I dont have room for all that text, yet those words do pertain to the link. So I am adding a span with class “off” and doing a text-indent: -999px. Would this be ok?
Google specifically looks for hidden text. So what would happen? Well, Google at the very least just ignore your hidden text or if you are being blatant about it through out your web site you could be at risk for being blacklisted. What you are suggesting is black hat SEO.
Google is continually updating its algorithms and how it deals with dodgy content, so I would never say “it is safe to do this” when you’re looking at dodgy techniques, because what’s safe today might not be safe tomorrow.
Either way, what you are suggesting is definitely dodgy, and could lead to your site being downgraded, dropped or blacklisted - it isn’t worth the risk. Keyword stuffing in hidden text is not allowed by Google or other major search engines. Why is it so important to include those words and then hide them?
Google bot reads CSS, that’s established, so it will spot the -999 indent and if it’s not associated with an image (like in a nav bar made of images but with text for scren readers etc) it will probably view it as spammy hidden text rather than something that benefits the user.
The reason I am replacing it is because it does define where the link takes you.
Let me give a better example. I have a link on the page with anchor text “customize”. The images and artwork above it make it clear what “customize” means , at least the the person visiting the site. Unfortunately, google only sees “customize”. It does not see “customize your i7 recording computer” which is the anchor text I want. The reason I dont have that full text shown, is because it becomes redundant with the design, and also, the design of the page, doesn’t give enough space to put that many words.
Does this make sense? And does anyone have any suggestions how to fix this other then redesigning the page.
By no means am I trying to stuff or cheat… I just know that anchor text need to explain where the link is going.
Also, if negative indents are an illegal method, you are saying replacing headings with background images is wrong also? I know this is a very commonly used technique…
If so, I have alot of work to do on some of my sites!
Off-screen positioning as a text replacement within a heading element is perfectly legitimate. There are various ways in which Google can decide if it thinks you are legitimately replacing the text with an equivalent image, or hiding keyword-stuffed text out of sight. Unfortunately, as much as you might think it is legitimate, when you are hiding partial content containing keywords that is going to look dodgy.
Does the position of the anchor on the page, and the context around it, not make it clear what the link is for? Is it a link that Google needs to pay that much attention to? I would have thought that a link enabling people to customise a product was possibly not the first page you’d want them to land at anyway.
Well basically everywhere I read says that anchor text is very important for SEO. I have read some tips on SEO that recommend making your anchor text very clear and they do what I am trying to do, except without adding the more detailed info. In the case of “customize” verse “customize your i7 recording computer”… I am now getting value for they keywords “recording computer” . I just dont feel like it is spamming keywords since it truthfully is the page your headed, it just describes the link better.
As I said, the only reason I am even considering hiding it is due to size constraints. I just feel like to make google happy, I need to do better than a “customize” anchor text…
never like taking a chance at google deciding to ruin a website’s seo or not
I think ill just stick with the safe way for now, and just leave my anchor text boring and uninformative to google. On the next redesign, I will have my designer keep seo in mind a bit more.
