hidden text

Lchad · December 30th, 2006, 09:34 AM

Can I ask this on this forum?

Would any of you consider using hidden text for a site. I have a friend that has a site for photography. She wants the opening page to be just graphic. But obviously search engines want text. Would any of you consider using black colored text on the black background to enter just a few keyword phrases?

Rob · December 30th, 2006, 09:57 AM

Definitly not.... this would be an instant BAN on any search engine, and most definitly Google.

Hidden text is totally un-needed and there is always a way to avoid it.

Lchad · December 30th, 2006, 10:06 AM

Thanks Rob... I will tell her not to do it!

mschroeder · December 31st, 2006, 03:26 AM

A little more on this... If her homepage doesn't have much valid information then Google wont find it a very important page anyways. If she wants to stay friendly with search engines its wise to put some good old fashioned valid content on the important pages.

Lchad · December 31st, 2006, 07:45 AM

Thanks Matthew... that was my advice to her too. Put something up that will woo the search engines! Thanks

Ryan Fait · December 31st, 2006, 08:24 PM

How do search engines know that there is hidden text? Do they look at the code or do they examine screenshots?

Lchad · January 1st, 2007, 09:14 AM

That's what I was wondering also. How do they know it's black text on a black background for instance? Are their robots that's smart? Do they read through the code that closely?

snow · January 1st, 2007, 09:21 AM

ooh, don't do that - I nearly always highlight things as I look at them (a bad habbit), and when people do that it's so annoying for me!

Although you probably won't find too many other users with my strange compulsion..

Lchad · January 1st, 2007, 09:31 AM

Well that's a first for me snow. Never heard of anyone doing that!

Rob · January 1st, 2007, 10:53 AM

Google especially can and does detect hidden text...

I think a googlebot hit upon .css files should indicate how they work this out.

Maybe screenshots come into play, but I doubt it.

Another major factor is competitors reporting you. Google often bans sites after manually visiting them. Reporting sites to google is something a lot of people get great pleasure from.

JacobHaug · January 1st, 2007, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snow

ooh, don't do that - I nearly always highlight things as I look at them (a bad habbit), and when people do that it's so annoying for me!

Although you probably won't find too many other users with my strange compulsion..

hahaha...yep I highlight almost everything when i am reading on the computer...I hate it too!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob

Reporting sites to google is something a lot of people get great pleasure from.

What losers!!

Lchad · January 1st, 2007, 12:34 PM

Makes sense! I'm sure at one point hidden text got out of hand and then the google police had to get involved!

Ryan Fait · January 1st, 2007, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snow

ooh, don't do that - I nearly always highlight things as I look at them (a bad habbit), and when people do that it's so annoying for me!

Although you probably won't find too many other users with my strange compulsion..

That's so funny; I thought I was the only one that did that. I highlight almost everything when I read browser text, and I do see hidden text once in a while.

ZobeNet · January 1st, 2007, 11:05 PM

Google does detect hidden text using technology, not screenshots. Again back to the original comment i made, anyone who wants to hide their information on the Internet, Google will find you out and determine that you have nothing to offer the common folk browsing the web. Sorry. So its not a question of "can sneak these key words in?" but instead should be "where can i strategically place these keywords and content?"

snow · January 2nd, 2007, 05:24 AM

Jacob and Ryan! Who'd have credited it! I don't feel so alone now; must be a sign of geniuses...

JacobHaug · January 2nd, 2007, 07:56 AM

I am thinking so...brilliant I tell you...only really smart people do that...it is a sign that we all should get paid more money...lol

Ryan Fait · January 2nd, 2007, 06:14 PM

Exactly, Jacob.

snow · January 2nd, 2007, 09:01 PM

hmm, this has got me to thinking about the way web designers hide their h1 text off the page so they can use a substituted image instead - would this adversely affect your search engine placing?

Ryan Fait · January 3rd, 2007, 06:39 AM

I don't know much about this, but it seems hiding text and aiding those who need accessible sites are synonymous. I've been maintaining reasonable SE statistics while hiding h1 and h2 tags, so I'm not to worried (until Rob shoots me down, at least).

Lchad · January 3rd, 2007, 06:57 AM

Ryan can you explain to me the reason why you would place an image in your h1 or h2 tag?
Thanks in advance