1. 1 HTML Template RecommendationsFor SEO Presented by: Ernest Paul

2. Combine External JavaScript and CSS Issue: Using external files produces faster pages because the JavaScript and CSS files are cached by the browser. JavaScript and CSS that are inlined in HTML documents get downloaded every time the HTML document is requested. Recommendation: Place JavaScript and CSS in external files and reference them as needed. This reduces the number of HTTP requests that are needed, but increases the size of the HTML document. If the JavaScript and CSS are in external files cached by the browser, the size of the HTML document is reduced without increasing the number of HTTP requests. 2

4. When to Avoid External Caching: For home pages that have fewer page views per session, inlining JavaScript and CSS results in faster end-user response times.

5. Work-Around: To optimize the homepage or other front pages that are typically the first of many pages views, use inline JavaScript and CSS in the front page, but dynamically download the external files after the page has finished loading. Subsequent pages will reference the external files that will then already be in the browser's cache.3

7. Recommendation:

8. Set Expires to a minimum of one month, and preferably up to one year, in the future.

10. Recommendations:

11. Combined Files: A way to reduce the number of HTTP requests by combining all scripts into a single script, and similarly combining all CSS into a single stylesheet.

13. Recommendation: Implement minifications suggest by Google Page Speed HTML Compactor.5

15. Prevent external JS from blocking parallel downloads: When downloading external JavaScript, many browsers block downloads of all other types of files. To prevent JS downloads from blocking other downloads, minimize external JavaScript files.

16. Use <Link> Instead of @import: Using CSS @import allows stylesheets to import other stylesheets which are the unable to download in parallel. This adds additional load time.6

18. Enable proxy caching: For resources that rarely change, set caching headers for browsers and proxies. Because cookies will not be sent for these resources, there is no risk that proxy caches will cache user-specific content.7

21. Sprite Images With Similar Color Palettes: Spriting images with more than 256 colors can cause the resulting sprite to use the PNG true color type instead of the palette type, which can increase the size of the resulting sprite. To generate optimal sprites, combine images that share the same 256 color palette. If there is some flexibility in the colors of your images, consider reducing the resulting sprite's color palette to 256 colors.9

26. Recommendation: As new content is added it should be placed towards the top of the code so it can be cached. 10

28. Cookie Size: For resources that must be sent with cookies, keep the cookie sizes to a bare minimum. No one cookie served off any domain should be more than 1000 bytes. The recommended average size of cookies served off any domain is less than 400 bytes according to Google.

29. Store Only a Unique Identifier in the Cookie: The ID data should be stored in the server with a specified expiry date/time on the cookie.

30. Remove Unused or Duplicated Cookie Fields: If you are serving different applications on different URL paths, but have a field that applies to all applications on a domain — like language preference — include that field in the cookie set at the top-level domain; don't duplicate it. Conversely, if a field only applies to a particular subpath — like a UI setting — don't include that field in the top-level cookie where the data will be passed to all other applications needlessly.11

32. Even if you gzip your scripts and styles, minifying them will still reduce the size by 5% or more.12

34. Use URL paths instead of hostnames wherever possible. If you host multiple properties on the same domain, assign those properties to URL paths rather than separate hostnames.13

36. Use JPGs for Photographic Style Images.

37. Do not use BMPs or TIFFs.14

38. Remove Query String from Static Resources Issue: Enabling public caching in the HTTP header enables static resources to be cached on public proxy servers. This means that even first-time users to your site can benefit from caching since once a static resource has been requested by one user through the proxy, that resource is available for all other users whose requests go through that same proxy. However, most proxies do not cache resources with a "?" in their URL even if public caching is enabled in the HTTP header. Recommendation: Remove query strings from references to static resources, and instead encode the parameters into the file names themselves. 15

40. Correct Character Encoding: It's important that the character set you specify in an HTTP header or HTML meta tag match the character encoding actually used in the HTML documents. If the browser detects an incorrect or mismatched encoding, it will render the page incorrectly.16

42. Remove: If you use JavaScript to generate styles, be sure that those styles are not included in the JavaScript calls of pages that don’t use them.17

43. Use a Content Development Network Issue: The user's proximity to your web server has an impact on response times. Deploying your content across multiple, geographically dispersed servers will make your pages load faster from the user's perspective. Recommendation: Use a CDN service provider, such as Akamai Technologies, EdgeCast, or level3. 18

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45. Implementation Process 20