I am trying to create a link between two of my clients websites but they don’t want them to be visible on either website. Is there a way I can do this but still have google recognise it as a link? Also When we have videos on our website from say youtube.com, do they count as a link, hence good for SEO purposes?
Hiding links like you are proposing is definitely a violation of Google Webmaster Guidelines. If Google detects it via an automated means while indexing those pages where the hidden links live or if someone finds out and reports the site, I can practically guarantee you with 99.9999% certainty that the offending URL and/or site will be penalized.
So what is the best way (in terms of SEO) of having a link on a website so that people dont follow it? Is there a SEo friendly way of making it not visible?
Why do you want to hide the links in the first place? Putting hidden links in a page violates Google webmaster guidelines. You'll be penalized for doing that.
For the video link, it depends on whether it is a direct link or a redirected link. if you place your cursor over the link and at the bottom of the page it goes directly to your website URL its a direct link. If it shows anything else its not. It also depends on whether the page contains a no follow tag as well.
I've got the same issue... I need to hide my links so that clients don't click on them and get directed away from the page, but I really want the links there so that we have better relevance/optimization. Could I use a 1px by 1px dot and have that as the anchor for my link? Would I be penalized? I doubt anyone would ever be able to click on it. Another idea I had was to create a page that would be indexed by Google, then I could load this page up with links and remove all my internal links from my website to this page (so that no one could ever access it). Would Google still visit that page since it is indexed? Would the rest of my website still gain relevance from this page if it is not linked to internally? Where can I get a copy of the Google Webmaster Guidelines that everyone so kindly references..?
Thanks guys, clearly I won't be hiding links on my page. I definitely don't want to be penalized. Surely someone out there has come across this same issue? What have you guys done in the past? I know that links improve SEO because it (should) have Google see you linked to other relevant pages. So what are some suggestions to have people not leaded away from my page?
you shouldn't hide the link because like others have stated it will get you banned because it's pretty shady. But you can make it less likely someone will click on it or engage it so in a way make it "invisible" you can make the link become part of a blogroll or sidebar...basically keep it out of the middle or areas where a visitors eyes would gravitate towards. Shouldn't really stress hiding them though, the partnership can help both parties out with direct traffic.
Here's the Google guidelines - it's unambiguous - http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66353 "Hidden links are links that are intended to be crawled by Googlebot, but are unreadable to humans because: * The link consists of hidden text (for example, the text color and background color are identical). * CSS has been used to make tiny hyperlinks, as little as one pixel high. * The link is hidden in a small character - for example, a hyphen in the middle of a paragraph. If your site is perceived to contain hidden text and links that are deceptive in intent, your site may be removed from the Google index" Any trick you can think of - Google has seen it before, and will penalise you. There is no good reason to put a link on your site that you don't want visitors to see.
don't do it explain to them if they want to do it, Google may ban their sites. To your solutions simply don't add them. What the points of adding the links and make them "invisible"? It simply no links..
I never heard about this hiding links thing I just got it here. But as I examined, it is a violation to google rules. So NO NO for it.
If you really want the links on the website i would suggest placing them in an area of the page that isn't viewed that much, e.g. in or near the footer. You can also style it in a way that it doesn't look like a link, e.g. don't underline it or have it in a different colour to the rest of the text (although make sure it is not the same or similar colour to the background colour as this is also bad!). This way people are less likely to click on it. It is definately the case that you shouldn't hide the link completely as you will get penilised, but making it unlikely that anyone will click on it is possible.
Your youtube video will look better because it is being hosted in more places. it will get link love, and you site will have another page of content. You will not get any more juice for your site from just having the video though. As far as hiding the links. Just hyperlink in a short article on one the pages in each website. You should not worry about hiding the links. Odds are they will only get one or two clicks a month anyways. This is not going to kill either of your clients.
not a good idea to hide the links, so why not hide them in plain sight? put a paragraph of samll print on the bottom of the pages and link select words to the other site. that way you are legit, plus. nobody is going to notice the links! who is going to mouse over every word in a small paragraph? nobody. & since your not hiding the words youll be fine with google