Santhosh Balakrishnan
Solution Architect – UI/UXNovember 21, 2024
Server-side rendering (SSR) comes into place in this context. SSR can significantly improve Spartacus’ SEO by rendering content on the server that search engines can crawl and index properly. This article will explore SSR, how it works in Spartacus, and how it can dramatically improve your SEO efforts.
Understanding SSR in Spartacus
Spartacus is a front-end framework for SAP Commerce Cloud designed to add power to this platform. It uses a headless architecture, keeping the front-end separate from the back-end systems. Spartacus renders the content with Angular on the client side out of the box. This approach is swift and dynamic, but it creates problems for SEO.
In many cases, JavaScript-render content is not crawlable or indexable by search engine bots, especially if they cannot execute the JavaScript correctly. The HTML of the pages is sent client-side with very little HTML, and partial content is populated afterward with JavaScript. That delay can hurt search engines because they may not see the entire page and index poorly or skip a part of your site entirely.
Server-side rendering (SSR) solves this: the HTML content is rendered server-side and then sent to the client. Simply put, if a search engine crawler visits your site, it gets fully rendered HTML, meaning crawlers can easily index your pages. SSR is implemented in Spartacus with Angular Universal, a framework that adds SSR to Angular to make it server-side renderable.
Why SSR Matters for SEO in Spartacus
SSR is essential for improving your SEO performance in Spartacus for several reasons:
- Faster Initial Page Load for Crawlers: Search engine crawlers like Googlebot prioritize websites that load quickly and efficiently. SSR generates the initial page on the server so the crawler can see the full content faster. This speeds up your pages’ indexing and increases their ranking potential.
- Better SEO Ranking: Page load speed is vital for SEO. If your page loads faster, it ranks higher on search engine result pages (SERPs). SSR makes your SEO work faster by rendering your content on the server before you serve it, making it available to users (readers, including crawlers).
- Improved Crawlability and Indexing: Traditional client-side rendering makes it difficult for search engine bots to crawl and index your pages properly. In other words, with SSR, the most important elements for SEO, such as meta tags, titles, descriptions, and structured data, are served on the initial HTTP response. This ensures the search engine gets a fully rendered page to crawl and index your page correctly.
- Enhanced User Experience: SEO is more than just making your site findable by search engines; it’s also about creating an incredible user experience. SSR is not a replacement for routing; on the contrary, it’s much faster for users on initial page load, with reduced bounce rates and longer session durations (both of which search engines consider when ranking pages).
- Social Media Sharing: Social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, pull data from your page’s meta tags when generating link previews. With SSR, your Spartacus storefront’s Open Graph tags (or other social meta tags) are fully rendered on the server. This ensures social media previews display correctly when shared, enhancing visibility and user engagement.
How SSR Works in Spartacus
Server-Side Rendering (SSR) in Spartacus uses Angular Universal to render the HTML on the server before sending it to the user. Below are steps of how it works on a Spartacus storefront:
- Initial Request: When a user or a search engine bot requests a page from your Spartacus storefront, the server receives the request and generates the complete HTML for that particular page.
- Server Renders the Page: Instead of sending a basic HTML skeleton with JavaScript to fill in the content (as in client-side rendering), the server renders the page’s full HTML content, including dynamic elements like product listings, banners, and SEO-critical metadata.
- HTML is Sent to the Browser: Once the page is rendered on the server, the HTML is sent to the browser. The user immediately sees a fully functional page without waiting for JavaScript to load and populate content.
- Client-Side Hydration: The Spartacus JavaScript application kicks in after the initial HTML is delivered and rendered in the browser, making the page interactive. This process, called hydration, ensures the page behaves like a traditional Single-Page Application (SPA) but with faster initial load times.
- Ongoing User Interaction: Once hydrated, Spartacus continues functioning as a SPA, enabling fast and dynamic user interactions without full page reloads. This allows users to navigate your site seamlessly, enjoying the benefits of both SSR and CSR.
Key SEO Best Practices with SSR in Spartacus
To fully maximize the SEO benefits of SSR in Spartacus, it is essential to follow these best practices:
- Optimize Meta Tags: Make sure every page has unique and well-crafted meta tag text (title, description, Open Graph). These should be rendered server-side, or ‘pre-rendered’ as we like to say, as search engines and social media platforms will want to index them.
- Implement Canonical Tags: Canonical tags prevent duplicate content by telling Google which version of the page to choose. This is very useful when you have different URL slugs for the same content (sort or filter options, for instance).
- Use Structured Data: Adding structured data (Schema.org) to your pages enables search engines to learn about your content. Schema markup in products, breadcrumbs, reviews, and other parts of your site makes it more attractive in search results with rich snippets and other features.
- Ensure Fast Page Load Times: SSR boots performance, but not everything necessarily needs to. Lazy loading for images or noncritical content can reduce the initial payload and enhance the user experience.
- Test Your Pages: To check if your pages are fully accessible and search engine bots accessible, regularly use tools such as Google Search Console, Lighthouse, and Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
- Monitor SEO Health: After implementing SSR, regularly monitor your site’s SEO performance through tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Look for improvements in crawl rates, indexing, and overall SEO metrics.
How to Enable SSR in Spartacus
Setting up SSR in Spartacus involves configuring Angular Universal to handle server-side rendering. Here’s a high-level guide on how to enable SSR in your Spartacus storefront:
- Install Angular Universal: First, add Angular Universal to your project, add @nguniversal/express-engine
- Create a Server Module: Create a dedicated server module to handle the server-side rendering logic. This module will enable the server to pre-render your storefront’s HTML.
- Modify Your Build Configuration: Adjust your build configuration to generate both client-side and server-side bundles. This allows the app to switch between client-side and server-side rendering as needed.
- Deploy to a Node.js Server: Since SSR requires server-side JavaScript execution, deploy your Spartacus storefront to a server environment that supports Node.js to handle the rendering process.
- Optimize for SEO: After enabling SSR, review your site’s SEO elements (meta tags, structured data, etc.) to ensure they are correctly rendered on the server.
Conclusion
Author
Poonam Chandersy
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