Back to Basics, Powered by Sitecore: Why Static Sites Still Matter

Web development has always moved in cycles. Each era brings new technologies and new expectations—but often, we find ourselves rediscovering ideas from the past with a modern lens.

For the better part of two decades, dynamic websites have shaped how we deliver content online, and platforms like Sitecore XP have been instrumental in pushing this forward—enabling large, enterprise-grade websites that serve targeted, personalised content across geographies and business units. It’s flexible. It’s powerful. When used to its full potential, it’s transformative.

But not every use case needs the full power of the platform; sometimes, simplicity is exactly what’s needed.

When Complexity Isn’t the Answer

Sitecore XP is a heavy lifter. It’s built for marketing ecosystems that need to manage hundreds of content contributors, localisation, multichannel content, and complex

business logic. But there are scenarios—often very practical ones—where you don’t need that full-stack complexity.

For example:

• You’re launching a social media campaign with a link to a microsite. You expect a spike in traffic but don’t want to compromise performance or security on your main domain.

• Your main website is undergoing a major infrastructure update. A minimal “offline mode” experience with a few core pages and contact information could buy you time—and preserve customer trust.

• You need a low-maintenance fallback site as part of a broader digital resilience strategy, ready to be deployed if something unexpected affects your main Sitecore instance.

These are all situations where delivering a static version of your site makes a lot of sense.

How our Static Site Generator for Sitecore Helps

Enter the Static Site Generator (SSG) for Sitecore. It’s not about replacing Sitecore or compromising your authoring experience—it’s about using what’s already in place to publish content differently.

With SSG4S, content authors continue to work inside the Experience Editor or Horizon, with familiar workflows and publishing processes. What changes is the end result. Instead of dynamic pages being rendered at request time, the SSG generates pre-rendered, static HTML files. These files are then deployed to platforms like Azure Blob Storage, Netlify, or even GitHub Pages—served directly to visitors via CDN.

This decouples your content delivery from your core Sitecore infrastructure, opening up several benefits.

Benefits of Static Publishing

Static publishing in a Sitecore context offers meaningful, practical advantages:

• Performance: Static sites load crazy fast. There's no database query, no server-side processing, just pure HTML served at speed. For short-lived campaign pages or evergreen fallback sites, that speed matters.

• Availability: Hosting your static site on blob storage or through a CDN provides a layer of resilience. Even if your main Sitecore instance is down, the static version remains online and operational.

• Security: Fewer moving parts means fewer vulnerabilities. With no server logic and no dynamic inputs, there’s less surface area for attacks—especially valuable when your brand is in the spotlight.

• Scalability: Campaign going viral? No problem. Static content is inherently scalable. Serving millions of hits from a CDN doesn’t require expensive compute resources or horizontal scaling of your Sitecore servers.

• Simplicity: For internal teams or business units who need a small, stand-alone site fast—this offers a lean option without spinning up a whole new Sitecore instance.

Where We’ve Seen It Work

At PING, we’ve seen interest in static site delivery steadily grow—particularly from organisations with large-scale digital ecosystems looking to improve resilience, simplify infrastructure, or support specific campaign needs. A good example is our work with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, which operates a content-rich Sitecore environment servicing both local and international audiences. As part of their broader digital roadmap, we developed a static site generation capability to support a variety of use cases—ranging from high-availability fallback pages to focused campaign sites that can run independently of the main Sitecore infrastructure.

Their inclusion reflects a forward-thinking approach: one that acknowledges the operational and strategic value of static delivery as a complementary tool—not a replacement—for Sitecore XP.

For other clients, we’ve also seen growing demand for lighter, more responsive microsites. These are often tied to short-lived marketing pushes or seasonal initiatives, where the need for fast page loads and minimal backend dependencies outweighs the need for full personalisation or integration. Static publishing fits neatly into this niche—offering speed and simplicity without disrupting the broader Sitecore setup.

Static Isn’t Regressive. It’s Strategic.

It’s easy to assume that static websites are a thing of the past. But in reality, they’re a smart complement to the dynamic experiences modern platforms like Sitecore XP are known for.

When used thoughtfully, static publishing extends your digital strategy—not dilutes it. It lets you take a modular approach to complexity, applying just the right level of sophistication to each part of your digital ecosystem.

At PING, we see this as another tool in the Sitecore toolkit. One that offers speed, reliability, and clarity—when and where it's needed most. If you’re navigating similar decisions—whether around digital resilience, infrastructure planning, or how best to use Sitecore for what you actually need, chat with our expert team today.