The Search Engine Rankings Hazard of Using Hidden Keywords
An SEO No-No: Using “Invisible” Keywords Invites Rankings Disaster
I really did think this issue was one that wouldn’t come up too often any longer, as using “hidden” or invisible keyword text has been penalized for so long by Google and the other search engines that I assumed that new website owners and online marketers wouldn’t even have the thought enter their minds. This was a black-hat technique used from the beginning of the blossoming internet, and around 2003 the search engines got savvy to it and the spammers that were (for the most part) using it on their sites.
So, with so many years between then and now, I really thought (wrongly) that newbies wouldn’t even have the idea enter their mind, because they wouldn’t be reading anywhere that it honestly “worked” at boosting rankings long-term into the top ten. Well guess what? There is still talk amongst newbies about whether or not they ought to utilize hidden keyword text on their web pages.
So, let me go into this subject today and try to educate those of you who have toyed with the idea, or who have no clue as to what all this is about. I don’t want anyone to attempt this quickly penalized technique on their site! In this article I’ll show you what you should NOT do in an attempt to try and boost your search engine rankings. The unethical tactic I’m getting ready to share with you is really nothing new, as I’ve already explained.
If you want potential customers to find your internet marketing website, then ethical SEO techniques must be utilized, right? Of course! Unethical practices normally end up with one end result, and that is … getting banned by the search engines. Once you’re banned, your website is off the radar, it is nowhere to be found and it is an long, slow struggle to try and undo the damage that was done.
Chances are, since you are reading this article, is that you’re new to search engine optimization and because of this, you just might be at a point that many website owners get to. That point is this: you know the importance of writing keyword rich content to help rank well in the search engines and all of a sudden a light goes on and you might think, “Well shoot! What if I add some hidden keywords? Then maybe I’ll … rank higher, get ranked faster, sooner …”
Just What is Hiding Keywords in “Invisible Text”?
What does “invisible text” mean? It means that you have HTML coded your targeted keywords in text that is the same color as the background of your website. So, if I wanted to stuff this blog post with invisible keyword phrases, I’d code the offending text to be white, just like the color of the background that my content sits on.
“But … why not?” you may ask. What harm could there be in adding a few (or a lot) more keywords on your web page to appease the search engine spiders and hopefully boost your rankings?
True story: I had a client a few years ago who called me all excited one day “informing” me that she had learned a great method of increasing the number of times she could work her targeted keyword phrases into her content. When I asked, “how?”, I was enthusiastically told that her graphic artist friend told her to just make some of them the color of her background and then she’d not have to worry about trying to write so much content!
Let’s just say I told her that her suggestion was receiving an emphatic NO from me and that I wouldn’t continue SEOing her website if she didn’t believe me that it was a huge unethical mistake. The next day she called to apologize and said she’d done a little internet research and gee … “you are right, Claudia, employing hidden keywords is bad … really bad.”
Keyword stuffing via “invisible” means can cause a LOT of harm. It’s considered spamming and is still being used on websites today. Don’t do this! While almost all forms of hidden text will produce good ranking results in the short term, all major search engines have filters which are capable of detecting hidden text. Don’t think you or your SEO consultant will out-fool them!
Let me explain exactly what I’m describing to you so that you’ll never allow this mistake to be made on your internet marketing website. On a side note, I must mention that there are many unethical SEO consultants and search engine optimization services that practice this spamming technique. Run (don’t walk) away from anyone suggesting you implement this tactic on your website!
Hidden Text Cannot Be Seen by Regular Human Visitors, but Can Be Seen by the Spiders
The theory behind hidden text is that search engines will index the text, even though the text is invisible to human readers, thus making the page more keyword dense. There are two forms of hidden text – through the use of regular HTML, and through CSS.
As I briefly mentioned above, keywords can be hidden by using HTML coding. The font color for the keywords and/or keyword stuffed text is coded to be the same as the background color. Voila! The coded text now becomes invisible … it seemingly disappears into the background. However, this form of invisible text is quite easily detected by the search engine spiders.
Hidden text through CSS is more complicated. The color of the text is defined in an external file, which is not crawlable by search engines. Without getting into a technical explanation of how this is achieved, let me assure you this attempt at hiding keywords is also going on.
Though the CSS programmers and website owners may have a smug look on their faces right now, guess what? Good ‘ol Googlebot is, as always, a pretty shrewd little ‘bot and already there is much buzz in the SEO industry that CSS files are not able to hide stuffed keyword content any longer.
