Edit in JSFiddle

$(document).ready(function() {
    var d1,d2,dDiff,lds,i,results = document.getElementById('results');
    
    results.innerHTML += '<p>Iterate the following 10000 times:<p>'
 
    d1 = new Date();
    for(i=0; i<10000; i++){
        document.getElementById('linkDoSomething').innerHTML = i;
    }
    d2 = new Date();
 
    dDiff = d2 - d1;
    results.innerHTML += '<p>document.getElementById("linkDoSomething").innerHTML = i : ' + dDiff + ' ms<p>';
 
    d1 = +new Date();
    lds = document.getElementById('linkDoSomething');
    for(i=0; i<10000; i++){
        lds.innerHTML = i;
    }
    d2 = new Date();
 
    dDiff = d2 - d1;
    results.innerHTML += '<p>document.getElementById("linkDoSomething") set lds.innerHTML = i : ' + dDiff + ' ms<p>';
 
    d1 = new Date();
    for(i=0; i<10000; i++){
        //.html(): This method uses the browser's innerHTML property
        $('#linkDoSomething').html(i);
    }
    d2 = new Date();
 
    dDiff = d2 - d1;
    results.innerHTML += '<p>$("#linkDoSomething").html(i) : ' +  dDiff + ' ms<p>';
 
    d1 = new Date();
    lds = $('#linkDoSomething');
    for(i=0; i<10000; i++){
        lds.html(i);
    }
    d2 = new Date();
 
    dDiff = d2 - d1;
    results.innerHTML += '<p>$("#linkDoSomething") set as lds1.html(i) : ' + dDiff + ' ms<p>';
});

<span id="linkDoSomething" style="display:none"></span>
<div id="results"></div>