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Righto, `rem` font sizes. What a palaver, eh? Folks still arguing about it like it’s 2010. I see `px` everywhere, still, and it makes my teeth itch. Especially on desktop, where people actually have big monitors and expect things to scale. You get these massive screens, and some poor sod’s squinting at tiny type because some dev hardcoded everything. It’s bonkers.
I recall a project for a big Aussie financial outfit, something like Commonwealth Bank. Their old site was a hot mess of `px` values. Every element, every margin, every single font size was locked down. You’d zoom in, and the layout just shattered. My team, we spent weeks just going through the CSS, turning `px` into `rem` or `em` where appropriate. What a job. But the difference, mate, was night and day. Readability shot up. Their user engagement metrics, the ones they were really chasing, well, they started to move in the right direction. It’s not rocket science, this stuff. It’s just good sense.
What’s the big deal with `rem`, anyway? It’s all about the root element. `rem` means “root `em`.” So, if your `html` element has a font size of, say, 16 pixels, then `1rem` is 16 pixels. Simple. Two `rem` is 32. The beauty? If a user, bless their cotton socks, goes into their browser settings and says, “Look, I need bigger text,” their browser can adjust that base font size. Guess what? Your whole site scales. Automatically. Without you lifting another finger. That’s the real magic right there. Pixel values? They just ignore user preferences. Stubborn as a mule, they are.
The Pixels That Just Won’t Quit
It drives me spare, it does. You’re talking about `rem font size desktop seo best google recommended` and you still get arguments. I had a client, a rather large logistics firm, they deal with shipping containers, huge stuff, but their website looked like it was designed for ants on a Commodore 64. Their internal team, bless ‘em, they were all `px` advocates. “But it looks exactly right on my screen,” they’d say, peering at their 27-inch monitors. Yeah, well, your screen ain’t everyone’s screen, is it? Your eyes ain’t everyone’s eyes.
Google, they’ve been pretty clear on this for years. Accessibility is a thing. User experience is a thing. Core Web Vitals, remember those? Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). Readability is part of that. If your text is too small, or it shifts about when the page loads because some image decided to take its sweet time, Google notices. They look at user signals. If people are bouncing off your site faster than a rubber ball in a hall full of dogs, that’s not good. It doesn’t scream “This is a fantastic place to send users!” does it? It whispers, “This site is a bit of a dog’s breakfast, mate.”
Is `rem` really better for SEO?
A question I get asked a lot. My response usually involves a sigh and a quick, “Do you want people to actually read your stuff?” Think about it. If someone lands on your page, and they can’t make head nor tail of the text without zooming in five times, they’re not hanging around. They’re back to the search results faster than a politician changing their mind. That, my friend, is a signal to Google. High bounce rate. Low time on page. Those are indirect SEO factors, sure as eggs are eggs. So yes, `rem font size desktop seo best google recommended` means a better experience, which means better user signals, which means Google smiles on you. Simple as. It’s not about a direct impact-on-seo-ranking-for-web-success/" title="Understanding the AEO impact on SEO Ranking for Web Success">ranking boost just because you used `rem`. It’s about laying a solid foundation for people to actually use your site.
I recall an internal meeting at VMLY&R Commerce, a few years back now. The discussion was all about building sites for the future, responsive design, user-centric thinking. `rem` was a big part of that discussion. It wasn’t some niche, ‘dev-only’ topic. It was central to delivering projects that actually performed. The days of ‘fixed width’ everything are long gone, or should be.
Why the Fuss? Inertia, I Reckon.
It’s just easier to stick to `px`, isn’t it? Designers work in `px`. Developers are used to `px`. It’s what everyone learned first. Breaking that habit? Hard work. You’ve got to re-educate. You’ve got to adjust your thinking. It’s like trying to teach an old dog new tricks, except the old dog is the entire web development industry, and the trick is just, you know, making text readable for everyone. I’ve been in this game over twenty years, seen frameworks come and go, fads bloom and die, but the `px` stronghold? It persists, like some kind of digital kudzu.
