A safe way of hiding content?

I need to hide some content of my website but without using HTML commenting and if I use CSS to hide it then it is seen as cloacking my Google...

Is there another method?

I hide the content when I don't want to display a news alert and then unhide it when I do... HTML comments don't work with the way I have my website integrated with my forum.

 

you could put it all in javascript and just use the document.write command
and call it into your document as needed
search engines ignore javascript so it's a safe bet


vanessa.

 

What about password protection OR blocking robots from visiting the page?

 

Sounds good, can you elaborate a little?

 

well you'll have to elaborate a little more on what exactly you're looking for

basically, you make a javascript function
I would use an external .js file just to keep things neat (but that's just me)

the simplest function you could make would look like this:

function writeThis() {
document.write('this is where I add whatever I want to say');
}

and then when you want to add it to your webpage you'd add this:

<script type="text/javascript">
writeThis();
</script>

that's the basics
you can get as complex as you like
you can even make javascript embed html code dynamically
you could put your whole damn web page in a document.write function if you wanted to
(but this is a bad idea, I wouldn't suggest it) but it IS possible

as an example, I've used the document.write function to embed flash movies into an html page while still adhering to strict xhtml
which isn't possible otherwise
it can used as a useful work-around for many code issues

I hope this helps


vanessa.

 

Thank you, that's very helpful indeed.

 

in css using display:none, is not cloaking by SEO standards

 

JavaScript and DHTML are SEO-friendly ways of hiding content.
Don't do it using CSS or HTML, EVER, or you will be penalized.

PHP and other programming languages are good too.
Databases are probably the best. =P

 

Show me proof on your CSS/HTML findings.
Also, why would you store it php or a database? He wants it on page, yet hidden (if I read right)

 

My proof is that my site got penalised by Google and the only thing I was doing wrong was hiding content with CSS.

It's quite simple.... Google sees the content, the user doesn't, that breaches the guidelines.

 

THere are legitimate reasons to hide content, feel free to ask matt cutts about it

 

Absolutely, as I mentioned in my post above, my reason was legimate but the method I used won't be seen as such.

Using CSS to hide content, not design elements, will make Google think you're cloaking regardless of your motives.

 

Maybe this will help

http://moofx.mad4milk.net/#gethelp

 

Because you fool with the click of a mouse PHP can pull the data right from the database to display it, thus it won't be hidden.

However, hiding your content with JavaScript or PHP won't be viewable by bots, as there is no way to hide content from just the visitors and not the bots (if you're trying to do this for search engines) without being penalized.