CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language that describes the appearance of web documents. Web pages that are written in HTML and XHTML can be styled in several ways by using CSS. In fact CSS allows separating the stylistic elements of the web page like layout, color and fonts from the content matter like textual paragraphs and images. This is called division of content from appearance.

Separation of Content from Presentation

The separation improves the convenience of content on the web pages. Moreover, it gives flexibility and control in the specification of presentation uniqueness at the same time reducing complexity and repetition in the structural content.

CSS also permits the web page to be presented in different styles so that it suits different rendering methods. The web content is thus made available in various forms like on-screen, print, voice modes (speech-based browsers and screen readers) etc.

While CSS offers an excess of advantages on the Internet, a good knowledge of the same is essential if you need to employ it for your website. Therefore, to really reap the benefits of CSS and make it work for your online presence, you must invest quality time in learning its nuances.

Why is CSS good for Google?

CSS has a huge impact on how Google views your website. In fact, you can raise your website's chances to rank well in the Google search results by employing CSS capably. CSS has many benefits with respect to Google.

• It shrinks the file sizes on your web pages
• It grants more control over the structure of the web pages
• It allows for certain content information to be hidden by browsers yet is visible to Google crawlers.

Let us understand all these potential profits in detail:

Smaller File Sizes

Without CSS, all the styles on your web pages need to be supported by suitable HTML coding. And this bloats up the file size which further adds up on the load time of the website.

CSS takes out the style from the HTML pages and puts into another part file called the css file. This reduces the amount of code on the web pages. Lesser amount of code means smaller sizes of files and this is something Google prefers in the web pages on the Internet. Ideally, web pages must not be more that 100 kb.

Moreover, smaller file sizes also cause the pages to load quickly. This increases the accessibility and pleases your website visitors.

Increased Control over Web Pages

With CSS, you are able to arrangement the documents of your web pages as per the HTML standards at the same time keeping the look and feel of the page. Better structure with the same visual plea is what CSS grants you.

Google prefers well structured web pages that score well on the design aspects too. And CSS permits website designers to do just the same. They can make attractive websites that not only are a treat to look at but also adheres to the standards and guidelines of the web.

Hiding Content from Browsers

With CSS, you can secrete bits and chunks of content that you don't want the browser to read yet want Google crawlers to take into account. For example, you may have certain pleased on your website that you want to show only on vice versa. CSS makes it possible to mask certain text without loosing on the chances of being picked up by Google.