Fading Text Links Look Like Spammy Hidden Links to a g-bot?
-
Ah, Hello Mozzers, it's been a while since I was here.
Wanted to run something by you...
I'm looking to incorporate some fading text using Javascript onto a site homepage using the method described here;
http://blog.thomascsherman.com/2009/08/text-slideshow-or-any-content-with-fades/
so, my question is; does anyone think that Google might see this text as a possible dark hat SEO anchor text manipulation (similar to hidden links)?
The text will contain various links (4 or 5) that will cycle through one another, fading in and out, but to a bot the text may appear initially invisible, like so;
style="display: none;"><a href="">Link Here</a>
All links will be internal.
My gut instinct is that I'm just being stupid here, but I wanted to stay on the side of caution with this one!
Thanks for your time
http://blog.thomascsherman.com/2009/08/text-slideshow-or-any-content-with-fades
-
Yes, that seems a fair point.
I'll go ahead with the ticker and hope for the best!
Thanks for your help on this one.
-
I should add that there are sites that hide links without trouble, but it's usually in very standardized places (dropdown menus, for example).
The ticker probably is a bit safer. I wouldn't load it up with links, but at least the behavior is more like tabbed content - you're showing chunks of content at a time. I'm worried that the combo of hidden text and color change on the other approach is just going to set off alarms.
-
Dr. Pete
Good to see your face in here
Thanks for confirming my worst suspicions! I'll be staying clear of that method then.
It's use was essentially just to flash up a short text decription and a link to new site content (to fit in a fairly small space), like a news ticker.
Do you think a javascript style news ticker, like the one at the top here would be better?
http://sandbox.scriptiny.com/contentslider/slider.html
It removes the need to set style="display: none;" however, some text starts off outside of the "news ticker" limits and so is technically invisible to begin with.
Thanks again.
-
Using display:none on content can be a bit hard to predict. When it's something clear, like tabbed navigation, it's usually ok (and Google is getting a lot better about it). When it's something unusual, Google's guesses about what you're trying to do aren't always great. The actual color-change JS is probably fine, but this could look like hidden text, given the initial setting. For 4-5 links, it may not matter, but given that the benefits are dubious at best (I agree about it being pretty awful for usability), I wouldn't personally take the risk.
-
Anyone?
-
Rob,
You're right, it's rubbish for navigation, but it's what is required in this instance.
There's 'real' navigation as well, this is just a feed to catch the visitor's eye and throw up new pages or content that might be of interest.
Thanks
-
Not sure why you would want to use this technique on a 'navigation'? It's not great from a user experience perspective. I would use something like this for 'text rotation' on things like testimonials, or reviews to keep fresh content loaded to the domain (switching it up every few days).. I wouldn't use this for navigation on a site.
Just my observation. Cheers!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Links Not Detected by MOZ, AHREFS, GSC-ARE THESE QUALITY LINKS?
Our SEO provider has been creating content (6 blog posts per month as well as building page write ups) and has been promoting that content. Several links per month have been created as a result of this effort. Many of the links have been from commercial real estate publications. I am concerned that the quality of these links is not high enough to improve our ranking. Most links do not appear on AHREFS, Google Search Console or MOZ. Is this a red flag that these links are weak? Ranking and traffic on the site have improved considerably since this provider began the project in April of 2019. They have been writing about 30 pages about New York City. commercial buildings each month in addition to 4 short blog posts and 2 extremely well researched and authoritative blog posts. My concern is that the links are not of sufficient quality to result increased ranking. That the improvement in ranking is solely due to the addition of new content rather than the creation of these links. Basically, that I am incurring the cost on an ongoing basis of an link building campaign with little to no benefit. That being the case, I would shift resources to content creation and increase and improve content rather than develop links with little value. A sample of links are below: Would greatly appreciate some feedback as to whether these are in fact helpful to the domain authority, reputation and ranking of our website. Thanks,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kingalan1
Alan https://patch.com/new-york/bayside/bayside-queens-priciest-area-retail-office-space-study https://qns.com/story/2019/12/04/these-commercial-streets-in-queens-were-among-the-most-expensive-in-2019/ https://patch.com/new-york/brooklyn/flatbush-ave-priciest-retail-spot-outside-manhattan-study http://thejewishvoice.com/2019/12/07/nycs-most-expensive-commercial-streets-neighborhoods-in-2019-would-surprise-you/ https://atalyst.com/investment-banking-interview-metro-manhattan/0 -
