Hidden text and links: everything you need to know

Hidden Text & Links: Everything You Need to Know

Posted on By Simon Gorlak
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Reading Time: 6 minutes

Hiding text & links is one method that favors the organic (SEO) results of your website.

Rapid growth, more traffic from SEO, better earning potential.

But for sure? And what are the consequences if something goes wrong?

There are many options, just as there’s risk involved.

But no spoilers—check it out for yourself.

SEO: What Is Hidden Text?

SEO: what is hidden text

Hidden text is not visible to web page visitors, however, search engine crawlers can detect this text.

Some hidden texts have the same color as the webpage’s background, while others might be positioned off-screen, making them undetectable to users.

But that’s not all.

Some websites (e-commerces too) use a “small font” technique, aiming to hide text from the user while making it visible to the search engine.

Does it work out?

Hidden text is not just random; it serves a purpose.

Often, the goal is to populate a page with specific keywords.

All-in-all, this strategy aims to influence search engine rankings artificially.

However, if you want to remain clean in the eyes of the search engine and credible to your customer—stay away from such stale methods for faster and higher SEO.

Spammy Ways to Boost the Rankings

Spammy links & hidden text have been used for many years to boost rankings.

However, Google is against it.

Your clients are too.

Especially now—many of your clients have already heard about SEO, and such flabby techniques can actually be counterproductive.

Nevertheless, many techniques have been employed and continue to work. Here are some of them:

1/ Stuffing web pages with irrelevant or excessive keywords.

Stuffing, or keyword density, refers to the practice of overloading a webpage with keywords that may not be relevant to the content. Doing so can manipulate search engine results, but it often leads to a poor user experience.

2/ Using white text on a white background.

Using this tactic, you place text in the same color as the page’s background, making it invisible to users but readable by search engines. 

3/ Positioning content behind images.

This one is more intriguing: text is placed behind webpage graphics or images, hiding it from users but keeping it accessible to search engine crawlers. It’s another method to sneak in additional keywords without changing the visual layout for users.

4/ Setting the font size to zero.

By reducing the font size to zero, the user won’t see that, but Google will. The text becomes invisible to the naked eye but remains detectable by search engines. This strategy is used to include extra keywords on a page without making them visible to users.

Read also:  Long-tail vs Short-tail Keywords: Explained

Four strategies that are getting out-of-date but, when used correctly, can have a notable impact on organic growth.

Is it worth it?

I always recommend natural, although time-consuming, growth, so these techniques aren’t adequate.

However, if you try them, I’d love to hear about the results (and how long it has taken)!

Why Hidden Text and Links Are Spammy?

In a nutshell—these are not natural ways to boost your website’s position in the search engine.

And everything that isn’t natural is considered inappropriate by Google and any other search engine.

If your client discovers hidden text and spammy links on your site, they won’t be delighted either.

Hidden content and links are considered spam because they deceive search engine algorithms. While they’re usually not visible to users, they can mislead search engines into thinking a page is more relevant than it actually is.

This goes against the principle of providing genuine, user-centric content. That’s why it’ll piss Google off.

If you want to attract and maintain visitors for a long time, focus on the right & proper SEO strategy.

Hidden Links & Text: How to Recognize Them?

Spotting hidden text, or even worse with links, can be challenging, especially if you’re not sure what to look for.

Here I’ve got some methods that will help you identify unwanted maladies:

  • Highlight Technique: This is the simplest one. Highlight the entire webpage (Ctrl + A). This can reveal text that’s camouflaged by being the same color as the background.
  • Browser Developer Tools: Modern browsers come with developer tools that allow you to inspect webpage elements. By inspecting, you can often detect styles or scripts designed to hide text or links.
  • Check the Page’s Source Code: Right-click on a webpage and select “View Page Source.” Scan through the code to find hidden styles or scripts.
    Look for CSS properties like visibility: hidden; or display: none; that can hide content.
  • SEO Tools: There are several SEO tools and browser extensions available that can help detect hidden content on web pages. These tools can automatically analyze pages and alert you to any hidden text or links.

