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hidden links without anchor text is black hat?

by atinderdongill
5 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hello, I have a bit of confusion over hidden links. I know that, using CSS, HTML or java-script to hide links (like while text link with white background) is black hat is strictly prohibited by Google.

But what i want to know here is, that, whether I can add link without using any anchor text.

For Example:- <a href="http://mydomain.com" title="titleofmydomain"></a>

This will show nothing to user, but will be available for search engine to crawl, so will it be dangerous? or is it safe to use it wisely?

Need some suggestions.
#anchor #black #hat #hidden #links #text
  • Profile picture of the author TotalWebsiteControl
    but what would classify that as blackhat? What is the benefit of having a link on page that is supposed to help your rankings but is hidden from the user but can still be crawled. I'm not following..
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  • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
    I would not call that "black hat". It's just some HTML that's practically broken. Happens all the time with content management systems: you try to delete a link from the page, but the WYSIWYG component leaves a part of the link behind for some reason.

    Google has been ignoring links that are hidden from the user, so I'm not sure why they would make an exception in this case.
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    Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
    Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

    What's your excuse?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jhon01
    It doesn't look like a black hat SEO, it just like normal html coding. Below I have mentioned the link, I hope your doubt will get clear from there.

    8 Risky Black Hat SEO Techniques Used Today
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  • Profile picture of the author Wooexpert
    No. Its not Black Hat. as millions websites does not use Anchor Text.
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  • Profile picture of the author cgkoste
    No what is black hat is say a site with a bunch of anchor text and links that are the same color as the background. A very old school SEO tactic that ppl would use and stuff a bunch of KW's. FYI- doesn't work anymore.

    Courtney K.
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