Search Engine Tactics (v. 1.93): Knowing that some search engines do not recognize (or even penalize for) the data in the <input type="hidden"> field, we are left with the problem: how do I target these engines and not alter the look of my page? Invisible keyword stuffing offers a possible solution. This tactic, too, is considered poor netiquette and can be penalized for by some search engines. This tactic entails typing plain text into the body of your message that is the same color as your background. These keywords take up space, but they are not visible to the web surfer. They are visible to the search engines, though. For example, the background of a particular page is white. This is specified with the following tag: <body bgcolor="FFFFFF"> You need to ensure the text of your stuffed keywords are the same color. You can do this by changing the color with the font tag: <font color="#FFFFFF" size ="1">Your text here</font> The cryptic looking "FFFFFF" in each fields is a hexadecimal value for color. Don't get scared off, it's really simple. In this case the "FFFFFF" refers to the color white. To learn the codes for other colors, just do a search for "hexadecimal color" on any good search engine and you should be able to pull up a number of good references showing the codes for several different colors. Here are some basic colors: black=000000 Remember that, unlike the hidden text field, the text still takes up space on your page. You will notice in the example above we used the phrase: size="1". This specifies that the text is the smallest possible relative size. This way you can fit more stuffed text into a space without affecting the page layout as much. It has been rumored, though that some engines will penalize you for using size 1 fonts... Play around with this and you will understand. Remember, text at the top of the page is generally more effective. Warning: Some search engines may penalize for this. Always test before you commit to one tactic or another (see Tracking Your Progress). A possible alternative that some folks are using entails changing the shade of the text just slightly. The text is still barely visible to the viewer, but the search engine sees it as a different shade. [ Home | The Basics | Keyword Selection | Meta Tags | Hidden Input | Invisible Keyword Stuffing | The Title | Know the Different Search Engines | What Keywords Work? | Multiple Pages | How to Submit | Tracking Your Progress | Further Study ] For more great stuff, see the Internet Marketing Library and the Internet Marketing ProShop. Copyright © 1997 Bodhi Tree You can give it away or even include it as part of a package you sell. Feel free to post it to your website or BBS if you like. Just be sure to leave the contents intact. You may not quote from or distribute any individual part of this report without express permission from Bodhi Tree ([email protected]). |
