The link to the external style sheet should be in the:

The correct placement of the link to an external style sheet is within the metadata section of the document, specifically in the tag. This is essential for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the section is intended for meta-information about the document, which includes not only links to external style sheets but also other resources like scripts, character set declarations, and meta tags. By placing the link in the , the browser can load the styles before rendering the page content, ensuring that the page is styled correctly as soon as the content is presented.

Secondly, if the link to the external style sheet were placed in the section or the footer of the document, the browser would first render the content without styles. This could lead to a flash of unstyled content (FOUC) as users might see the raw HTML before the styles are applied, detracting from the user experience. Thus, embedding the link in the ensures a seamless and visually coherent loading of the webpage.