How does goodle deal with hidden layers? I have a site with hidden layers used for navigation. Javascripts hide/unhide the layers when options are clicked. Will goodle follow the links in hidden layers?

Thanks,
Andrew Lyons
http://www.usajobs.org

Yes--usually, Google will pick up on any links contained within the hidden layers, and will follow them as though they were not hidden. However, it does depend somewhat on how your pages are coded.

For example, if you have a blank webpage that is written to with JavaScript, nothing will show up, since Google does not read scripting languages. However, if you have the DIV's written in HTML and formatted to be invisible with JavaScript/CSS, the HTML part will show up fine and they will be visible to search engines.

Be careful, though--Google penalizes if you're thought to be misusing your hidden links to gain higher rankings.