i have yet to try this, except in notepad just now; i know hiding keywords in the same color as the back ground is going to get you a G spanking, but how about (if possible) hiding links in the same manor? you go to a forum and leave a comment and its on a back white ground you Code (markup): <a href=..........><font color=white>Your anchor text appears in white</font></a> something like that... that work? i mean, the only benefit this would have is to keep others from bit**ing about it or reporting the post. but still might be useful at times
I use this on my own pages to hide links to Wikipedia. That way Google sees my site is pointing at a well known authority and it appears that I really care about quality content and information for my viewers (I do, but I don't want them leaving my page). By hiding the link in my article it still shows up as a backlink (I also make it no follow so I give away no link juice) but it will virtually never get clicked because it does not stand out to the viewer.
i cant say it work or not but for users is ok as they cant see the link but for google 100% will detect the link and know what you are doing. Just if you build in a natural way then it maybe no case to be kick out!
I think this would be frowned upon by Google. And as you say, the benefit is negligible so why would you take the risk? Sounds dangerous to me...I'm pretty sure google can figure this out and I think they would penalize. Why not use link targets to open a new window when linking to an outside source?
Hidden links are links that can't be seen by the front end user but can be crawled by search engines. They are put in a website to try and gain SEO points but not effect the user. Having the link text color the same as the background or making the link very small like 1 pixel are two ways to do this but don't ever do it! You will get penalized heavily!
Well if you post on a forum with sense and useful to other members, then you should not be worried that someone would report you. If someone reports your post, moderators will still evaluate your post to see if you really violate the forum's TOS. So there's no need to hide your links. Hiding links only means that you are hiding something bad.
I'd avoid doing this altogether, since there is no evidence that linking to authority sites enhances your own site's status in the search engines.
yeah, i wouldnt hide anything on my own page; even though i JUST read an article about a guy who STILL swears by this. smaller nofollow links might work though. And im not hiding anything BAD. as stated. im at a forum, leaving legit comment, just hiding a link to go with it. think of it as a "comment signature", lol
It's mean you are trying to spam links and if someone else reported you to Google, you will get something not good
Yeah, ok...I kinda of misread your original post. If you are posting links on someone else's forum then maybe it is ok to make the text small or same color as background. I don't think this would directly effect your blog, but the forum you are commenting on may not like it. But in this case, why would you want to hide the link? If you are posting obvious links in a forum, you have more chance of getting traffic from forum users. Can you post the link of the article you read?
You could also try linking to a full stop ie <a href=..........>.</a> so moderators miss it. Google may already be onto this tactic though...
I'm not convinced by the whole getting banned by Google thing – if it was that easy, wouldn't everyone just be doing this to their competitors to get them banned? I think the worst that will happen is that Google will ignore the link, so you would just be wasting your time
it is unlikely that you will get banned for cloaking links although you oculd incur a penalty, best avoid it, if you don't want your visitors to see it, just put them somewhere you don't think they'll go
If they can pick up on keywords hidden by text colour why wouldn't they be able to pick up on links for a similar reason? If you don't want the links conspicuous I'd just say keep the text small, and maybe put them on the side or in the footer.
thanks everyone. it makes sense that google couldnt ban you because everyone WOULD be doing that to competitors. i bet they do ratio's or something. if you are doing all hidden links, you might get a penalty. i know people that TRY to use a black hat program to get their competitors de-indexed with mixed results. (to be clear i have never done this. wouldnt know where to start). i like using just the period though. im going this route! thanks!!