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. Using 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!
