Google Warns that Blocking CSS and JavaScript Affects Rankings

A recent update to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines indicates that sites actively disabling CSS and JavaScript could experience negative page ranks. With Google adopting a more modern approach to their indexing system for rendered web pages back in May, it was anticipated that they would put emphasis on two essential scripts that could otherwise be blocked. Pierre Far, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, blogged about optimizing the serving of CSS and JavaScript files.

With the use of modern browsers, Far explains that CSS and JavaScript allow for “optimal rendering” on webpages that Googlebot needs to access, often in the form of a robots.txt file. Because the file is primarily used to categorize or archive websites by search engines, blocking or disallowing the Googlebot from seeing it would directly harm “how well our algorithms render and index your content and can result in suboptimal rankings.”

To prevent any potential problems, Far outlined some helpful tips for webmasters to achieve optimal indexing. As browsers today are no longer majorly text based like Lynx was, webmasters should follow the principles of progressive enhancement, or place emphasis on accessibility and scripting. Far explains that “this helps our systems (and a wider range of browsers) see usable content and basic functionality when certain web design features are not yet supported.”

Also, quick loading pages are a big help as it not only gets content to the user easier, but also makes “indexing of those pages more efficient.” Webmasters will be able to see if their pages can be fully rendered by Google through their fetch and render tool, which was also introduced back in May. Some issues that may arise include improper robots.txt restrictions and redirects that Googlebot cannot follow.

Further information on quality and technicalities can be found in Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. A video that summarizes website content violations in a simplified manner is also available.

Has your website experienced any problems because of blocked CSS or JavaScript? Are these updates a good move by Google? Let us know what you think in the Comments below.

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