HIDDEN TEXT CONSPIRACY

[Prashant]

The main purpose of this post is to put forth theories in using hidden text for optimizing websites for SEO. These are theories and should not be followed in practice unless you think otherwise. So why write an article on something you can’t implement? The answer is simple, I like to think and at the same time find out whether what I think is feasible or not. Whether feasible or not ultimately I end up learning something. You also by the end of this article will more or less find out various ways in which hidden texts are used and can then refrain from using them or move on to a method which will not be penalized. More than encouraging to use the methods detailed below I am trying to make you aware of ways in which hidden text’s are used or can be used.

Hidden text for SEO Optimization comes from the view point that, the text would remain invisible to the viewer but visible to the search engines to crawl through. Hidden text as you and me know have been classified by the SE’s to be bad tactics and using them can either get you blacklisted or will lower your organic rankings. But the sad fact is there are umpteen numbers of sites which use these hidden tactics but still achieve higher rankings.

SE’s generally term a content as hidden text if they are using the same color as background color i.e. White font place on top of white background. But this rule works on the fact that the search engine can determine that we are using the same color for the background as well as the font. But from my view point we can override this.

1.)By using CSS we can define font colors whereby the color used won’t be seen on the page. This works on the theory that Google or any other SE does not crawl through a CSS file. AS of now I don’t think it does. Even if it does what happens if I create a robot.txt and exclude the CSS folder from being crawled. This logically should prevent Google from accessing the css files and determining the parameters we have used.
2.)Now let’s consider the fact that somehow Google can read the CSS files, I can still use hidden text. How? Suppose you want to use white text on white background. In css define background color of the body or the container you want to use the hidden text as black. Now gets a 1x1 pixel white dot image using Photoshop or any other software. Tile it as background image for the body or the container. Now even though you are using black color for the container by using the white dot tiled across it you have made it white. Now you can easily apply white color to your font. Viola you have white font displayed across white background.
3.)Now after going to all this extent you don’t want the viewers to find out that you have used hidden texts. This also can be achieved by using JavaScript to remove text selection. Also if your site is designed to be always above the fold of the page you can always put your hidden text after the site and set scrolling off. Ideal for Flash based sites.

The above mentioned hidden text tactics focuses on the general color rule taken into consideration by the SE’s. We can go beyond this and use hidden texts by following means.

1.)CSS Display Property: There are display properties in CSS called Visible and hidden which can be used to hide text containers. Style="display: none;” when invoked hides the text container completely whereas style="visibility: hidden;” hides the contents within the text container leaving blank space. In both circumstances the text remains hidden for the viewer and visible to the search engines.
2.)Z-index Property: Suppose you have two containers placed within a main container i.e. #VISIBLE & #HIDDEN. #VISIBLE is having a z-index value of 1 and #HIDDEN z-index value of zero. The #VISIBLE container will be displayed over the #HIDDEN container as it’s having higher z-index. Using Z-index you can place hidden text on a layer below the displayed layer i.e. VISIBLE in our case.
3.)Fahrner Image Replacement. By this method we replace texts with images. It uses the display property mentioned above. This method is achieved by having a fixed container with background image specified for it in CSS and then having span associated with div given“display:none;” property. Click this link for more details http://www.stopdesign.com/articles/replace_text/
4.)Using negative margins in CSS and positioning text outside viewable area.
5.)Using hidden text when embedding flash via No Script Tags and SWF Object. The SWF Object method is a common one practiced nowadays. By using swf embed method a div container containing text is replaced by flash.
6.)Negative or zero size for fonts.
I think I have more or less covered the ways in which we can use hidden texts. Some of them can be applied legitimately(that is until a SE can determine it as a hidden text) whereas some are just plain bad tactics and will be identified by SE’s. Certain CSS based methods as well as the swf object method can be actually exploited. Everything said and done I will give you some reasons where the above mentioned hidden text will be used. Even before you start thinking about using it remember that whether or not you try to dupe the SE’s you are using backhand method. Simply put you are bending the rules.

Situations where hidden text can be used.
1.) Graphic intensive site with minimal text content and no scope for adding text content.
2.) To provide hidden backlinks as well as to maintain hidden backlinks if client doesn’t want your name on his site. For the last case the client should be notified about the usage of hidden backlink and convinced of that fact that the users won’t see it.

Now to conclude my article I will give you reasons why hidden texts can be used, why you can ignore using them and as all of us already know why you shouldn’t use them. Hidden texts can be used as long as you are not trying to spam and you know what you are doing. There are umpteen numbers of sites which uses these tactics and have been getting good rankings. Now even though I don’t know the exact reasons why they are not blacklisted, it might be due to a.) Good Back Links b.) Good inbound Traffic c.) Few hidden text implemented effectively. D.) overall the content quality is good. The key thing to note is the purpose for which you are using the hidden text, it matches with your page content and is not jam packed with keywords.

Now coming to why you can ignore using hidden text comes from the fact that nowadays people are not focused on graphic intensive site so you have ample space to place your text. SE’s has evolved and can more or less make out from your content what your site is dealing with. So I don’t think you should focus much on hidden text with keywords rather concentrate on quality content describing your business.

And as for why you shouldn’t use it……. Hmmmmmm……. It’s not straightforward, it’s been tagged as bad tactics by SE’s, SE’s will evolve to find out the new hidden tactics employed and can affect your rankings in the longer run.