seo content light color against light background

[souffle]

im writting content below my featured product, and i put it on the smallest possible size and a light color against a light background.visible and readable but not clear. would that be considered as black hat with google.

[Kufu]

I think you know the answer to that already. ;)

To make it clear: Yes that is black-hat.

[BadSense]

Why are you doing that? To make the reader's experience better, or to sneak in some extra keywords for the search engines?

Answering that question will tell you whether it's black hat or not.

[engine]

It's not black hat, it's old hat.

Google's guidelines state: "Avoid hidden text or hidden links."
This is from the webmaster guidelines [google.co.uk] which, "outline some of the illicit practices that may lead to a site being removed entirely from the Google index."

If you do it, you run the risk.

[trimmer80]

It's not black hat, it's old hat.

Its old hat black hat :P

Definately not worth the risk... you will be caught eventually.

[Luddite]

If you do it, you run the risk.

I still see sites that do hidden text though. - professionally executed sites that you would think know better. If I can stumble onto the hidden text surfing, surely google will notice eventually?

This is a bad idea even if it's "nearly hidden" text instead of hidden text. I bet the first live googlite that sees it will hand penalize your site...

[gulerse]

I think that's not a seo method, that is fraud and you should show respect other webmasters!

[roodle]

I've seen this old trick (still) being used blatantly on one site. I mean lists of repeated keywords on the homepage, not even randomly keyword-stuffed text, in white text on white background. They are in the top 10 for some medium-low competitive key phrases. Google doesn't seem to pick up on it (still). What's the problem Google?

[edited by: roodle at 6:57 pm (utc) on Feb. 21, 2006]

[Bones]

I find long term, VEO (visitor experience optimization) will get you further these days.

Know what NOT to do and forget about the search engines.