Forum Moderators: martinibuster
1. I have a public article (about my company) on a very popular web site. The article has a link that points to my company site. For SEO I was considering placing an outbound link on my company site to the same page that points to my company site (is this called "circular linking"?).
Dilema: I don't want to have the long outgoing ugly link displayed along the top of my company's homepage.
Question: Even though the outgoing link is completely relevant, if I place it behind an image (so that it is not visible to the human eye) am I risking getting de-listed by Google? Is the "hidden" outbound link not worth the risk of getting slammed by Google? What other option would I have to post the link without it littering up my homepage.
2. My next question is: I am using custom generated images for the titles on all my pages. The images are used in place of "regular joe" fonts because they look cool and are much more professional looking than a simple font.
Dilemma: The problem is that these titles are very descriptive in terms of what product is on the page and the spyders don't read images when scrolling for content.
Behind the title/image I placed the same text only it is in the form of a regular font. When you first load the page the font title is visible for a split second until the image (which says the same thing) loads on top of it. <snip> also does this with their buy now buttons.
Question: is this considered "hidden text" even though the content is identical (only in "image" format)? If it is....I hate the friggen spiders and am going back to PPC! Because the box just keeps getting smaller!
Thanks in advance for your responses.
Jamie
[edited by: martinibuster at 10:04 pm (utc) on July 26, 2008]
[edit reason] Removed specifics [/edit]
But both are bad practice, and will gain little or nothing.
1. If you don't want the link at the top of your page, then put it somwhere else.
2. Use ALT text for your images. this is more honest than concealed text, will be associated with the image (good for image search), and will be helpful to people with visual access issues. That's what ALT text is for.
Hidden text and similar 'cheats' will rarely help you in the Serahc engines, and *can* do harm. usually, as in both your examples, doing it properly will actually help you get better placement. ;)
If the link as at the bottom of the page isint it possible that it will be missed by the spiders?
My images are tagged but I still want the title text to be visible. I don't consider this "Cheating" because I am merely using it to state what the "image" text is saying (I am not using some slimy deceptive move like concealing porn content).
There has to be a way to use images for titles and still have the same content on the page without harming the sites rankings?
- Jamie
If the link as at the bottom of the page isint it possible that it will be missed by the spiders?
No.
My images are tagged but I still want the title text to be visible. I don't consider this "Cheating" because I am merely using it to state what the "image" text is saying (I am not using some slimy deceptive move like concealing porn content).
It doesn't matter what you consider it, what matters is what the search engines consider it. Hidden text is hidden text, it is unnecessary, undesirable, depracated by the search engines, and *can* get your site penalized You have your page text, your ALT text, title text, a picture caption ... and you still want hidden text? Is it really worth the risk?
There has to be a way to use images for titles and still have the same content on the page without harming the sites rankings?
ALT text, title text, a picture caption.
But i agree with martinibuster; don't obsess over it. I'm sure there are much better things you could be doing, like adding more content.
Overoptimization is very easy to do, and is a major cause of sick site syndrome. Trying to 'work around' search engine guidelines, using methods they've been wise to for ten years, is what is known in the trade as the "SEO Suicide Note"
What other option would I have to post the link without it littering up my homepage
Many sites have sections in their company area with links to "recent articles." You could do it that way. For SEO purposes, it would probably be better to have the link to the article from a different page than your homepage anyway. It could even be argued, though, that the link from the article is more helpful for SEO purposes as a one-way inbound.
You seem to be unnecessarily concerned with the position of this link. The tippy-top of the home page is a pretty unnatural place for a link, so in that sense you should be concerned with position, but your instincts are wrong about where and why. IMO, hiding a link is a dumb thing to do. Google is very big on intention, and you're sending all the wrong signals with this kind of maneuvering.
My next question is: I am using custom generated images for the titles on all my pages. The images are used in place of "regular joe" fonts because they look cool and are much more professional looking than a simple font.
There's a technique called sIFR (Scalable Inman Flash Replacement), which is an open source technique that's been discussed on WebmasterWorld and apparently is OK with the engines. I have one client that's been using the technique with no problems. I assume that using a graphic instead of the Flash font would fall into the same category. Just make sure that your html text and the graphic are exactly the same.
Your choice, of course ;)
