> This is a great post and will certainly serve for a reference for a
> lot of newbies for years to come! Kind of justification too since I
> once got 'flamed' by some users for having 'hidden' text based on
> having a display:none for an advanced search form which was/is visible
> when clicking on an 'advanced search form' link :) It's one of my main
> pet peeves with people that simply use a free tool that is online to
> do a check without actually placing their findings in context by
> having a look at the site. But that's off topic, so just wanted to say
> thanks.

> On Oct 5, 11:40 pm, Wysz wrote:

> > In our "Popular Picks" thread, Burchman asked for some clarification
> > on what Google considers to be hidden text, as our Webmaster
> > Guidelines explicitly state that you should avoid hidden text or
> > hidden links. We have a few examples of how text can be hidden in this
> > Help Center article:http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66353

> > As I've noticed other users with similar questions in this group, such
> > as "What if my navigation menu uses display:none to hide text until a
> > button is rolled over?" I figured this would be a good topic to cover
> > in "Popular Picks." The reason we perceive hidden text as a problem is
> > that it serves content to search engines which users don't see, and
> > presenting different content to search engines and users makes it more
> > difficult to properly rank pages. If we detect that this text is
> > intended to deceive search engines, there could be a negative effect
> > on how your site is indexed and ranked in Google, including removal
> > from our index.

> > Because such strong action may be taken on sites violating this
> > guideline, it's understandable that many webmasters have expressed
> > concerns about the possibility of Google incorrectly detecting
> > legitimate content as hidden text. When trying to figure out if a page
> > may have hidden text that Google would consider malicious, start by
> > thinking about why the guideline was written in the first place:
> > Google wants to see what the user sees. If the text that Google sees
> > is the same that a normal user is supposed to see, then you should be
> > good to go. If Google is seeing text that is intentionally hidden from
> > the user in an effort to manipulate search engine rankings, you have
> > some work to do.

> > Let's try this approach with a page you may have seen before:http://www.google.com/

> > In the top-left corner, you'll see a line of text:
> > "Web Images Video News Maps Gmail more."

> > Google sees this text, and so do you, the user. So far, so good.

> > Next, let's make sure nobody wrote "search engine search find crawl
> > index rank" in white text on the white background, with the intention
> > of ranking for those terms. Google would see that, but a normal user
> > wouldn't. Take off your "normal user" hat for a second and do a
> > "Select All" on the page (by hitting CTRL-A on a PC, or COMMAND-A on a
> > Mac, for instance). This will make any white on white text appear. As
> > you can see, no hidden text.

> > But let's try one more thing: Render the page again without CSS
> > enabled. The Web Developer extension for Firefox lets you do this
> > pretty easily. Without CSS, you'll see several  words we didn't see
> > before:
> > "Blog Search Blogger Books Calendar Documents Finance Groups Labs
> > Orkut Patents Photos Products Reader Scholar."

> > You may have also noticed that these words appear in Google's text-
> > only cache of itself, which is a good indication of how Google "sees"
> > a site. But before you blog about your discovery of hidden links on a
> > PR 10 site =), take a look at the page again with CSS enabled. This
> > time, click on the "more" link, and voilà, the no-longer-hidden text
> > appears. This text is part of the page's functionality, and it is
> > meant for the user to read and use, not just for search engines to
> > index. This text adds value for the user, which Google rewards, so
> > Google would not hurt this site's ranking or remove it from the index
> > for that reason. Many sites use similar methods for navigational menus
> > and other functional elements, so please rest assured that the
> > existence of display:none on your site is not on its own a one-way
> > ticket out of Google's index.

> > When thinking about your own site, ask yourself if all of the text is
> > there for the user. If the answer is "yes," great job! If the answer
> > is "no," do your best to change it to a "yes," and call on your
> > webmaster community (this group!) for advice if you need it. CSS menus
> > and white space without hidden text should not be a cause of concern
> > when it comes to Google indexing and ranking; the only thing you
> > should be concerned about is how they affect your visitors.

> > In the "Popular Picks" thread we asked for non-site specific
> > questions, but now that this has been separated into its own thread,
> > here's your chance to ask about a site you are still unsure about.
> > Please also let me know if you would like further clarification on
> > particular aspects this topic.

> > - Wysz- Hide quoted text -

> - Show quoted text -