www.odyclub.com has had hidden text on their site for years, but google has never banned them or lowered their rank. Why? here's their hidden text: 2005 Honda Odyssey, 2004 Honda Odyssey, Honda Lagreat, Honda Elysion, Honda Odyssey, Honda Odyssey Forum, 2005 Honda Odyssey picture, Honda Odyssey transmission, Honda Odyssey recall, Honda Odyssey Club, mini van rental, mini van comparison, best mini van
In general google doesn't ban sites using hidden text, they just update the algorithm so hidden text has no effect on the rankings.
You can report them if you want. May not do much good though. I have had some luck with reporting. If they are doing hidden text they may be doing something else you do not know about.
Yep, there it is at the bottom of the page. For you newbs, follow the link and read the last part of the visible letter on the page. I've highlighted them here to make it easier for you to find. Then read whats below that to get an idea of what not to do..... <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"> <title>OdyClub.com -- The Honda Odyssey Online Community</title> <meta NAME="DESCRIPTION" CONTENT="The Honda Odyssey and Isuzu Oasis Online Community. A gathering place for the owners and enthusiasts of these great minivans."> <meta NAME="KEYWORDS" CONTENT="Honda Odyssey, Honda, Odyssey, EX, LX, 2005 Honda Odyssey, 2004 Honda Odyssey, 2003 Honda Odyssey, Isuzu Oasis, Oasis, Isuzu, Lagreat, Odyssey Club, OdyClub, Ody Club, Ody, 2005 Honda Odyssey, Honda Odyssey ATV, atv, Honda dealer, Odessy, mini van, Honda care, childseat, carseat, Soccer Mom, Windstar, Town & Country, Voyager, MPV, Sienna, LATCH, Import, van, minivan, club, Odyssey EX, Odyssey LX, Navigation system, accessories, warranty, Llama, Silhouette, Sedona, Caravan"> <meta name="Robots" content="all, index, follow"> <meta name="revisit-after" content="2 days"> <meta name="distribution" content="global"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- A { text-decoration:none } --> BODY{ background-image: url("http://www.odyclub.com/forums/v2/a-mb.jpg"); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-color: white; SCROLLBAR-ARROW-COLOR: #00000; SCROLLBAR-BASE-COLOR: #D0C5AF; </style> <base target="_blank"> <meta name="Microsoft Border" content="t"> </head> <body topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" body topmargin="0" leftmargin="0" alt="Image of F-18's, Aegis Cruiser over the backdrop of the American flag" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#800080"><!--msnavigation--><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td> <div align="left"> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td width="100%"><map name="FPMap0_I1"> <area href="http://www.odyclub.com/index.htm" shape="rect" coords="232, 83, 299, 116" target="_self"> <area target="_self" coords="297, 83, 367, 114" shape="rect" href="http://www.odyclub.com/forums/"> <area href="http://www.odyclub.com/gallery.htm" shape="rect" coords="365, 83, 447, 110" target="_self"> <area href="http://www.odyclub.com/tech.htm" shape="rect" coords="444, 84, 497, 110" target="_self"> <area href="http://www.odyclub.com/info.htm" shape="rect" coords="496, 83, 541, 109" target="_self"> <area href="mailto:webmaster@odyclub.com" shape="rect" coords="660, 83, 759, 110" target="_blank"> <area href="http://www.odyclub.com/links.htm" shape="rect" coords="541, 83, 597, 109" target="_self"> <area href="http://www.odyclub.com/ocstuff.htm" target="_self" coords="598, 84, 661, 109" shape="rect"> </map> <img border="0" src="http://www.odyclub.com/images/store.jpg" usemap="#FPMap0_I1" alt="The Honda Odyssey and Isuzu Oasis Online Community." width="746" height="153"></td> </tr> </table> </center></div> </div> </td></tr><!--msnavigation--></table><!--msnavigation--><table dir="ltr" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><!--msnavigation--><td valign="top"> <p align="center"> </p> <p align="center"><img border="0" src="images/splashoc.jpg" alt="Honda Odyssey, Honda, Odyssey, EX, LX, Isuzu Oasis, Oasis, Isuzu, Lagreat, Odyssey Club, OdyClub, Ody Club, Ody, 2005 Honda Odyssey, Honda Odyssey ATV, atv, Honda dealer, Odessy, mini van, Honda care, childseat, carseat, Soccer Mom, Windstar, Town & Country, Voyager, MPV, Sienna, LATCH, Import, van, minivan, club, Odyssey EX, Odyssey LX, Navigation system, accessories, warranty, Llama, Silhouette, Sedona, Caravan" width="430" height="282"></p> <div align="center"> <center> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="510"> <tr> <td align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="1">OdyClub.com is the best resource on the Net for the Honda Odyssey owner and enthusiast</font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><p align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="1"><b>Copyright © 2001 - 2005 ODYCLUB. All rights reserved. </b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="1">OdyClub.com is not affiliated with the Honda Motor Company in any way. </font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"><p align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="1">Trademarked names are used for descriptive purposes only.</font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </div> <p align="center"><font color="#FFFFFF">2005 Honda Odyssey, 2004 Honda Odyssey, Honda Lagreat, Honda Elysion, Honda Odyssey, Honda Odyssey Forum, 2005 Honda Odyssey picture, Honda Odyssey transmission, Honda Odyssey recall, Honda Odyssey Club, mini van rental, mini van comparison, best mini van </font></p> <!--msnavigation--></td></tr><!--msnavigation--></table></body> </html>
This is a blatant example and I guarantee google will have something in the algorithm to ignore this hidden text. They don't even use css to try and hide it! The <font color="#FFFFFF"> is a bit of a giveaway.
I didn't know people still use this. The last time I've seen this must be like 10 years ago. It makes me wonder tho, what if you use CSS and put a 'box' with the real text over the keyword spam. Wouldn't that make it extremely hard for search engines to detect? I guess they have ways to detect it, but I'm just wondering.
Bearing in mind that google make money from having a search engine which provides good results and is not easily manipulated I think their Phd's will be working pretty hard on this. I am confident that they can detect 90% of hidden text.