Hidden links? Do... They... Work...

by 7 replies
8
An interesting one here... Looking for opinions really.

I'm doing some research for a new client and I find a strange anomaly on another large UK businesses website.

The site below ranks 2nd in the UK for the keyword "photocopiers", it's right behind Wikipedia. (A pretty good keyword)

http://www . dmcplc . co.uk

Anyway, I look at the HTML behind the homepage and find it has a somewhat hidden container beneath the Navigation bar with a selection of links, each set with:

"style="margin-left:-87512px;"

So they can't be seen.

This is the actual code with the links broken.

<div id="printNav">
<a href="http: //www.presstracking.biz" style="margin-left:-87512px;" title="Business Plan">Business Plan</a>
<a href="http: //www.presstracking.biz" style="margin-left:-87513px;" title="Business Ideas">Business Ideas</a>
<a href="http: //www.plugintaskforce.com" style="margin-left:-98765px;" title="Advanced Energy">Advanced Energy</a>
<a href="http: //www.plugintaskforce.com" style="margin-left:-98766px;" title="High Technology">High Technology</a>
<a href="http: //www.estrategiapublica.net" style="margin-left:-89376px;" title="Healthy Diets">Healthy Diets</a>
<a href="http: //www.estrategiapublica.net" style="margin-left:-89377px;" title="Healthy Foods">Healthy Foods</a>
<a href="http: //www.prexpo.biz" style="margin-left:-89431px;" title="Games Guides">Games Guides</a>
<a href="http: //www.prexpo.biz" style="margin-left:-89432px;" title="Games Cheats">Games Cheats</a>
<a href="http: //www.plasmavision.us" style="margin-left:-92791px;" title="Travel Guides">Travel Guides</a>
<a href="http: //www.plasmavision.us" style="margin-left:-92792px;" title="Travel Tips">Travel Tips</a>
<a href="http: //www.hahiramiddle.org" style="margin-left:-72392px;" title="Study Skills">Study Skills</a>
<a href="http: //www.hahiramiddle.org" style="margin-left:-72393px;" title="Study Tips">Study Tips</a>
<a href="http: //www.disabilitymentor.org" style="margin-left:-64530px;" title="Health Tips">Health Tips</a>
<a href="http: //www.disabilitymentor.org" style="margin-left:-64531px;" title="Health Guides">Health Guides</a>
<a href="http: //www.jahngalley.org" style="margin-left:-78921px;" title="Jewelry Stores">Jewelry Stores</a>
<a href="http: //www.jahngalley.org" style="margin-left:-78922px;" title="Jewellery UK Online">Jewellery UK Online</a>
Thoughts anyone?
I thought I'd seen it all...
#search engine optimization #hidden #links #work
  • Banned
    They're hiding a lot of text/links:
    Hiding text with a negative value on CSS is pretty old.
  • I remember a few weeks ago or so there was someone who posted about this website (no affiliation) ranking on the first page of Google for "make money online" keyword.

    I looked into the backlink profile and it had hundreds of links from various websites that were all hidden with "display: none" <div> elements.

    But just a few weeks later, and now the website is not ranked on the first page anymore for that keyword, so I guess Google caught on.
  • Do hidden links work?

    I don't know, I have never seen one.
  • I was reading somewhere, it said that if your site contains hidden text or links then your site will be removed from google index.
  • That's a good way to get deindexed.
  • Google will de-index and penalize such sites - do not do it.

    Either this website got hacked or they are aiming for a quick profit and know their site will get de-indexed... then they sell the site and move onto the next one. There's lots of black hat marketers out there using this system but it's more work than it's worth.
  • I don't know exactly because i am not used this technique but now i will try once.
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