2015 Disavow Links on Bing?
In years past I was told not to disavow links in Bing unless the site had an issue. This was driven home when a site we were working on disavowed the links in google and saw the site recover after a few months, then when they disavowed the same links in Bing and the rankings dropped 20% over the next few months. The reasoning was that Bing was looking more at the qty of links, and didn't analyze links the way Google does. So even though you might disavow links in Google you might not want to disavow those same links in Bing. Does this still hold true in 2015? I want to get the community's opinion on this topic, should the same links be disavowed in Bing that are disavowed in Google? Why or why not?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | K-WINTER1 -
Links from new sites with no link juice
Hi Guys, Do backlinks from a bunch of new sites pass any value to our site? I've heard a lot from some "SEO experts" say that it is an effective link building strategy to build a bunch of new sites and link them to our main site. I highly doubt that... To me, a new site is a new site, which means it won't have any backlinks in the beginning (most likely), so a backlink from this site won't pass too much link juice. Right? In my humble opinion this is not a good strategy any more...if you build new sites for the sake of getting links. This is just wrong. But, if you do have some unique content and you want to share with others on that particular topic, then you can definitely create a blog and write content and start getting links. And over time, the domain authority will increase, then a backlink from this site will become more valuable? I am not a SEO expert myself, so I am eager to hear your thoughts. Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | witmartmarketing0 -
Link Building Question
Hi, I have a 2 month old blog with me, i have submitted a few press releases for the start, later in these 2 months, i got about 40 guest posts, which i've written and submitted at myblogguest site. My niche is in health. Currently my serps are at 16th page which is not a good position. I want to do more link building, but at myblogguest, no one are interested in my niche and don't want to publish content related to my niche, so it becoming hard for me to find guest blogs related to my niche. But i want to get more links in order for my blog to rank well. Is it ok if i write guest posts in other niches as well like technology and put a link in author's resource box? Does it become useful? please help as i find no other sources for my link building task, i tried researching for guest blogs in google also, but i don't find any related to my niche. Seems like, i cannot go further with my link building. Please help me. Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Vegitt
Dheer0 -
Alternative links in the search results.
Hello, This is a short question Please look at this SERP screenshot: http://imgur.com/1EMen Who do they get the other links under their results. Cornel
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Cornel_Ilea0 -
Where to link to HTML Sitemap?
After searching this morning and finding unclear answers I decided to ask my SEOmoz friends a few questions. Should you have an HTML sitemap? If so, where should you link to the HTML sitemap from? Should you use a noindex, follow tag? Thank you
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | cprodigy290 -
Spammy? Long URLs
Hi All: Is it true that URLs such as this following one are viewed as "spammy" (besides being too long) and that such URLs will negatively affect ranks for keywords and page ranks: http://www.repairsuniverse.com/ipod-parts-ipod-touch-replacement-repair-parts-ipod-touch-1st-gen-replacement-repair-parts.html My thinking is that the page will perform better once it is 301 redirected to a shorter page name, such as: http://www.repairsuniverse.com/ipod-touch-1G-replacement-parts.html It also appears that these long URLs are also more likely to break, creating unnecessary 404s. <colgroup><col width="301"></colgroup> Thanks for your insight on this issue!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | holdtheonion0 -
Links on Google Notebook
I have used OSE to look at links of a competitors site and notice they have dozens for links from Google Notebook pages eg http://www.google.pl/notebook/public/05275990022886032509/BDQExDQoQs8r3ls4j This page has a PA of 48 Is this a legitimate linking strategy?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seanmccauley0