User Comments

1. 

   3/11/09

   JamCan

   Do you mean linking to your own sight???

   [reply]
2. 

   3/11/09

   LaMirabelle

   No any links.

   [reply]
3. 

   3/11/09

   melindaville

   I'm not sure I understand what you are talking about. Why would anyone have a white link on white background that no one can see? That would be like typing in a white color font on a white background. It would just look like a blank page!
   
   I don't understand what you mean when you say, "You're supposed to write each link even if it looks ugly."
   
   And how does Google penalize you? By lowering PR? Or by removing adsense?
   
   I've never experienced any problems such as these and don't even know if I have seen such a thing on anyone's blog. But I'm still rather new (but it's going on 9 months now!).

   [reply]
4. 

   3/11/09

   LaMirabelle

   Here's Google's text:
   
   
   Hidden text and links
   
   
   Hiding text or links in your content can cause your site to be perceived as untrustworthy since it presents information to search engines differently than to visitors. Text (such as excessive keywords) can be hidden in several ways, including:
   
   * Using white text on a white background
   * Including text behind an image
   * Using CSS to hide text
   * Setting the font size to 0
   
   Hidden links are links that are intended to be crawled by Googlebot, but are unreadable to humans because:
   
   * The link consists of hidden text (for example, the text color and background color are identical).
   * CSS has been used to make tiny hyperlinks, as little as one pixel high.
   * The link is hidden in a small character - for example, a hyphen in the middle of a paragraph.
   
   If your site is perceived to contain hidden text and links that are deceptive in intent, your site may be removed from the Google index, and will not appear in search results pages. When evaluating your site to see if it includes hidden text or links, look for anything that's not easily viewable by visitors of your site. Are any text or links there solely for search engines rather than visitors?
   
   If you're using text to try to describe something search engines can't access - for example, Javascript, images, or Flash files - remember that many human visitors using screen readers, mobile browsers, browsers without plug-ins, and slow connections will not be able to view that content either. Using descriptive text for these items will improve the accessibility of your site. You can test accessibility by turning off Javascript, Flash, and images in your browser, or by using a text-only browser such as Lynx. Some tips on making your site accessible include:
   
   * Images: Use the alt attribute to provide descriptive text. In addition, we recommend using a human-readable caption and descriptive text around the image.
   * Javascript: Place the same content from the Javascript in a no script tag. If you use this method, ensure the contents are exactly same as what is contained in the Javascript and that this content is shown to visitors who do not have Javascript enabled in their browser.
   * Videos: Include descriptive text about the video in HTML. You might also consider providing transcripts.
   
   If you do find hidden text or links on your site, either remove them or, if they are relevant for your site's visitors, make them easily viewable. If your site has been removed from our search results, review our webmaster guidelines for more information. Once you've made your changes and are confident that your site no longer violates our guidelines, submit your site for reconsideration.
   
   
   Don't know if it's really important though.

   [reply]
   1. 

      3/11/09

      melindaville

      Okay-NOW I understand what you are talking about. I have even used those types of links for admin purposes.
      
      I wouldn't worry too much about it though--I doubt you are doing anything that will cause your site to be hurt by those rules.
      
      Thank you for the detailed explanation! I appreciate it.
5. 

   3/11/09

   LaMirabelle

   You're very welcome
   I was puzzled myself.
   
   Yes I guess it means we shouldn't overdo it. Google likes to dramatize

   [reply]
   1. 

      3/11/09

      melindaville

      True. Google = drama queens (or drama whores if we want to be crude )
6. 

   3/11/09

   pillownaut

   Well, I wouldn't say Google is dramatizing, really... this is a reasonable policy and it's well-known they like lots of text, and avoiding "invisible" tactics helps weed out the garbage sites who attempt to attract traffic with deceptive means. Spam sites and phishers are known to use these things extensively, for example...

   [reply]
   1. 

      3/11/09

      timethief

      I agree and well said. FWIW there is nothing new here. The contents of the communication from Google are well known and readily found by all who have a Google webmasters account.
      Here's the link www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66353
   2. 

      3/12/09

      LaMirabelle

      Well I don't really agree. I have a Google Webmasters account and it took me a while to find this.
      
      I do think that Google doesn't penalize you if it's done reasonnably.
      I don't want to spell out every link and I like the concept of Easter Eggs, especially if you link to videos.
      I haven't noticed any effect on the way google references me.
      So Google is dramatizing because in the article it sounds like you can't use hidden links at all, which is not the case luckily.