What is Static Site Generation?
Pre-building web pages at compile time rather than generating them on each request, producing HTML files that can be served instantly from a CDN for maximum performance.
Understanding the Details
Static site generation (SSG) creates all pages during the build process, resulting in pre-rendered HTML files that don't require server-side processing to serve. This means pages load almost instantly from CDN edge servers, with no database queries or server computation. For marketing sites, documentation, and content-heavy pages, SSG delivers the best possible performance while being inherently more secure (no server to attack) and more reliable (no server to go down). Modern frameworks like Next.js and Astro support SSG alongside other rendering strategies, allowing you to use SSG for content pages and dynamic rendering for personalised or frequently-updating pages within the same application.
How It Works in Practice
Marketing site
A SaaS marketing site with 200 pages is statically generated at build time, serving sub-second page loads from a global CDN.
Documentation site
Product documentation is generated from Markdown files at build time, with automatic rebuilds when content changes are pushed to the repository.
Hybrid approach
Marketing pages and blog posts are statically generated, while the authenticated dashboard uses server-side rendering for personalised content.
Why It Matters
Page speed directly impacts SEO rankings and conversion rates. SSG delivers the fastest possible page loads, improving both organic visibility and user experience.
What People Often Get Wrong
Static sites can't have dynamic features. Actually, static pages can include client-side interactivity, API calls, and dynamic content loading.
SSG requires a rebuild for every content change. Actually, Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) can update individual pages without full rebuilds.
SSG only works for small sites. Actually, large sites with thousands of pages use SSG successfully with build optimisation strategies.
How We Handle Static Site Generation
We use static site generation for marketing pages and content, combining it with ISR and dynamic rendering where needed for the best performance-functionality balance.
Related Terms
Common Questions
Need Help With Static Site Generation?
If you'd like to discuss how static site generation applies to your business, we're happy to explain further.