The Bottom Line to Achieving Higher Rankings … Slow, Sure, Steady AND Ethical
While almost all forms of hidden text will produce good results in the SHORT term, all major engines have implemented filters which are capable of detecting invisible text. Websites found to be using hidden text and keywords will almost certainly be permanently removed from the index of all search engines. For this reason I strongly encourage you to refrain from resorting to this awful and highly risky SEO tactic. No – let me say this another, and better way. Just DON’T DO IT!
Hidden text is one of the oldest and dumbest search engine optimization tricks in the book. If you can’t figure out how to write compelling, interesting marketing copy that also smoothly and naturally incorporates your targeted keywords into it, then you need to stop, sit down, and reassess your (or your hired copywriter’s) writing skills. Period!
Google’s Personalized Search – Big Changes To How Sites Can Rank
There’s a Buzz in SEO Circles About What Google’s New Changes Might Mean
On December 4th, Google made a big announcement about a switch to “personalized search” that didn’t really grab too much attention. But I am aware of this new search results development, and thought it worthy of mentioning.
Googe’s official name for personalized search is “Web History”. There are two options: Signed-Out Web History and Signed-In Web History.
Keeping my explanation short, “personalized search” means Google can now determine what your web surfing habits are and if you seem to favor certain sites over other sites, such as whether you consistently like to go to Overstock.com rather than Like.com, and starts to give Overstock a rankings boost. Or Target’s website instead of Wal-Mart’s. Somehow, someway (their secret) Google has the ability to memorize your web surfing habits. And mine, and anyone else’s. Thus, you will start seeing more of your “favorite most often visited websites” listed, perhaps for searches where those sites weren’t showing up before for you.
Before you get all worried about invasion of privacy issues, which has been a point of concern for many, Google offers us the ability to accept or refuse having personalized search results shown to us. Maybe you’ll feel better knowing that a person’s searching history is only kept for 180 days. Plus, you can delete that history at any time, but even if you don’t, it can’t actually be viewed by anyone other than Google. So Google claims privacy should not be a concern for us.
Also, in case you didn’t know, ALL the major search engines have recorded what you search on for many, many years. That’s just one of the many ways they determine ranking positions. Now Google is simply using the recorded data to further refine the results you can see.
Remember – you don’t have to choose to sign in to personalized search … but maybe a lot of your potential customers will.
How Could Personalized Search Affect Your Website Traffic, You Ask?
First, let’s talk basics. Personalized search will most likely affect ranking positions. Where ranking positions have sometimes been prone to vary depending upon which Google data center you live near (there are exceptions but I’m trying to keep this simple), now those sites one person favors might very well not rank the same for another person if both people search for exactly the same keyword phrase.
However, everything about this new ranking change isn’t set-in-cement. Such as … the website of a local bakery probably won’t be affected quite the same since a local bakery is just that … local and unique to the services offered. Or a local car mechanic, dry cleaners, etc.
So if you’ve been real proud of those top ranking positions you’ve held for quite awhile, you just might find you’re NOT holding a top ranking based upon the searching tendencies of the particular searcher in question. Follow me here? To further explain – your grandmother may not get the same results as you do because most likely the two of you search for quite different topics. 
Is Google’s personalized search reason for those of us battling to gain top rankings, or to continue to keep our top rankings, to get all crazy and worried? Um, not really. Not in my estimation, nor in the estimation of many respected SEO gurus.
What Google’s new search option means is that we need to continue to utilize good solid optimization basics on each and every page of our site, being:
- Make sure your web pages are accessible (well thought out navigational structure and hierarchy).
- Utilize the keywords that searchers employ within your Title and meta tags, and content.
- Over-delivery quality, informative content that visitors to your site will find useful and valuable.
- Try to earn editorial links from good sources related to your niche.
So, when all is said and done with any shift or change in ranking algorithms, the core issues I just listed above are ones that haven’t gone by the wayside, nor probably ever will. I’ve preached those four key points to all my SEO clients over the years and will continue to do so. And though yes, sometimes gaining top rankings isn’t a easy slam-dunk, by sticking to those simple points most all of us will ultimately see our sites holding great ranking positions.
How Much Content Comprises A “Proper” Web Page?
