3 replies to this topic

[Hayden]

http://www.pixel2lif...page_load_time/


Everyone always seems to have their own ideas on what is best for SEO it seems and sometimes they seem to contradict it.

The main points I thought of here were the points about where to place CSS and Javascript. I had always heard, and also do it myself, loading all CSS before the title tag and javascript after the title tag.

I was hoping to spur some discussion on this.

[rc69]

Where you place css/javascript should have no impact on SEO as bots won't see the results of either. There are some small caveauts to that rule though, but if you find yourself making websites where you place css/javascript in the one place it may actually hurt you, then SEO is the last thing you should be worried about.

The real debate behind where you place your css/javascript revolves around end-user perceived page load times. The theory being you want the page to render as fast as possible, so the user thinks you have a fast website. To do so, you generally have to do some really obscure things with your css/javascript. Most frequently with your javascript, as the css should always be loaded before the html to avoid any lag between rendering the html and styling it (plus, the css can be cached, so after the first page load, it's irrelevant).

Sitepoint has probably one of the best discussions of that debate that i've read: Scripts in Head or at end of Document

Edited by rc69, 28 December 2010 - 04:51 PM.

[Hayden]

That's the way I was thought as well. Placement of CSS and Javscript was more about how the page loads than SEO. There just seems to be a lot of articles out there with everyone expressing their opinions and a lot of contradicts each other.

I have always loaded CSS first then Javascript.

[rc69]

You can avoid contradictions when you're studying a field based purely on opinion. Of course, some of those opinions were based on a fact of some kind, but you can never be sure the originial fact was interpreted correctly.