Client-Side Vs. Server-Side Rendering
Improve webpage loading times with the right rendering method. Understand the difference between client-side and server-side rendering for optimal user experience.
Faster webpage loading times play a big part in user experience and?SEO, with page load speed a key determining factor for Google’s algorithm.
A front-end web developer must decide the best way to?render a website?so it delivers a fast experience and dynamic content.
Two popular rendering methods include client-side rendering (CSR) and server-side rendering (SSR).
All websites have different requirements, so understanding the difference between client-side and server-side rendering can help you render your website to match your business goals.
Google & JavaScript
Google has extensive documentation on how it handles JavaScript, and Googlers offer insights and answer JavaScript questions regularly through various formats – both official and unofficial.
For example, in a?Search Off The Record podcast, it was discussed that Google?renders all pages for Search, including JavaScript-heavy ones.
This sparked a substantial conversation?on LinkedIn, and another couple of takeaways from both the podcast and proceeding discussions are that:
The conversation as a whole has helped to dispel many myths and misconceptions about how Google?might have?approached JavaScript and allocated resources.
Martin Splitt’s full comment on LinkedIn covering this was:
“We don’t keep track of “how expensive was this page for us?” or something. We know that a substantial part of the web uses JavaScript to add, remove, change content on web pages. We just have to render, to see it all. It doesn’t really matter if a page does or does not use JavaScript, because we can only be reasonably sure to see all content once it’s rendered.”
Martin also confirmed a queue and potential delay between crawling and indexing, but not just because something is JavaScript or not, and it’s not an “opaque” issue that the presence of JavaScript is the root cause of URLs not being indexed.
General JavaScript Best Practices
Before we get into the client-side versus server-side debate, it’s important that we also follow general best practices for either of these approaches to work:
What Is Client-Side Rendering, And How Does It Work?
Client-side rendering is a relatively new approach to rendering websites.
It became popular when JavaScript libraries started integrating it, with?Angular?and React.js being some of the best examples of libraries used in this type of rendering.
It works by rendering a website’s?JavaScript?in your browser rather than on the server.
The server responds with a bare-bones HTML document containing the JS files instead of getting all the content from the HTML document.
While the initial upload time is a bit slow, the subsequent page loads will be rapid as they aren’t reliant on a different HTML page per route.
From managing logic to retrieving data from an API, client-rendered sites do everything “independently.” The page is available after the code is executed because every page the user visits and its corresponding URL are created dynamically.
The?CSR process?is as follows:
What Is Server-Side Rendering, And How Does It Work?
Server-side rendering is the more common technique for displaying information on a screen.
The web browser submits a request for information from the server, fetching user-specific data to populate and sending a fully rendered HTML page to the client.
Every time the user visits a new page on the site, the server will repeat the entire process.
Here’s how the SSR process goes step-by-step:
What Are The Differences Between Client-Side And Server-Side Rendering?
The main difference between these two rendering approaches is in the algorithms of their operation. CSR shows an empty page before loading, while SSR displays a fully-rendered HTML page on the first load.
This gives server-side rendering a speed advantage over client-side rendering, as the browser doesn’t need to process large JavaScript files. Content is often visible within a couple of milliseconds.
Search engines?can crawl the site for better SEO, making it easy to index your webpages. This readability in the form of text is precisely the way SSR sites appear in the browser.
However, client-side rendering is a cheaper option for website owners.
It relieves the load on your servers, passing the responsibility of rendering to the client (the bot or user trying to view your page). It also offers rich site interactions by providing fast website interaction after the initial load.
Fewer HTTP requests are made to the server with CSR, unlike in SSR, where each page is rendered from scratch, resulting in a slower transition between pages.
SSR can also buckle under a high server load if the server receives many simultaneous requests from different users.
The drawback of CSR is the longer initial loading time. This can impact SEO; crawlers might not wait for the content to load and exit the site.
This two-phased approach raises the possibility of seeing empty content on your page by missing JavaScript content after first crawling and indexing the HTML of a page. Remember that, in most cases, CSR requires an external library.
When To Use Server-Side Rendering
If you want to improve your Google visibility and rank high in the search engine results pages (SERPs), server-side rendering is the number one choice.
E-learning websites, online marketplaces, and applications with a straightforward user interface with fewer pages, features, and dynamic data all benefit from this type of rendering.
When To Use Client-Side Rendering
Client-side rendering is usually paired with dynamic web apps like social networks or online messengers. This is because these apps’ information constantly changes and must deal with large and dynamic data to perform fast updates to meet user demand.
The focus here is on a rich site with many users, prioritizing the user experience over SEO.
Which Is Better: Server-Side Or Client-Side Rendering?
When determining which approach is best, you need to not only take into consideration your SEO needs but also how the website works for users and delivers value.
Think about your project and how your chosen rendering will impact your position in the SERPs and your website’s user experience.
Generally, CSR is better for dynamic websites, while SSR is best suited for static websites.
Content Refresh Frequency
Websites that feature highly dynamic information, such as gambling or FOREX websites, update their content every second, meaning you’d likely choose CSR over SSR in this scenario – or choose to use CSR for specific landing pages and not all pages, depending on your user acquisition strategy.
SSR is more effective if your site’s content doesn’t require much user interaction. It positively influences accessibility, page load times, SEO, and social media support.
On the other hand, CSR is excellent for providing cost-effective rendering for web applications, and it’s easier to build and maintain; it’s better for First Input Delay (FID).
Another CSR consideration is that meta tags (description, title), canonical URLs, and Hreflang tags should be rendered server-side or presented in the initial HTML response for the crawlers to identify them as soon as possible, and not only appear in the rendered HTML.
Platform Considerations
CSR technology tends to be more expensive to maintain because the hourly rate for developers skilled in React.js or Node.js is generally higher than that for PHP or WordPress developers.
Additionally, there are fewer ready-made plugins or out-of-the-box solutions available for CSR frameworks compared to the larger plugin ecosystem that WordPress users have access too.
For those considering a headless WordPress setup, such as using?Frontity, it’s important to note that you’ll need to hire both React.js developers and PHP developers.
This is because headless WordPress relies on React.js for the front end while still requiring PHP for the back end.
It’s important to remember that not all WordPress plugins are compatible with headless setups, which could limit functionality or require additional custom development.
Website Functionality & Purpose
Sometimes, you don’t have to choose between the two as hybrid solutions are available. Both SSR and CSR can be implemented within a single website or webpage.
For example, in an online marketplace, pages with product descriptions can be rendered on the server, as they are static and need to be easily indexed by search engines.
Staying with ecommerce, if you have high levels of personalization for users on a number of pages, you won’t be able to SSR render the content for bots, so you will need to define some form of default content for?Googlebot which crawls cookieless and stateless.
Pages like user accounts don’t need to be ranked in the search engine results pages (SERPs), so a CRS approach might be better for UX.
Both CSR and SSR are popular approaches to?rendering websites. You and your team need to make this decision at the initial stage of product development.
Source: Search Engine Journal