Detection Of Hidden Stuff

seeking pub conference feedback

[austtr]

From a post in another thread:

<For those who get to the pubconference and talk about this new hidden text algo, please post it here<

OK party people, anyone sober enough yet to write an intelligible response on this?

[ogletree]

They may have hidden text but it does very little for their ranking. Title and PR have the highest weight in the SERPS and you can't use hidden text in either. Get those 2 things and you will beat out hidden text every time.

[shaadi]

They may have hidden text but it does very little for their ranking.

Well you would have missed the URL which I had posted out of pure frustration. Which of course I removed later of shame :(

[GoogleGuy]

Hi shaadi, I'm seeing 3 spam reports from you. Only 1 mentions hidden text, and that report is only a couple days old. I would be a little more patient. The site should get caught, but checking doesn't happen right when you submit a site. Hope that helps.

[shaadi]

Thanks GoogleGuy, that really helps!

[victor]

shaadi

Create a forum like OPD project did.

No need -- there's already a Usenet forum: google.public.support.general

[groups.google.com...]

Googleguy hangs out there sometimes, and URL drops are almost compulsary.

[GoogleGuy]

No worries, shaadi. I dropped a quick post in kaled's thread too, but I think kaled decided on a position a long time ago. ;)

[bcolflesh]

I think kaled decided on a position a long time ago

GoogleGuy - master of understatement!

Regards,
Brent

[DynamicStatics]

Yeah come on Shaadi, up here with that fowl mouth of yours...chill out man - just research and dont worry about the comp In a sense of what they are "wearing" - If Im playing Basketball I don't care what kind of shoes the next guy is wearing...or whats on his shirt, I am there to play(work) the game and HAVE FUN - when you dont do that you get carried away and there is no sense in giving yourself an ulser...
Plus my man, hidin text is such a joke to me - and I would put one of these monitors on it the comp is probably schooling you with links anyway judging by your huge concern for on-page criteria -

Breath Deep

DS

[shaadi]

No worries, shaadi.

Thanks again GoogleGuy ;-)

[JudgeJeffries]

Googleguy indicated that the sites should get caught which suggests to me that the spam reports on those particular sites are merely reviewed and then the issue is left to the algo, but what about the other sites that the algo is not set up to catch. There are, according to a lot of members here numerous examples of blatant and multiple spam that really mess up certain sectors of the serps. If Google cannot get them automatically what is it going to do about them?

[4eyes]

Shaadi

safesearch filter? pls explain

Google has a safesearch filter which attempts to filter out adult content. You can switch it on by using the preferences link on the main Google page.

Hope this helps

[shaadi]

If Im playing Basketball I don't care what kind of shoes the next guy is wearing...or whats on his shirt, I am there to play(work) the game -DynamicStatics

But I do make sure that both the baskets on the court are on the same level...

If not, then I report it to the mach ref. If that doesn't help, I post in Webmaster World. :)

[shaadi]

Thanks b4eyes

If Google cannot get them automatically what is it going to do about them?

Also JudgeJeffries, I think the site in the question was such a example, but the spam reports really helps. :)

[Monkscuba]

...a few days later.

I posted one time saying that there's very little spam in our little niche. I've never seen any hidden text..until today. A site that's been around for ages, often ranking pretty well (mostly below us though). I'd never actually looked at it before. When I saw the index page with a load of blank space at the bottom, I thought either it's bad design or..

view source

OMG. hundreds of keywords. same colour as background. smallest size possible to squeeze them in..

Have just sent my first Google Spam Report.

Congratulations, son. You're a man. Making the web a better place. I feel so righteous.

[shaadi]

Have just sent my first Google Spam Report.

Congratulations, son. You're a man. Making the web a better place. I feel so righteous.

Monkscuba, thanks! but I didn't undestand your post :-s

[Monkscuba]

"thanks! but I didn't undestand your post"

First beer, first sh*g, first spam report.

(the first two were not today)

[shaadi]

LOL Monkscuba, Welcome to the club ;)

[Bio4ce]

I was just going through some of my logs, and I came across a number of referrals from one site. I checked it out and I couldn't find my link on their site. I looked at the source code and there it was.

<a href="http://www.my-site.com" target="_blank"> </a>

Is this something that I should be worried about with google being that it is a hidden link on their site? My gut tells me that this would be a good thing, but then again, google may think I'm trying to trick them. Any thoughts?

< sorry for my spelling errors. I was excited :) >

[edited by: Bio4ce at 4:43 am (utc) on June 4, 2003]

[Krapulator]

It shouldn't adversly affect your site, but why not email them and ask (nicely) for some juicy anchor text in the middle?

[BigDave]

You should send that nice webmaster a thank you note.

If you think they are intending to give you a link, but just forgot the anchor text, you might want to point it out to them.

If they are a competitior, enjoy the boost till they are caught.

[coconutz]

Hidden Links.... [webmasterworld.com]

I wouldn't worry about it. :)

[Bio4ce]

Cool. Thanks everyone!

[Dalmatian]

Thought hidden text was at least treated as irrelevant even back in AV domination days.
However, specially after Dominic did it's job, I'm seing more and more sites within my interesting keyword range using hidden text as their keyword dentisty source.
Is it punishable, considering the fact most of the keywords are actualy related to content of the page. How come it's indexed at all - it seems to be just PLAIN white text on white background - nothing fancy nor hardly detectable.
Opinions?

[pleeker]

Thought hidden text was at least treated as irrelevant even back in AV domination days.
However, specially after Dominic did it's job, I'm seing more and more sites within my interesting keyword range using hidden text as their keyword dentisty source.

Hidden text is most definitely spam, and punishable. The sites you're finding will discover that eventually.

[hotice_2002]

I have ever found and reported some sites ranking at top 5 with competitive keywords on Google. But Google never punish them. I think now Google often disregard some relevant hidden text with hight PR site.
This kind of sites have been there for few months, they are still there.

I have ever reported one site ranking #1 but without relevant content to the search term, Google removed it rapidly.

So I believe sometimes Google disregard some hidden text and does not punish them.

[Dalmatian]

Thank you for experiences.

So I believe sometimes Google disregard some hidden text and does not punish them.

It seems to me the crystal ball is a must have tool for any SEO :)

In my opinion they should publish their "what get's you punished" guide more clearly. This way relevancy is hurted in a way. Those who dare to risk a removal often end up on better position. Or it's simply reward for courage. :)

anyone had any ideas or suggestions to local Googleguy(s) about this?

[Marcia]

Google is partial to software and algo-driven solutions, and steps are progessively taken to maintain quality SERPs. They do take reports into consideration, but apply their own methods of solution. It make not be "nuke on demand" as some might want or expect, but that's all that can be done.

Those who feel they must, do what they feel they need to do, and then the wisest thing for anyone to do is to take their eyes off what others are doing and put them back on their own sites. There's no site around that can't do with some improvement in some way or another, and IMHO that's exactly what our job is.