====== Hidden Text ======

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===== Definition =====

**Hidden text** refers to text that's visible only to [[crawler|crawlers]]. Hidden text is usually stuffed with [[keyword|keywords]].

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===== Methods used to hide text =====

There are various ways to hide text from human visitors:

  * The text is covered by an image.
  * The font size is set to zero.
  * The text has the same font color like the background or a very similar one.
  * [[CSS]] is used to place the text outside the visible area of the page.

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===== Importance for SEO =====

Since hidden text is usually stuffed with keywords and its purpose is to manipulate the [[ranking]], it's prohibited by search engines. If they find hidden text on a page, the website will be penalized.