Does google read external CSS files yet?

That's not true.

By looking just at the source, you can a lot of things without having to look at an attached external css file. For example, on elements known to affect serps:

You can tell is text color is being controlled because there is no font tag, and we know google is already doing this with hidden text or text that is same color as the background.

You can tell h1, h2, etc tag size is being controlled by css.

You can tell if text placement is being manipulated by css, such as placing urls at the top of the page and absolute positioning them to show below the fold - because the code is going to be wrapped in div's and the source might show it immediately after the body tag, but it displays in the footer.

Also, by simply taking a snapshot of the "normal" page display, and ignoring the css file, you can tell everything that is being controlled by css. You could even have a script that would generate a duplicate of the exact css file by comparing the two, without ever looking at the original css file.

 

OK, tell me if this is controlled by CSS

<h1>Pink rabbit busters</h1>

Code (markup):

Good luck!

 

Show me a specific page, and I could tell you in a second. Too easy.

 

I have been specifically watching for Google pulling CSS files from my sites, and I have not seen it once. So I would say that no, Google is not spidering CSS files.

 

Here you go.. full source code:

Is the H1 being changed by CSS or not? You obviously can't tell

 

Now..the real question...

let's say Google did start reading CSS files.

You add a line to your robots.txt file:

Disallow: mycss.css

Would google break the robots.txt standard to read it? If not, then that's an easy to get away with spam. If it did break it, then its violating the whole concept of robots.txt

Capt Kirk would have a field day with this conundrum

 

I have done just this on a few sites. My css files are usually kept in /css, and I put the following in my robots.txt:

Disallow: /css

No problems yet.

-Scott

 

You could also chmod your css file so that it is only executable and not readable.

It seems like the only way that google could completely prevent css spamming, putting cloaking aside, would be to look at what the page actually looks like to the end user and ensure that it matches up to the source code. Source code itself is inaccurate because of divisional styling, where the foot division could be above the head division, but still display in the correct order after css sorts everything out.

 

You can't serious, can you? Are you really failing to grasp the concept? I said "show me an actual page" not the actual code. Do a screen shot and I can tell you. Have you ever even seen what an <h1> tag looks like without css?

Let me try to make this very simple. Put you <h1> tag around a phrase and display it in a browser. Measure how much space the text takes. Then display it with your css file and take the same screen measurements of the text display. Get it?

You're missing the point of your original question. You wanted to know if you could use css to insert hidden text or keywords into your page. I don't think anyone here will dispute that google has the ability to detect, and penalize, sites that use hidden text. It really doesn't matter if they are reading the css file or not, because it's known that google is now detecting it - and apparently being more aggressive about cracking down on its use..

If you want to use hidden text, go ahead. I gave you a link to Matt Cutts blog. Do you know who he is? Do you know he is top google engineer? He advises against using CSS to hide text because they can now detect it. I assume a guy who used to work for NSA and helped write the google algorthim knows more than you or I about the subject.

Using CSS to hide text isn't a new concept you discovered- it has been used for years and years. After the last update, there is a whole lot of webmasters who have seen what happens if you do. If you want to do it, go right ahead.

 

If google can't read the CSS files and you hide stuff by simply putting "<div class=whatever>hidden stuff</div>"

That text is still in the source code of the file to the end user they just don't see it. Now how is google going to detect it's hidden without reading the css file?

Are you suggesting they somehow copy exactly how the page looks (on what browser btw) and then compare it to how the source looks? Seems far fetched to me.

 

Why would it all be done by the googlebot? Lots of companies have mystery shoppers. Google just needs an application that behaves like a mystery shopper and analyzes css+html+whatever. It might also be easier & cheaper to offload the burden of certain checks & analyses from the bot. Just a theory - any thoughts?

 

Jan, a mystery shopper couldn't possibly check out 4 billion stores... so how could one at google check that many pages?

 

You haven't come up with anything new. It's a known fact that google detects hidden text. Be sure to tell us how the hidden text works for you

 

I have the same thing in my robots.txt file. Some robots follow them, others completely ignore them. Yahoo has indexed both my css directory and menu code directory even though it is specifically forbidden. I have written to yahoo and not only won't they remove it, they won't remove pages that haven't existed in 8 months. There is a yahoo page where they state that they may never remove old urls that no longer exist and that they have no process for submitting dead urls for removal.

I didn't see any access of my css file by the google bot in my log, so they are obviously detecting hidden text without it.

 

There's a ton of ways to hide text dude, geez. You seriously think google catches them all? I'm already using the hidden text on several sites and don't have any problem so far.

 

Why not if it is automated - done by computers - just like the indexing?
This kind of check does not have to be done daily for each site; monthly checks could be sufficient. Why do you think Google makes all its actions visible, when they clearly have an interest not to?

 

You said something about giving the "bot" a break... so I was assuming a bot wouldn't be doing it

 

Are you seriously trying to suggest that Gbot (or another bot) is now taking screen shots of every website. I can't believe they're doing that.
When a bot looks at a page, it sees source code - and that's all it sees. If it wants to know whether the displaying of the source code is being manipulated by css (from an external css file) then you have got to look at the external css file.

Have you ever seen what an <h1> tag looks like without css ???
What sort of question is that ?
Yes, and guess what it looks completely different depending on which browser you use.
Google is not (as part of it's normal crawling) loading the page into graphical browsers to see if the output displayed is different to what the code looks like.
If you want to see roughly what a bot see's then look at a site using a text browser. Then tell me you can see the difference between a css'd H1 tag and a none css'd H1 -- you can't.

 

I can verify that sites in my industry who used css to hide text have been booted from the serps. Yahoo however, suck it up like a ten dollar ho.

 

I have to agree with this. Unless the google bot has the ability to look at a page from the end-users graphical perspective, there wouldn't be any way to see a difference between a css'd tag and a normal tag.

I'm not saying that google doesn't penalize for css spam, but they have to be analyzing css files somehow.