Stylesheets cascading (CSS) are used to separate the stylistic elements of a page such as provision of fonts and color page content such as paragraphs and images. Stylesheets cascading (CSS) provide the presentation layer to a web page. Using CSS, Web designers can control the presentation of the display of a site from a central document.
I would suggest that the advantages to be gained from using CSS, not just for Google, are well worth the time invested in learning it.
So why is CSS good for Google?
- CSS allows the file sizes smaller
- The CSS allows you greater control of page structure
- CSS allows you to hide certain content from browsers while it still gets picked up by Google
CSS allows the file sizes smaller
HTML page drawing styles and bringing a stylesheet (imported) style sheet (.css file), you can reduce the total amount of code on your Web pages. Pages with less code have smaller file sizes and Google prefers pages with smaller file sizes (many other search engines do too).
Though Google doesn't offer specific advice on this matter, the search engine optimisation community is generally agreed that 100KB is a good upper limit for page sizes.
The CSS allows you greater control of page structure
The CSS allows you to structure your document as HTML standards without compromising the look-and-feel of the page.
Google rewards pages that are well structured, though many designers choose to ignore standards and guidelines as much as possible, because they (incorrectly) believe standards lead to bland pages. Using CSS, designers can create attractive pages with much flair, while adhering to the find ability design principles identified.
CSS allows you to hide content from browsers while it still gets picked up by Google
Using CSS you can hide content from certain browsers in certain situations. For example you may have some content that you only want to appear in print, or you may want certain content to only be shown on screen and not in print (such as page navigation). The advantage is that Google will still index all of the content and you will still get the benefit that content brings.
Browser Compatibility
If you are new to CSS, be aware that different browsers still interpret CSS standards in different ways, while some (very) old browsers don't read CSS at all. Ensure that your CSS is as cross-browser compatible as possible, and that your HTML pages look acceptable even without CSS.