Content Length Misconceptions – Learn What Not to Do
Yesterday, I had a conversation with a prospective client pertaining to issues revolving around the lack of informative, quality content on each of the pages on their website. This is not the first time over the years, that I’ve had to address this matter with prospects. And in all cases, I kid you not, each person has strongly defended the lack of content, telling me that either: a) they read “somewhere”; or b) their web designer “instructed them”, that the correct length of the content on each web page should be entirely visible above the fold, and NEVER below the fold. So they did everything correctly and “web proper”. Sigh …
The term “above the fold” is used in web development to refer to the portions of a web page that can be visible on the monitor without scrolling.
Umm … so based on the conviction of “a” and “b”, that means when we land on a website, only the portion of your computer monitor’s screen should have the content. So why, pray tell, is there a right side vertical scrollbar visible on practically every web page we visit?
A scrollbar is a graphical object which allows the user to view continuous text, pictures or anything else that does not fit into the space in a computer’s monitor screen.
Because of this most recent conversation, I dug back into my memory bank, and thought I’d educate those of you who are new to having your own website by sharing an experience I had with a client of mine about a year ago.
I was hired as an SEO and online marketing consultant by a real newbie. Bless her heart … she had absolutely no idea about what it would take to get her service related business online. She shared how, because of her naiveness (which of course ANY newbie would have, I completely understand that), she got suckered in to paying someone $200.00 to design a website for her. Oh yes … what a “deal” she thought she was going to get!
Without going into the whole story, let’s just say she got exactly what she paid for! A very crappy poorly coded antiquated-design mess of a site, if you could even call it a “site”.
As a matter of fact, this $200.00 design job was supposedly done by someone who had told her they really understood HTML coding. HA! What a joke! Let’s just say anybody could have done a better job by going online and researching basic HTML coding structure.
After I explained to her everything that was wrong with her site, the content, the SEO, etc., she begged my helping in redesigning the site, which I did handle for her, but for a fee of course.
If I seem like I am going off track here with the topic at hand, that being “How Much Content Comprises A “Proper” Web Page”, well I am … sort of. But I’m telling you this first part about the website design fiasco because this same “expert” gave my new client some of the most ridiculous information about website content and how much you should write for each page that I’d heard in a long time.
My New Client’s Understanding of Proper Content “Length”
My client had provided carefully written content for the 5-pages she wanted on her website that would promote her business. Part of my job was to research the keyword phrases to target for her niche, and to properly SEO the tags. Along with that, I coached her how to tweak her content so that it incorporated the keywords into each web site page of content.
Her pages definitely needed to utilize the keywords I’d chosen for her, but I also mentioned she needed to flesh out the content a bit more, too. Reason being that I knew her website visitors would be more prone to stay on her site and hopefully place an order with her, if she wasn’t so sketchy with the on-page information. I told her they’d probably click right off her web page and go back to the search page to find another site to visit.
In regard to this conversation she emailed me saying:
“My understanding of a ‘page’ is what you can see when strolling [sic] down before the page ends, and I was told that it was better to have it all in that area only.”
Ummm … okay … say what? 
So … she believed that a web page’s content ought only to be visible above the fold. Or another way to put it, to only be visible on a computer screen without needing to scroll down in order to continue reading the rest of the page.
Wrong! (Like I said before, bless her heart! She was trusting this other ill-informed person to steer her in the right direction.)
So, to straighten her out, here was my email reply to her:
About web page length … I believe I understand what you are trying to explain to me about “what you can see when scrolling down before the page ends”. This is referred to as “above the fold”. Whomever the person is that told you that is quite ill-informed. Please know that a web page is however many words of informative and well written content and/or images it takes to complete that page and to make sense to the person reading it, and to provide the information they were hoping to find when they landed on that web page!
Think about it … how many darn websites do you go to that you do indeed keep scrolling down to continue reading the content? It is very rare that we land on a website that has just a couple of short paragraphs on each web page!
So, if you are brand new, or even more than a little new to getting a website up and running, please know that each page of content you write should be everything and more for your visitors! If a short page is all that is necessary and does the trick, then fine. If it takes many many words and images to provide a great web page, then fine! Scrolling down a page to keep reading the content is NOT even an issue!
I believe wholeheartedly that it is much better to over-deliver in the information you provide on each page. I personally maintain this attitude for almost everything I write for my websites and blogs. I do not take into consideration it’s length. I focus on quality of content!
I suggest you adopt this same attitude, too. You can’t be wrong by doing so, and your web site content will be all the better because of it!
