I have been seeing a lot of linking going on where the links are hidden as text. I suppose this is done so that people won't click on the link but still give SEO value. Is this against Google TOS or is it something I should be trying to emulate as a lot more people would be willing to link to me if it didn't cost them traffic.
Do you mean that the link url is included in the page without an <a href...> like, for example like this forums,digitalpoint,com
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post a link to a page where this happens so I will try and describe it. The link is as normal using the link tag but by using CSS or HTML tags the link is formatted so it looks like text and you only know it is there by looking at the code.
Ah, you mean a real link that doesn't change colour or show an underline when you hover over it. So basically the reader of the site would never know its there unless they accidentally hovered and clicked. I very much doubt this would be against the Google TOS, and as for SEO, well its true they might not send you very much traffic, but they would definitely still be transferring some of their good standing (PR), and since this is what you're looking for, why not try it out. As you say some webmasters are particular about who they link to and if this makes them feel better... However, I have a question, since actual traffic is more valuable, after all you don't gain subscribers or revenue oppotunities without traffic, wouldn't it be better to approach websites that would be happy to link to you?
Yes, correct. The traffic I would get from search engines due to having the hidden link increasing my rankings. Of course I would want a normal link to get traffic as well, but if the choice was between a hidden link and no link I would rather have the hidden link. One other advantage is that it would make it harder for competitors to copy the links I have if they are harder to find.
They won't be any harder to find, in so far as a backlink search will still show the page containing the link, but I guess an inexperienced competitor might take a quick glance at the page, not see the link, and simply assume its been removed, however, using a browser with CSS turned off, will quickly show your link for what it is.
I wonder why do people spend time inventing this sort of tricks. If you have the balls to be a spammer, just try it and don't talk about it. This answers your question: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/hidden-links/
Mr Cutts posted about this a while ago... http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/hidden-links/ I very much doubt that they can detect this on a large scale though
Thanks for the link, tells us what Matt Cutts thinks of hidden links, personally I agree with you, but what is really interesting about the concept is that if Google are able to separate hidden links from non-hidden links in their algorithm then its safe to say following this practice would potentially lead to both sites being delisted. I would then run ten miles from any hidden linking strategy and find another way to generate traffic or backlinks.
They most certainly can It's just a matter of writing an equation that can be easily added to the current algorithm. In actuality Google probably filters & devalues more links, than those links they assign a decent quality score. Remember most link building is artificial and easy to detect..
Thanks. Funny enough it is a poker website that is doing this. I thought by looking at a competitive industry and seeing how sites rank well I could find techniques that would help me dominate a less competitive industry.
Google has also said you can have a website that is pulling a trick or two, but which are seen and filtered, however the site can still be found ranking well as it is more of an authority than it's competitors within the niche / category.
This is very easy to detect and I can imagine Google having no problem penalizing this type of linking.
Well unfortunately you would be wrong....Google has no problem indexing most file types other than javascript & flash. http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-mistakes-unwise-comments/
google is also checking hidden links. the web sites which are giving hidden links may loose its serp positions
Do you think I do?? here some terms to play with richest women #1 pda accessories #2 custom top 8 #1 london escorts # 1 # 2 or # 3 puerto banus # 1 text to screen # 1 This can get old & boring soon
Google is checking for Paid Links as well as hidden links and Header text implemented in different or hidden styles using css
I have plenty of links within my content that go to related pages, i format the links so they blend in with the text and dont look so scruffy on the page. i have never had a single problem with this and would be shocked if this is indeed frowned upon.