Gatsby's Static Site Generation (SSG) capabilities allow developers to create fast-loading, SEO-friendly web pages by integrating data from various sources directly into the build process. Paul Scanlon's blog post details how to leverage Gatsby's built-in methods to fetch data from the New York Times Archive API and incorporate it into Gatsby’s global data layer using the sourceNodes and createNode functions. This process involves securing an API key, writing HTTP requests to obtain article data, and adding it to the data layer, which can then be queried via GraphQL. The post emphasizes the importance of environment variables for security and demonstrates using GraphQL queries to filter and display specific data, with a practical example of fetching articles from a specific date. Additionally, Scanlon highlights the use of TailwindCSS for styling the data presentation, inviting readers to explore further customization possibilities and share their creations.