Not sure if your website could use a little tweaking or a major over-haul in order to better promote your products or services to a larger target group of customers? That is why I am happy to offer a free 30-minute SEO phone consultation to you. To learn more or set-up a call with me, please go to: Complimentary Consultation. I look forward to chatting. My goal is always to help my clients achieve all they desire via their website and online marketing efforts!
Niche Marketing: Newbie Asks “Is ‘Dogs’ A Good Niche?”
Choosing a Marketing Niche Without Keyword Research is a Huge Mistake
Here’s a situation that is all too common with newcomers to the internet marketing world. But in the following instance, the question was being asked of me by an individual that claims to have a web development business! I don’t know about you, but if I had hired this company to help develop my website’s online presence, and I became aware that the owner was asking a question like this one, well … his company wouldn’t be involved with my website anymore!
I digress, so back to the subject at hand. Here is a very common situation that arises AFTER a new internet marketer jumps on the band wagon. Let me share the gist of what this individual was asking me:
Hi: I am new to the affiliate marketing business. I presently own and operate a small web development company. We recently developed a website targeted to people who are interested in and/or related to all areas relating to dogs. They could be dog owners, breeders, groomers, trainers, etc.
Here is my question: Is “dogs” a good niche?
Is “Dogs” a Good Niche?
Sigh … OK, so this individual has already purchased a domain name; has started to build out a site around the HUGE category of dogs; has probably taken time to write content; taken time to place the content and other information onto this new site … but he’s asking NOW “is ‘dogs’ a good niche”??
Did he put the cart before the horse? Yes, most definitely. My suggestion to him was to STOP what they were doing right now and do some keyword research using a tool like Wordtracker or the Google Keyword Tool.
I told him that the niche pertaining to dogs was huge! (But “dogs” is not what you’d call a niche. Poodles would be a niche, or puppy training would be a niche.) I advised “dogs” was way too broad for them to achieve any online marketing success. That they needed to narrow it down!
I told him I’d make a 200% wager that they hadn’t done any keyword research, based on the question. I told him if they expected to attract targeted traffic, then keyword research was a must.
In addition, I advised that not only would the keyword research help them discover smaller niches within the broad category of dogs, they’d also get a grasp on what people were REALLY typing into the search engines to find out information about dogs.
If you know what people are searching for, then you’ll know what content topics to write about in order to try and grab some of that traffic via your organic search engine rankings!
As an example of what I am talking about, I entered “dogs” into Wordtracker, set it to give me the top 100 results, and here’s an example of those results.
Here’s the top ten (actual term being used with projected 24 hour searches made in the USA):
- 1. dogs 36,052
2. dogsrule.com 7,241
3. who let the dogs out 1,417
4. funny dogs 1,130
5. dogs for sale 1,058
6. hot dogs 831
7. cute dogs 798
8. boxer dogs 753
9. small dogs 693
10. mummy dogs 622
All the way down to:
- 93. herbs for dogs 123
94. teacup dogs 122
95. seizures in dogs 120
96. english bull dogs 120; and lastly …
100. havanese dogs 115
So, the moral of this story is to do your keyword research before you even purchase a domain name! You have to know the niche(s) you will be targeting within the broad category you’ve chosen.
Plus, you must get an idea of what people are searching for! If you build out a website that contains information that only 2 people a day are interested in, it’s going to be terribly difficult to make any money as an online marketer!
Don’t want to do keyword research yourself? No problem.
I provide custom keyword research reports.
I’ll tailor the report to the niche and your internet marketing goals.
How To Choose A Domain Name That Reflects Your Business Theme
Your Domain Name Should Define Your Website’s Identity
Oh boy! It’s time to pick out your new domain name. If you’re one of the lucky internet marketers, your creative name (you know, something to the point and descriptive like “yummybrownies” or “expertpondbuilders”) might be sitting there, available to purchase. But for most of us, the domain name we want has already been taken.
Certain niches are more saturated than others, like those dealing with the area of internet marketing. So, you might encounter obstacles in finding an available domain name that also is one you will feel comfortable with. As example, I had a hard time when I was choosing the domain name for my SEO consulting website. Every name I kept coming up with (meaning I could live with it for the rest of my website’s life) was taken. I spent hours and hours until I finally settled on one.
