Using Layers to Position H1 High in the Code

but not on the page

[needinfo]

I want all search engine spiders to see my H1 tag first of all on the page when they visit. Instead of actually putting the H1 tag at the top of the html page can I put it on as layered text at the top of the page and absolutely position it somewhere else on the page like the bottom for example. As far as i can see the spiders should still see this text as if it is actually the first text on the page.

[BlobFisk]

What you are trying to do with the layer is perfectly ok, the spider will see this as the first text on the page.

Do spiders see an H1 tag anywhere in the code as heading text, or do they calculate it's importance by it's position in the code? This I'm not sure of and would be interested in the answer!

[tedster]

Small screen browsers (web enabled mobile phones, etc) will also see your absolutely positioned content the same way spiders do, not positioned at the bottom. Just a caution so you don't try anything too funky. This may well be the year of the small screen!

[SuzyUK]

I would put the H1 tag first in the HTML code but set it to display: none using CSS(layers!)

1. the spider will see it first in its logical order
2. if someone using a non css / non image browser views your page the heading will show up for them as a title to the page

I also discovered that NN has a problem if an absolutely placed div is before other relatively placed divs in the HTML

Suzy

[4eyes]

I'd be a little wary of using display:none - it just might trigger something at the Googleplex - 'none' is abit of a give away.

You can do the same thing by setting the z-index to be lower than the main layer.

In any case, best strip out the layer positioning and dump it in an external css file located in a robots.txt excluded folder.

[SuzyUK]

4eyes..

I use display: none for H1 tags most of the time on sites especially if the header for my site is a logo graphic... I consider it good manners (not spam) to offer an alternative to the (text browser) viewer and at the same time the page makes sense to the spiders (they can't see the graphic either).

I would sincerely hope it wasn't penalised!

Suzy

[4eyes]

SuzyUK

Maybe I am just more paranoid than most.

I know there are folks out there using display:none to hide text stuffed layers.I fear that one day Google will impose a blanket filter for display:none.

....having said that I suppose they could do a similar filter on z-index stuff - it would be somewhat more difficult for them though.

[Nick_W]

I agree 4eyes. I don't/won't use it for that kind of thing but, there are ligitimate uses such as hiding a 'skip navigation' link from CSS browsers.

So, a blanket filter would be inapropriate in that context. It would be a shame to get a slap for providing helpful sites ;-)

Nick

[4eyes]

helpful sites

Thats a great euphemism ;)