"Hidden text" is text that is hidden from the web visitor but viewable to search engines.

Usually done by making the text :

1. Same color as the background
2. Making the text so small that almost impossible to read
3. Setting it so that it appears way off on the left hand or right hand margin of the screen, like having a left posiution of -200

Don't use it is the safest thing.

If the content is good, and the other on-page SEO factors are all done, then don't use it is too risky..

Hope this helps

Bruce

use it but not on your own site!

whats crazy is google can and will penalize you for tactics like this - however i have seen a very respectable site that provides templates for joomla, implementing this method with hidden backlinks and their site is now like a PR7 or PR8 with 1000's of backlinks...

Hidden text is against Google's TOS. #1 item in the specific quality guidelines is, and I quote, "Avoid hiddent text or hidden links". Use them with caution.

You will get banned trust me. My friends got banned for that.

there is a local site www.wimort.com if you highlight the home page you can see tons of hidden text. These guys have ranked well for many local mortgage terms for years with this setup and have never fallen from the rankings.

I always wondred why they never got de indexed and have been able to get away with this for over 5 years!

there is a local site www.wimort.com if you highlight the home page you can see tons of hidden text. These guys have ranked well for many local mortgage terms for years with this setup and have never fallen from the rankings.

I always wondered why they never got de indexed and have been able to get away with this for over 5 years!

Hidden text may bring you some benefits you the short-term, if you get caught by Google then you automatically be removed from the indexes and it could be very hard to ever be indexed again.