I feel it’s very important to do keyword research before you jump in and buy a domain name. The process of researching keywords helps you not only understand the search behavior of your target customers, but also really helps you see which keyword phrases are actually being searched for by your prospects. If you are struggling to come up with a domain name, this step should help your creative juices some. You just might uncover some keyword phrases you’d not even considered. And these phrases might get your brain to start thinking of other possible domain names that had never entered your mind.
Don’t Go and Buy Up a Domain Name Blindly … Mull it Over for Awhile
Think about this. You are going to be basing everything around this new identity you are creating, that being your new website. You might wish to use your product’s brand name, or you might pick a domain name that is indicative of what the website is about. I’ve done that with most of my websites. The domain names I chose gives a potential visitor a very good idea of the theme (or niche) of each site.
If you already have an established brick and mortar company, and a website is going to be your newest marketing arm, don’t necessarily assume your company name is the best choice for your website. It may be, and then again, depending upon the product … it might be better to not use your company name. I’ll get into that in a minute.
As I’ve already said, it is best to do keyword research first. In my case, for all the websites I own, I have used Wordtracker and the Google Keyword Tool to sift through all the keyword phrases and give my brain food for thought.
I always start with this first step. The keyword results I uncover give me a really good idea of what my potential visitors, in the niche that I’m targeting, are searching for. Then, I keep that in mind while I begin thinking up domain names I’d like to have. I refer to a dictionary and thesaurus, too. These help me find words that I may not have thought of. My sheets of paper with all possible names, and many derivatives of those names, begin to fill up.
I will then usually type in my most favorite domain names into a search engine to see: (a) if it’s already in use; and (b) what that website looks like. I suggest you do this, too. Reason being … if you end up being dead set on a domain name you feel you “just gotta have”, but that name is already in use, you might find you can purchase the hyphenated version of it. Example: “yummybrownies.com” versus “yummy-brownies.com”
To make checking lots of domain names and their availability easier, you can go to most any domain registrar website (I use GoDaddy) and type in the name choices you’re researching. You’ll find out if the name is available to purchase, or if it is already taken.
There are many domain name sellers out there. Double check on the pricing before you pay. I’ve seen .com domains for $24.95 a year down to $9.95, or cheaper if a sale is being offered. I have been quite happy using both GoDaddy and Namecheap when I want to purchase a domain name. They are one of the biggest domain name sellers so are able to offer great pricing.
Like I said, in most cases you’ll probably spend a good deal of time researching available domain names, unless you luck out and the one you want is sitting there ripe for the picking.
Here are Some Important Points to Keep in Mind While You’re Deciding What Your New Domain Name Will Be
- Keep it short and sweet whenever possible. Simple phrases work great. Think about how really long domain names can so easily get misspelled if someone is trying to manually type it in. Not everyone may have your site bookmarked!
- Don’t assume your unique product’s brand name is the best choice. It might be better to incorporate a keyword or two along with the brand name.
- Targeted keywords in a domain name are useful in making it clear what the site is about. Again this is where your keyword research pays off.
- I do not advise you try to cash in on trade-name or trade-name typos. Domain “squatting” on high profile corporate names can lead to costly legal battles.
- If possible, also buy the .net, .info, maybe the .mobi (or other variations) of your domain name. If nothing else, you are keeping them away from a competitor. And you never know when you’ll have a need to use the variation for a different branch of marketing or service for the main domain. If you don’t use them, you can always redirect them to your main .com domain, as example.
- Many people also purchase other spelling variations of their domain name. You can redirect them to the main domain as mentioned above. This is done mainly to get traffic that might have not otherwise reached you.
- Stick with a .com domain whenever possible. However, if you are a non-profit, then go for a .org. These are preferable over .net, .biz, .info, etc. But it you have to use one of these to get the domain name you are just dying to have, then OK.
- If the domain name you want is already in use, adding hyphens between the words is an option – unless that variation is already taken. There are pros and cons to doing this. However, with two of my domains (SEO-Innovation.com being one of them), I purchased the hyphenated versions as I wanted those names. I visited the sites of the non-hyphenated versions, and thought long and hard about the implications of the two of us having very similar names. You do take a slight risk in having a domain name that is identical to someone else’s site, save for the hyphens in the name.
What to Do if the Domain Name You Absolutely Positively Cannot Live Without is Already Taken
There are options you can take to try and buy a domain name from the existing owner. Since I use GoDaddy, if you check on a name and it’s already taken, there are links asking you if you want to try and buy it, and how to go about it. Most other companies offer the same service.
