SEO Tycoon

**edgray** · 02-25-2011, 07:32 AM

I'm developing a site at the moment which will feature a series of videos and absolutely no text whatsoever.

Obviously this just leaves description, title and meta data for SEO purposes.

I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on hidden content? Would I be able to get away with hiding a text description and some tags purely for SE bots? Anyone got any experience with anything like this?

Thanks.

**Jeniffer12** · 02-25-2011, 11:46 AM

hidden content is not good for a site means it's a black hat technique.

**rolda hayes** · 02-25-2011, 12:10 PM

What about "hiding" the content with Jquery so a user would have the option of bringing up a description if they wanted?

At least this way it wouldn't be seen as hiding for the purpose of the search engines.

**usrecord** · 02-25-2011, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgray

I'm developing a site at the moment which will feature a series of videos and absolutely no text whatsoever.

Obviously this just leaves description, title and meta data for SEO purposes.

I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on hidden content? Would I be able to get away with hiding a text description and some tags purely for SE bots? Anyone got any experience with anything like this?

Thanks.

Hidden content is not good in search engine specially in google.

**vangogh** · 03:28 PM

Is there any reason you specifically can't use text? Lots of sites will display a video and then offer a transcript of the video below, or show notes, etc. If people will be able to comment on the page that's another way to add text, though naturally the actual text is out of your control.

Hidden text generally isn't a good idea, but it really comes down to intent. If you're hiding text by make the color match the background then search engines are going to view you as a spammer.

On the other hand if your hidden text is something the user can access on request like a drop down menu or a button that shows a popup, there's nothing wrong with it.

Maybe you could offer a transcript of the video and hide it by default. Leave a button or link to open the full transcript. That should be fine, though having the text of the transcript not need the javascript to open is probably the better solution.

Regardless, make sure to use appropriate keywords in the page title, url, etc. At the very least leave some text describing what's in the video. That'll be good for people and search engines. Even a paragraph or two would be good.

**ihatebusy** · 02-25-2011, 08:07 PM

Hidden content will bring you problems, search engine consider hidden content as cheating...

**sivaseoseo** · 02-26-2011, 02:01 AM

It is non ethical way so dont use this method on your site. you have more chances to penalize by google if you use this method

**chrishirst** · 02-26-2011, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ihatebusy

Hidden content will bring you problems, search engine consider hidden content as cheating...

Quote:

Originally Posted by usrecord

Hidden content is not good in search engine specially in google.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sivaseoseo

It is non ethical way so dont use this method on your site. you have more chances to penalize by google if you use this method

alt attribute text is hidden from users but not search engines.

**hillaryjohnson** · 02-28-2011, 12:30 AM

Its purely an unethical way of SEO! Its better to put short description of Videos. Your hidden text will be considered as Black Hat SEO and it will affect very badly..

**Sierra Charlie** · 02-28-2011, 12:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vangogh

Is there any reason you specifically can't use text? Lots of sites will display a video and then offer a transcript of the video below...

Hi Van, this is working. We tried the same thing with one of our projects for a photographer with extra attention on titles/H tags and some content hidden with JS. we knew that we should be ok. But we were skeptical for a while until we had the rankings coming. Everything is smooth flowing now.

**seo.vijay** · 02-28-2011, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rolda hayes

What about "hiding" the content with Jquery so a user would have the option of bringing up a description if they wanted?

At least this way it wouldn't be seen as hiding for the purpose of the search engines.

Absolutely agree...

**Atcomaart** · 02-28-2011, 06:08 AM

I never use Hidden content in my website because its Black hat techniques...

**edgray** · 02-28-2011, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeniffer12

hidden content is not good for a site means it's a black hat technique.

Alt attributes? Are they black hat?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rolda hayes

What about "hiding" the content with Jquery so a user would have the option of bringing up a description if they wanted?

At least this way it wouldn't be seen as hiding for the purpose of the search engines.

Yeah I've thought about this. It's certainly the best solution I've seen so far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by usrecord

Hidden content is not good in search engine specially in google.

Alt attributes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by vangogh

Is there any reason you specifically can't use text? Lots of sites will display a video and then offer a transcript of the video below, or show notes, etc. If people will be able to comment on the page that's another way to add text, though naturally the actual text is out of your control.

