Invisible text

[elektra]

I am currently designing a website which will have all of the content as HTML text white reversed out of a blue background. This client will be in a very competitive category and has high pagerank and ranking aspirations. Would this white text be perceived as cheating (invisible text)and therefore affect the pagerank?

[Yidaki]

>blue background ... white text
>Would this white text be perceived as cheating (invisible text)

I can't see a problem as long as a search engine's indexer isn't color blind and as long as the backround colour is fixed in the body tag and not a white background using a blue background image.

[victor]

Exactly what closeness of shade counts as invisible is a matter of debate.

But white on blue sounds fine.

I use it on a high-ranking site.

WebmasterWorld uses it too.

[elektra]

Is Google colour blind? ;-)

[troels nybo nielsen]

I've heard that some webmasters have had problems with some search engines because they used white text in tables with a dark background, and the bots did not see the tables and therefore interpreted the background as being white. Webmasters with more varied experiences than mine may know if there is any reality in this.

My navigational menus have white text on dark blue background and have had so for years. That did not give me any problems when I used tables. Now I use CSS and it still does not give me any problems. Google and other search engines read those menus without any difficulties.