Why Hide? Text that is.....

nospam@example.com (Sarah Chantigian) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:53:06 +0000

This is an old trick that appears to be evident on many websites today. Many years ago when I started online marketing it was a general practice to hide text on a website. It wasn't meant to be a bad thing, but a way to let search engines know what your keywords are (or target market) without cluttering the look and feel of the website. It also made it more appealing for visitors as they could not see it.

The idea was to take whatever color background the page was (typically a white one) and have white or the same color font.

Over time, search engines became clever (although sometimes I question that ). Most search engines know what to look for and if they do find out you are purposely hiding text (also referred to a keyword stuffing or spamming) they can penalize you. Being penalized by a search engine is really one of the worst things that can happen to your web business. I've seen sites lose rankings, have a hard time competing with other sites for top position, and even banishment.

The bottom line is, if you have hidden text, remove it ASAP. If a person or search engine company is using this technique, tell them to stop immediately. If they tell you it's ok, definitely leave!

If you are not sure, let us review the site for free.

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Why Hide? Text that is.....