image replacing text

menu bar

[deepman007]

Hi

My websites navigation menu is written in an unordered list. What I did was replacing texts for each element in the Ul with an image and move the text out of screens resolution by using css: text-indent: -99999px. Is it consider "Black Hat"? also, would my site gets banned or not listed in google or other search engines?

Thank

[Excellira]

This is a gray issue. Last year, two staffers at Google (Matt Cutts included) contradicted each other by stating that this was a) black hat (Cutts) and b) a realistic solution to a common problem. I don't know if there has been an official, unified response since, but the tactic could go either way.

I'd advise against it because the tactic is technically hiding text, thereby presenting, technically, a different view of the page for both the visitor and the SE. But, in reality, so many sites (millions?) are using the technique. It seems unlikely they'll get blacklisted anytime soon because of it.

[edited by: caveman at 5:19 pm (utc) on July 22, 2008]