Hidden text generally isn't a good idea, but it really comes down to intent. If you're hiding text by make the color match the background then search engines are going to view you as a spammer.

On the other hand if your hidden text is something the user can access on request like a drop down menu or a button that shows a popup, there's nothing wrong with it.

Maybe you could offer a transcript of the video and hide it by default. Leave a button or link to open the full transcript. That should be fine, though having the text of the transcript not need the javascript to open is probably the better solution.

Regardless, make sure to use appropriate keywords in the page title, url, etc. At the very least leave some text describing what's in the video. That'll be good for people and search engines. Even a paragraph or two would be good.

The main reason is one of aesthetics. The second reason is there will be little to no text anyway, just a few tags for each video and perhaps a short description or simply a title. Neither of which are important to those who are viewing the video.

I think Darren's idea of some kind of jQuery slider would perhaps be a good solution.

I used SWFObject to embed flash into a site once, and had a full HTML alternative underneath which Google didn't seem to mind at all. I don't see a problem with a hidden description of the video, it's certainly not cheating anyone if it's on topic, no?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Atcomaart

I never use Hidden content in my website because its Black hat techniques...

You never use Alt attributes?

**LarryHeart** · 02-28-2011, 07:38 AM

This is not a hidden content, all the meta tags are functional.
This will not penalyze you.
The hidden text is harmful(and links too), so avoid this criterion.

**austin01** · 02-28-2011, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edgray

Alt attributes? Are they black hat?

Yeah I've thought about this. It's certainly the best solution I've seen so far.

Alt attributes?

The main reason is one of aesthetics. The second reason is there will be little to no text anyway, just a few tags for each video and perhaps a short description or simply a title. Neither of which are important to those who are viewing the video.

I think Darren's idea of some kind of jQuery slider would perhaps be a good solution.

I used SWFObject to embed flash into a site once, and had a full HTML alternative underneath which Google didn't seem to mind at all. I don't see a problem with a hidden description of the video, it's certainly not cheating anyone if it's on topic, no?

You never use Alt attributes?

You can use alt attributes and meta tags using jQuery no problem, if you hide content on live pages that should be a problem.

**expo09** · 02-28-2011, 10:39 AM

Don't use hidden content - too risky as Google won't like it.

It is possible to get well ranked though, but plenty of off-page work will need to be done (depending on the competitiveness). We work on a flash site (so the same content issues) and it's top for its main keyword and front page for many others.

**chrishirst** · 02-28-2011, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by austin01

You can use alt attributes and meta tags using jQuery no problem, if you hide content on live pages that should be a problem.

So you mean that:

Using tabs or a CSS "drop down menu" is going to get pages banned?

**rolda hayes** · 11:11 AM

The problem here is "Most" people here are still thinking the same as 5 years ago when reading the question and then posting their answer...

Search engines have moved on since then and are very good at deciding if a page has been underhandedly manipulated just to gain rankings.

If the text has been hidden properly, and for the proper reasons, there will be no problems.

We're not exactly taking pages and pages of hidden content are we?

**edgray** · 02-28-2011, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rolda hayes

The problem here is "Most" people here are still thinking the same as 5 years ago when reading the question and then posting their answer...

Search engines have moved on since then and are very good at deciding if a page has been underhandedly manipulated just to gain rankings.

If the text has been hidden properly, and for the proper reasons, there will be no problems.

We're not exactly taking pages and pages of hidden content are we?

yeah that's what I was thinking!

It's not like I'm planning to have a page full of "keyword, keyword, keyword" etc on a white page written in white text....

I've done "hidden" content before, content that shows in a text-only browser, for example, or a browser with no flash, and have had no problems from Google whatsoever.

I'm only talking here about a small description and perhaps a few tags, nothing more, and nothing that isn't directly relating to the content of each video. I just want to keep it hidden for everything except text-browsers and robots.

**MainStreetHost** · 02-28-2011, 12:22 PM

It's not a good idea to hide content. The others are right, it's unethical and could get you penalized. That kind of thing is never worth the risk.