Hiding Link addresses = google ban?

could this be the reason i was dropped from the index

[DJFlite]

I was recently dropped from the google index after holding good spots for some of my coveted keywords. I have been trying to figure out why.

The only thing I have come up with is that I hide my affiliate links using some Javascript. What I mean by this is that I change what is displayed on the status bar when a user rolls over a link.

The reason I do this is actually to make the site more user friendly (the user sees the destination site instead of the affiliate jarble) but I feel google may not have taken well to it and consequently banned me. Do you feel my concern hold any weight or could it be something else that got me banned?

[frogg]

..don't know if it'd get you banned, sorry.

....but: if you want to ditch the JavaScript but still keep the user-friendliness, why not put an informative 'title="External link: blah://www.foobar.nim"' (or similar) into the anchor tags?

A pop-up tooltip of this kind can be all that's needed, users who see this will often not bother looking at the status bar.

Just a lateral thought.....

/fRoGG

[yintercept]

There's been rumors that Google does not like the destination masking by CJ. Personally, I think it is more convenient for the end user to see their true destination in the status bar, as opposed to the URL of the hit counter; however, I stopped the practice myself.

I should note Google masks the destination in their adwords program. They preceed the mask with the words "go to." The status bar shows "go to webmasterworld.com" rather than just "webmasterworld.com". I guess the words "go to" are enough to clue the user into the redirect.

[taxpod]

I doubt this would get you into that kind of trouble. If you surf around, you will see tons of high ranking sites doing this. I suggest looking for other reasons.

[synergy]

I do it and I'm ranked #2 for my keyword.

[Bobby]

No problem, you can do what you want with the status bar.
Check out GoogleGuy's post in this earlier thread:

[webmasterworld.com ]

[DJFlite]

Ok, so I guess thats not it.

I really have NO IDEA why i got dropped then. I really hadnt done anything to the site for a while (except add adsense) and I just got dropped outta nowhere. If anyone wants to look at my site and give me an idea of where to look, it can be found in my profile. Thanks in advance.

[Bobby]

DJFlite, I just checked out your site and it looks fine to me, I can't see why you should be banned. Do you mean the site no longer ranks well in the SERPs for your main KW phrases? That's a common problem since Florida, could be for all sorts of reasons. I noticed you didn't have ANY backlinks, maybe 1 or 2 from a somewhat "authoritative" source would be useful.

By the way, I like your site. You might want to preload those rollover images in the menu on the left so as to get the effect immediately.

[DJFlite]

Thanks man, I used to be on google and have good positions, now I cant be found anywhere on the SE.

I hold good position on MSN and OK position on others such as yahoo.

What would be the best way to preload the images. Can I just put a 1x1 size of the images somewhere on each page so it loads it but is small enough not to be visible?

[antrat]

DJFlite, if it's the site in your profile it shows no PR and no Backlinks. If you use to have PR and Backlinks then I would contact Google, they are *the only ones* who can answer your question. If you never had PR (or very low) and no Backlinks then that is most likely the problem.

[DJFlite]

I do have backlinks, although not very good ones. Mostly link pages on other DJ sites similar to mine.

Also, this does not explain why I WAS listed on google with good position (as high as 9 even though i had no PR), and now I am not. Nothing changed in terms of backlinks. I still have the same backlinks as before.

If you want to see my backlinks go to alltheweb.com and type in links:www.mysite.net

[antrat]

Google will only show backlinks from PR 4 + pages. ATW will show all.

Also, this does not explain why I WAS listed on google with good position (as high as 9 even though i had no PR), and now I am not.

I know this doesn't explain "why" that is why I suggested contacting Google. It is very unlikley anyone here will know the answer. You will probably just end up confusing the issue further.

Never worry about who links to you, the more the better, only be careful with *who you link to*.

[kaled]

Though someone may contradict me, I am nearly certain that Google does not look at javascript. You said that you used to rank well, however, you do not state over what period of time. Google often ranks new sites well in uncompetitive areas. A single DMOZ link may get you onto the first page, but you won't stay there.

If you want to rank well, ignoring on-page factors, you must have back links that that compare reasonably favourably (numbers/quality (PR)/anchor text) to your competitors.

Kaled.

[DJFlite]

I held good position for a few keywords from October 10th - Nov 15th, then I held no position but my site was still listed on the google index. Then, around December 5th my site fell off the google map and has not returned since.