In the past website designer design website with table as the layout structure where they define the format and font style etc within the page in HTML tag. This not only makes the files size heavy and time consuming for updating and formatting.
Now with the use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) we can separate the design elements of a page such as layout, colour and fonts from the content of the page such as paragraphs and images. Now the design and formatting will be controlled by CSS and is separated from the content.
So why is CSS good for website and Search engine?
- CSS allows for smaller file sizes
- CSS allows you greater control of page structure
- Multiple pages of the website can be formatted and modified with single CSS file.
- CSS allows you to hide certain content from browsers while it still gets picked up by Search Engine.
CSS allows for smaller file sizes
By separating the styles from the HTML page and putting it into a style sheet (.css file), you can reduce the overall amount of code in your web pages. Pages with less code have smaller file sizes, which results in fast downloading or opening of the page. Moreover when Search Engine Bot crawl your page there will be less of codes and more of contents. Chances of your website having more visibility on Search results are higher.
CSS allows you greater control of page structure
CSS allows you to structure your document according to HTML standards without compromising the look-and-feel of the page.
Search Engine like pages that are well structured, though many designers sometimes choose to ignore standards and guidelines, because they feel standards lead to dull or unattractive pages. Using CSS, designers can create attractive pages while adhering to the standards of design defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
Multiple pages of the website can be formatted and modified with single CSS file.
Managing and maintaining a huge website is a challenging task. It’s really a pain staking task to change or modify the formatting of certain design element from the pages. We can go to every page and modify it but it takes time and time is money.
With the use of CSS all design elements and formatting can be controlled from one single CSS file. The entire files on the website are linked to this CSS file. So when we make any changes or formatting in the design element it will reflect on all the pages. So work Smart and not Hard Work.
CSS allows you to hide content from browsers while it still gets picked up by Search Engine
On the Web Content is the King. The more related content you have on your site, higher the chances of indexing by Search Engine.
Using CSS you can hide content from browsers in certain situations. For example you may have some content that you only want to appear in printing, or you may want certain content to be shown on screen and not in print (such as page navigation, Advertisement). The advantage is that Search Engine will still index all of the content and you will still get the benefit that content brings.
Browser Compatibility
Different browsers still interpret CSS standards in different ways, while some old browsers don't read CSS at all. Ensure that your CSS is as cross-browser compatible. We use something call Hacks in CSS for IE and FF.
