Hiding a link from visitors but not spiders

what's the best way these days?

[subway]

Could someone offer a pointer as to the best way of making a link "invisible" to viewers but not search engine spiders. I'm not trying to fool anyone but need to link a new site from two of my other sites (competitors and I don't want them to see an outbound link to the other site and vice versa) just to get the new site spidered and ranking well.

Will simple CSS do the job safely or are there other techniques?

Thanks.

[trillianjedi]

I'm not trying to fool anyone

...I don't want them to see an outbound link to the other site and vice versa - just to get the new site spidered and ranking well.

You're trying to fool the SE's - and they are actively cracking down on this at the moment.

Think twice.

TJ

[subway]

... not trying to fool the SE's, just keeping it "quiet" from the clients. It's actually going to help both clients but trying to explain that to them is impossible, they don't want to know.

Is it really not recommended then because I still see looooads of sites in the SERPS with hidden links, just wondered what the best technique was nowadays.

[martinibuster]

...I still see looooads of sites in the SERPS with hidden links...

Don't follow the crowd. Some of those folks pop up in the Spring and are toast by Summer.

[graywolf]

When we talk about hidden links are we talking about text that matches the background or links with underlining turned off?

[piskie]

Links with underlining turned off and text unchanged from the flow of content, is camouflaged but definately not hidden.

Hidden with CSS or other such methods is when the trouble starts and quite rightly so.

[chadmg]

Just display the link with some server-side code when the spider UserAgent strings show up.

[martinibuster]

...when the spider UserAgent strings show up.

Do you believe the User Agent string will always show that it's a search engine bot?

[chadmg]

I'm just advising him of the option. That's what he asked for. Others have informed him of the possible penalty for SEO trickery.

[subway]

When we talk about hidden links are we talking about text that matches the background or links with underlining turned off?

Text that matches the background or very nearly matches the background. Does anyone know how "different" the font colour and the background colour have to be before incurring penalties?

Thanks for that other option by the way chadmg.

[trillianjedi]

Does anyone know how "different" the font colour and the background colour have to be before incurring penalties?

I can promise you that if you get an answer to that, the poster doesn't know or isn't sure.

That kind of information does not get shared. It's a cut-throat world, and an advantage is an advantage ;-)

I still think you're making a big mistake, but it's your call.

TJ

[sem4u]

Why not put the links on your site map?

[subway]

>> Why not put the links on your site map?

I was trying to completely "hide" them from any viewers and am sure that one of the clients in question will come across the links in the sitemap because he's extremely click happy and interested in the whole SEO thing and likes trying to “figure out” what’s been done.

Point taken TJ.