Hidden Text SEO
Hidden texts are texts on a web page that are completely invisible to users. However, they are crawled by search engine robots. A few years back, it was a well-known black hat technique to boost your website’s ranking on Google.
If you are thinking that hidden text can, perhaps, increase organic traffic to your site. There is some bad news, unfortunately. Firstly, you are greatly mistaken because this strategy is now ineffective, and secondly, it can penalize your website.
How to use Hidden Text in SEO?
In the early 2000s, there were many flaws in search engine algorithms. That is why website developers could easily hide texts and links in the content of web pages. The only motive was to achieve the highest ranking in the SERPs. To hide a group of keywords on a page, web developers use black text on a black background or white text on white background. Sometimes hidden text can involve minimalizing the font size.
Search engines nowadays are more accurate and can deliver relevant search results with their adjusted ranking signals.
Penalty for hiding text on Google
Today, hiding text on a web page is commonly known as spam. Mainly when the sole purpose is to manipulate the algorithm for organic traffic gain. Your site will surely be penalized and may end up on the lower pages of search engine results.
About 80% of web surfers never click outside of the first two pages of results on Google or other search engines. Hence, if your website doesn’t rank on the first or second page, you run the risk of losing potential visitors or clients.
Remember, Google searches for a website with good quality content and well-optimized landing pages for conversion. As well as sites that offer great and positive user experience and user engagement. Hence, Google rewards such websites with higher search engine result page rankings.
Using hidden content in an SEO-friendly way
The good news is that Google’s algorithm and Google Bots have greatly improved over the years. Therefore, website owners can use hidden text in a user-friendly and efficient way. See below for some legitimate reasons to hide texts without hiding them from users.
- FAQs Accordions
- Read more Buttons
- Alt text attribute for images
- Navigation tab and drop-down menus
- Video transcripts for preserving the page size
Benefits of Hidden Text SEO
Increase usability
When it comes to the user interface, Hidden Text SEO can greatly improve a website’s usability. For example, the hidden blocks in drop-down menus, multi-level menus, or pop-ups. These techniques are implemented not for manipulating the rankings but for the site’s usability.
Page management relevance
Webmasters can use a white hat method in managing their site’s relevance. This technique consists of hiding the text from the search bots using tags to close indexing, for example, <noindex> and <nofollow>. Additionally, webmasters can use JavaScript or Flash to display text as an image.
In summary
Hidden Text should be SEO-optimized, free of keyword stuffing, and valued equally as usual content on a website. Besides, hidden content should always be useful and help tailor your site for mobile-first indexing. Furthermore, when used wisely, Google Hidden Text SEO improves user experience and improves accessibility.