Does Google actually penalize you for using `px`?
Straight up? No. Not directly. Google isn’t going to look at your CSS file and say, “Aha! Pixels! To the bottom of the SERP with thee!” That’s not how it works. But they do look at how users interact with your site. If your site is a pain to read, if the text is microscopic on a high-res screen or breaks when a user tries to zoom, that’s a bad user experience. Bad user experience, over time, impacts your rankings. Google’s algorithms are smart enough to pick up on those signals. It’s about holistic site health. You want `rem font size desktop seo best google recommended` because it just makes sense from a human perspective.
Look at sites like The New York Times. Or the BBC. Massive amounts of content. They spend a fortune on making sure their content is readable, accessible, and works on every device imaginable. You think they’re hardcoding everything in `px`? Not a chance. They’re using flexible units that scale. Because they know their audience, and their audience is everyone.
The Accessibility Angle: More Than Just Good Manners
Accessibility isn’t just a nice-to-have. For some, it’s the only way they can use your site. People with visual impairments, older users, folks who just prefer larger text because it’s easier on their eyes. When you use `rem` for font sizes, you’re giving control back to the user. They can set their browser’s default font size, and your entire layout, all your beautifully crafted typography, adjusts itself. It’s beautiful. It’s inclusive. Guess what? Laws are coming in, or are already here in many places, that mandate accessibility. So, if you’re not doing it for Google, or for your users, maybe do it to avoid a lawsuit, eh? Just saying.
Is it hard to switch from `px` to `rem`?
Depends on how big your mess is. If you’ve got a small site, a few pages, yeah, you could probably knock it over in a day or two, carefully. For a massive enterprise application with thousands of CSS files built over a decade by various teams, using different methodologies? Yeah, that’s a nightmare. That’s a “call in the big guns like Huge Inc. to sort out your digital strategy” kind of problem. But even then, you start small. Pick a section. Refactor. Learn. It’s not a flip of a switch, but it’s worth the effort. It’s like cleaning out the shed; awful while you’re doing it, but glorious once it’s done.
I remember talking to a bloke from Moz at an SEO conference a few years back. He was rattling on about core web vitals, mobile-first indexing, all that jazz. He brought up font sizes, specifically the importance of readability and how `px` can sometimes hamper that. It was clear as day that while `rem` might not be a direct ranking factor, it certainly plays a role in the overall user experience signals Google collects. It’s all connected, like a big ol’ spider web.
Designers and `rem`: A Tricky Dance
This is where it gets spicy. Designers love pixels. They work in Photoshop, Figma, whatever, and they measure in pixels. “This needs to be 18px,” they’ll declare, as if it’s a sacred commandment. It’s a fair point from their perspective; they want pixel-perfect renditions of their designs. But the web ain’t print. It’s fluid. It adapts.
My designers insist on `px`. What do I tell them?
Tell them the web is alive, mate. It breathes. It changes. Explain how `rem` provides flexibility without sacrificing their vision. Show them. Get a demo going where you flip the browser’s default font size and watch their beautiful, `px`-locked design just break. Then show them a `rem`-based design gracefully scaling. That usually gets the message across. It’s not about making their life harder; it’s about making their designs future-proof and accessible to everyone. Ultimately, a good design is one that works for the user, not just one that looks pretty in a static mockup. A truly good designer understands that.
I reckon any firm worth its salt, like DEPT® or R/GA, they’ve got this figured out. They’re not just pushing out pretty pictures; they’re building digital experiences. That means thinking about how things respond, how they scale, and how every single person, regardless of their setup, can engage with the content.
It’s just one of those things, isn’t it? Like turning off the lights when you leave a room. It seems small, but it adds up. Getting your font sizes right, especially on desktop, with `rem` units, it just shows you care. It shows you’re thinking about the user, not just churning out code. That, more than any trick or hack, is what sets good sites apart from the rest. You want `rem font size desktop seo best google recommended` to be a no-brainer, not some mythical beast. It’s about building a better internet, one `rem` at a time.
