P0Issue #2
Reduce Unused CSS
ā What does it mean?
What does it mean?
Unused CSS refers to styles that are loaded by the browser but never applied to any element on the page.
For example, if you include a large framework like Bootstrap or Tailwind but only use a few classes, the rest becomes unused CSS.
This bloats your page, increases CSS file size, and makes the browser take longer to render the content.
šØ Why is it important for SEO?
Why is it important for SEO?
Page Speed Impact: Extra CSS increases file size and delays rendering.
Core Web Vitals: Large CSS files can delay First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP).
Mobile SEO: On slower networks, unnecessary CSS significantly impacts load time, increasing bounce rate.
Crawl Budget: Lighter pages are easier and faster for Googlebot to crawl.
ā How to Fix It
ā
How to Fix It
Audit CSS usage with tools like Chrome DevTools ā Coverage Tab.
Remove unused styles from frameworks and libraries.
Use PurgeCSS / PostCSS / Tailwind JIT to strip unused classes in production.
Split critical CSS (inline above-the-fold) and load the rest asynchronously.
Minify CSS to reduce file size.
ā Bad Example
š Example
ā Bad (Lots of unused CSS):
<head>
<!-- Full Bootstrap (150KB) but only using 2 button styles -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/bootstrap.css">
</head>
<body>
<button class="btn btn-primary">Buy Now</button>
</body>
Here, 90% of Bootstrap is unused, but the browser still downloads it.
ā Good Example
ā
Good (Optimized CSS):
<head>
<!-- Inline only the styles actually used -->
<style>
.btn { padding: 10px 20px; border-radius: 6px; }
.btn-primary { background: #007bff; color: #fff; }
</style>
</head>
<body>
<button class="btn btn-primary">Buy Now</button>
</body>
š This drastically reduces CSS size and improves rendering speed.
ā” Result
ā” Result
Faster FCP & LCP
Lower CSS payload
Improved SEO rankings & user experience