Text-indent=-9999em = Bad SEO ?
-
Since we weren't the ones who designed above mentioned website there is something we really don't understand. They have replaced images with text using css as below examples.
CSS --------->
div#logo { background: #fff url(../images/logo.gif) no-repeat 20px 0px; margin-bottom: 30px; } div#logo a { height: 148px; text-indent: -1000em; display: block; }
HTML ----------- >
******************
What my question is out of 100 scale how much does this affect SEO ? What if we keep H1 tags black without putting any text between tags ?
-
I understand your situation and am sympathetic. I am simply trying to offer you the information you are seeking.
If you are performing SEO work on a site, then it is your role to educate the owner / developer on the risks associated with the site in it's present condition and to make recommendations.
I am in the fortunate position where I can turn down a client. I would turn away a client who was unwilling or unable to make changes which involved black hat methods. I would not want my name associated with such a site, nor the headaches that are involved with such sites.
If you choose to continue working with the site, I would strongly recommend a written document where you advised the client of these issues along with the consequences and they have acknowledged (i.e. signed) the document.
As far as making other changes, you are still breaking the rules but are fixing some of the violations. The changes may or may not help you avoid a penalty.
-
This site wasn't designed by me . So I cannot change any code at the moment . This site uses alot of hidden texts . such as navigation , company logo etc . What If I just keep the image without putting any text between those tags . That why search engines don't find any text in HTML at least.
-
When any crawler visits your site, they can see all of your web code. They definitely can see your CSS and will de-index a site for this form of manipulation.
Blocking your CSS files would yield the same result. You are required to present the same code to search engines that you do for users.
It's called Black Hat SEO. The company you are trying to cheat is the world's #1 search company with 30+ billion in revenue last year. There are a million other websites trying to get away with cheating. This has all been tried before.
Even if you devised a brilliant new method of cheating the system, it is only a matter of time until you are caught and your site is de-indexed. You would lose 100% of traffic along with any revenue from organic search.
-
Well How Can I google find that Im hiding any text between tags unless one of my competitors report them ?
What If I block Stylesheet using robots.txt ?
-
If you hide any H1 tags or content on your site, you will surely be caught and penalized. It's just a question of time.
How costly will the penalty be? Log into Google WMT and see what % of your site's traffic comes from organic search. No imagine that being 0% for a few weeks that is will take Google to review your reconsideration request. Now weigh the relatively minor benefit this manipulation offers your site.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Negative seo problem
Hello, Someone attacked our website with negative SEO and our website fell drastically. If i use bing webmaster tools link explorer i see dozens and dozens spam links but if open a link i don't find this link in that website. Is it possible that someone added the links and then remove thouse links when we got hit? Or is it possible to hide the links that they don't show up on webpage but they are still there? How can i use Google disavow links tool if there is no links in thouse websites but Bing link explorer shows spam domains pointing to our website. BR, T
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | otsinguturundus0 -
Domain Forwarding for SEO
Hey guys, I recently created a new website for a client who was ranking #1 for the term "jupiter obgyn" but they have now dropped down to #4. This happened because their old home page was at www. instead of just jupiterobgyn.com. When you type in the www. version, it does take you to the root domain but it's not carrying the old PA! The www. version of the page had a 22 PA and the new root domain hosted page is a 1. How can I fix it so that "link juice" carries over? Is this something i need to do in 1and1 (their web host) or within Wordpress? Thanks!!!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RickyShockley0 -
How do you Hire someone for SEO?
What questions do you ask when hiring an SEO person? What is the most important thing in selecting a company for SEO? Should they be able to make recommendations on changes in your website for seo?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Realtor1010 -
How to create SEO budget?
If I see the site which has 8,000 links from unique domains (RDD in Market Samurai). How much could it cost to build such amount of links? How long does it take? What SEO budget will be based on these data?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rboychuk0 -
SEO for a plumber?
Hello, How does a small, local business win at SEO (without abusing directories, articles, and paid links)? It seems that everyone is saying "create unique content", but that just doesn't seem realistic for a small plumber in a big metro area. One might suggest coming up with helpful articles about plumbing tips, etc., but there are thousands of spun articles on article directories already. On page optimization is in place, we are listed in the main directories, we've asked the people we know to link to us, and we are engaged in social media. What would you recommend next? Thanks, Will
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | WillWatrous0 -
Is IP trust a factor in SEO
Hi If my website is on an IP address that has a bad reputation with AOL for email, would Google use that as a factor in where they place us in SERPs? If so, what should I do? Matt
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | usedcarexpert0 -
SEO Landing Page Fail
We have a PPC landing page template that I've used to aggregate blog post collections thematically. http://www.ietravel.com/machu-picchu-travel http://www.ietravel.com/kenya-and-tanzania-safari The hope was that they would start ranking. After 5 months, it has yet to happen.Thought it was a good idea at the time because these pages have a nice prominent call-to-action area. It now occurs to me that the pages are probably under-performing because they are not incorporated into the main site navigation. Do you think that if I move these under their appropriate categories in the main site I'll see some lift? (Of course, I will add 301 redirects as well.) Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | csmithal0 -
Need Guidance On SEO Campaign
Hello, my website is www.mybluedish.com and I am launching an SEO campaign to increase our rankings, especially for the keyword 'satellite internet'. We used to be ranked #5 for this keyword and Google made some changes about 9 months ago that dropped us way back. We have recovered a lot back to #18 now, but have been stuck here for a while. I want to step up our SEO campaign and have come up with the following campaign. Could any SEO's please tell me if you think the following is the make up of a solid SEO campaign or if it should be adjusted? Thank you. 12 new blog articles/month 24 Articles submitted to 10 different directories each (total of 200 article directory submissions)/month 1 basic Press Release from PR.com/month 200 do follow blog comments/month 10 paid blog posts (on other people’s blogs of PR 1-5)/month
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MyNet0