEO challenge.

Our Journey: From Band-Aid Solutions to Real Fixes

The Old Way: Dynamic Rendering with Puppeteer

Like many developers, we initially solved this with dynamic rendering:

Detect when a search crawler visits

Use Puppeteer to generate a complete HTML version

Serve the pre-rendered page to crawlers

It worked, but it was complex, resource-intensive, and unreliable.

The Game-Changer: Static Site Generation (SSG)

We knew there had to be a better way. That's when we discovered the power of Static Site Generation.

Understanding the Three Approaches

Approach	How It Works	SEO Impact	Performance
SPA	Content loads after page load	❌ Poor - crawlers see empty pages	⚡ Fast after initial load
SSR	Server generates HTML on each request	✅ Good - complete HTML served	🐌 Slower due to server processing
SSG	HTML pre-built at build time	✅ Excellent - complete HTML immediately	⚡⚡ Blazing fast

Why SSG is the Clear Winner

Perfect SEO from Day One

Complete DOM available instantly

No waiting for JavaScript execution

100% content visibility for crawlers

Unmatched Performance

Pre-built HTML files serve immediately

Minimal JavaScript execution required

Superior Core Web Vitals scores

Lightning-Fast Indexing

Google doesn't have to work to understand your site

Simple, crawler-friendly HTML structure

Rapid page discovery and indexing

The Results Speak for Themselves

In just 10 days after switching to SSG:

📈562 new pages indexed by Google

📊Average ranking position improved to 37 and climbing

⚡Core Web Vitals scores dramatically improved

📱Mobile experience enhanced across all devices

These aren't just vanity metrics—they translate directly to increased organic traffic and better user engagement.

Real PageSpeed Insights results: Near-perfect scores across all metrics after switching to SSG

How We Built Our SSG Pipeline: A Real-World Implementation

Here's exactly how we solved the content management challenge while keeping our site blazing fast—a pipeline that lets our content team write in Notion while the website stays static.

The Problem We Faced

Our content team loved Notion's collaborative editing features, but our site needed to be static for performance. Manual exports were a nightmare, and we needed a better solution.

Our Technical Solution

The Sync System Architecture

Node.js Script hits Notion's API to grab published pages

Puppeteer Integration scrapes the actual rendered content (Notion's API doesn't give full formatting)

Image Optimization with Sharp, then upload to Cloudflare R2

Data Packaging into data.json that Eleventy consumes

Smart Processing - only processes pages that changed recently for fast builds

Eleventy Configuration Magic

Auto-generating glossaries and table of contents

Lazy loading images for optimal performance

Injecting proper meta tags automatically

Smart text replacements and CSS class injection

Automated Deployment Pipeline

The entire system runs on GitHub Actions—push to main and it automatically builds and deploys to Firebase. Zero manual deployment steps.

Workflow: Content team writes in Notion → Auto-sync → Build → Deploy → Perfect Lighthouse scores

Our automated deployment pipeline: From code push to live site in minutes

The Business Impact

Team Benefits

Content team writes in their preferred tool

No manual deployment steps

Collaborative editing maintained

Technical Wins

Perfect Lighthouse scores

Ditched expensive Webflow subscription

Lightning-fast static site performance

"Sometimes the best solution is just connecting the tools people already love. Our content team gets Notion, our users get blazing performance, and search engines get perfect HTML."

Behind the scenes: Our Notion workspace where content creators manage the entire website

The Bottom Line for Developers

For web applications: SPAs with React, Vue, or Angular are still excellent choices.

For content-rich sites: blogs, marketing pages, documentation, and any site where organic traffic matters—SSG is the undisputed champion.

Why SSG Works So Well

Static Site Generation combines the best of both worlds:

✅ Old web simplicity: Fast, reliable HTML

✅ Modern tooling: Great developer experience

✅ SEO excellence: Complete content visibility

✅ Performance: Minimal loading overhead

Ready to Make the Switch?

If you're struggling with SEO for your JavaScript-heavy site, consider Static Site Generation. It's not just about better technical metrics—it's about building a foundation that search engines love and users appreciate.

The web doesn't have to be a choice between great UX and great SEO. With SSG, you can have both.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions from the developer community

Is it a good idea to serve a Single Page Application as a static site?

While you can serve an SPA as static files, you lose backend processing capabilities and still face SEO challenges. True SSG pre-renders content at build time, giving you both static hosting benefits and complete SEO visibility.

Can I combine SSG for marketing pages and SPA for user dashboards?

This hybrid approach is ideal. Use SSG for public, SEO-critical pages (marketing, blog, docs) and SPA for authenticated user areas where SEO isn't needed. Frameworks like Nuxt 3 and Next.js excel at this.

Why can't I see my SPA content when I "View Source"?

SPAs load minimal HTML initially, then JavaScript builds the page client-side. "View Source" shows the initial payload, not the final rendered content. This is exactly what search crawlers see too, which hurts SEO.

Are frameworks like Astro and Eleventy better for SEO than React?

Astro and Eleventy are SSG-first frameworks that excel at SEO by default. React can achieve the same results with Next.js SSG, but requires more configuration. Choose based on your team's expertise and project needs.

Should I modernize my legacy site to an SPA?

Not necessarily. If your current site has good SEO performance, consider SSG instead. Even React is pushing towards static generation with server components. SPAs are best for app-like experiences, not content sites.

How long does it take to see SEO improvements after switching to SSG?

Results vary, but many see improvements within 1-2 weeks. In our case, we saw 562 new pages indexed in just 10 days. The key is that crawlers can immediately access your content without waiting for JavaScript execution.

Is SSG suitable for e-commerce sites with dynamic pricing?

Yes, with hybrid approaches. Use SSG for product pages and category listings (great for SEO), then hydrate with JavaScript for dynamic elements like pricing, inventory, and cart functionality. This gives you the best of both worlds.

What about build times? Won't SSG be slow for large sites?

Modern SSG frameworks offer incremental builds, only rebuilding changed pages. For very large sites (10,000+ pages), consider hybrid SSG/SSR or on-demand generation. The build time trade-off is usually worth the performance and SEO benefits.

Can I still use my favorite React/Vue components with SSG?

SSG frameworks like Next.js, Nuxt, and Gatsby let you use your existing component libraries. The difference is components render at build time instead of in the browser, giving you static HTML with optional client-side hydration.

How do I handle user-generated content with SSG?

Use a hybrid approach: SSG for the main site structure, then client-side rendering or API routes for dynamic content like comments, reviews, or user posts. You can also trigger rebuilds when new content is published for full static benefits.