Workaround: How to Hide Text and Not Violate Google’s Policy?

Google tends to prioritize the user experience. That’s obvious.

By using a kinda black-hat SEO technique, you can find a workaround for it.

Read also:  SEO Agency: 12 Ways to Stand Out on the Market

There are several methods that aren’t against Google, but they will favorably boost your website through written content.

These are some of them:

1/ Use “Alt” Text: “Alt” attributes for images are a legitimate way to add descriptive text that won’t be visible but can be read by search engines. It should be working seamlessly.

Example: <img src=”image.jpg” alt=”Image alt text” title=”Image Title”/>

2/ Write Expandable Content: If you have long articles or FAQs, you can use expandable content sections (like “read more” or additional features). As long as the content provides value and isn’t misleading, this is acceptable. 

3/ Responsive Design: Sometimes, content is hidden on mobile or desktop views to make a website more responsive. Ensure that the hidden content is genuinely intended to improve the user experience across devices. And before hitting “publish”, check twice the final version.

4/ Prioritize Accessibility: If you do so, use hidden content for accessibility purposes. For instance, screen readers for the visually impaired rely on “hidden” content to describe images, videos, or other visual elements.

Again, it’s not a good, or even recommendable, way to work on your rankings. 

But if you try to delve into the BH SEO, try to mitigate the risk and skyrocket the rankings.

Hidden Text and Its Importance for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Google loves content.

The more, the better. The meatier and more substantive it is, the faster you’ll rank higher.

It’s a simple rule.

But there’s an objection.

If you use too many similar words, trying to trick the search engine, Google will eventually penalize your website.

The penalty can be manual or algorithmic—both are threatening, but you can recover from a manual one faster than an algorithmic one. And afterward, the consequences are less grave.

So, Google loves content, but as with everything—keep the proper proportion.

Frequently Asked Questions for Hidden Text & Links

Is using hidden text always a bad SEO practice?

With the right number of keywords, it could even be a good boost for your website. Google won’t be upset, but your potential customers might stop visiting your site.

Can search engines always detect hidden text?

Absolutely. Overusing text leads to keyword stuffing, and in this way, your rankings and overall SEO outcome might suffer.

How to report a website that uses hidden text or malicious links?

Any search engine allows users to report web spam. You can use their report forms to notify them of websites seeing deceptive practices.

Can be hidden links & text considered as a legitimate reason for boosting SEO effort?

It’s not an unequivocal answer, but in some cases, yes. For example, a website could hide certain navigation links for mobile users to improve the user experience, making them visible only when needed.

Afterword

Hidden text and links have been a controversial topic in SEO.

A few years back overused, today there’s a more sensible approach to its usage.

While there are valid reasons to hide content, it’s crucial to ensure it’s done ethically and with the user’s experience in mind.

Personally, I don’t recommend it.

Nowadays, Search Engine Optimization is not just about content and fumbling in code. It’s a long-term collaboration with the client.

Yes, collaboration, because the client (initially a visitor or reader) co-creates your user experience.

The more you engage them, the more often they’ll return to you.

And do you think— is hiding text the best method to keep the visitor on your site?

Rather not, you know what I mean.

And how do you manage your organic growth with no hidden text involved?

Let me know in the comments, and if you enjoyed reading—share it with your friends.

And thank you for reading!
Simon

Author Profile

Simon Gorlak
Simon Gorlak is a Digital Marketing Expert with over 8 years of experience. He specializes in 3 areas: SEO, Lead Generation on LinkedIn, and Email Marketing. Simon's blog gathers knowledge that helps Marketers & C-level to increase profits from their online businesses. Also, his content helps to reach the most difficult customers, make others' content to be read & purchased. Besides digital marketing, Simon speaks 4 languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Polish & works as a Head of Business at an Indian Start-up.
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Technical SEO, SEO