19 replies to this topic

[oscarzhou]

I have launched a new website recently and wanna apply adsense on it. The problem is that the content is very limited due to the nature of business. Some pages are photos only. But to make adsense really work, I have to create text content. So I am thinking to put text with the same background color, invisible to visitors but can be detected by google to trigger ads.

I am gonna try it on a few pages but don't know if there's any penelty from google.

Anybody have experience?

[SearchRank]

Bad idea. Hiding text like this is spam and if a human over at Google finds out about it, most likely they will revoke your right to be an AdSense publisher.

Why not try to at least optimize the title tags of each page and then see if Google does not deliver relevant ads for each page? However, don't resort to hiding text. That will end up biting you!

[oscarzhou]

But if you look at this from google's angle, do they have incentive to penalize you? They actually benefit from the clicking. On the surface this practice does not look "legitimate", but actually hurts nobody. Google, purblisher, advertiser, or visitor?

[SearchRank]

Do you really think that Google thinks that way?

If they did, what would prevent people from hiding text that will target AdWords that generate the highest CPC ratios even though their site might not have anything to do with the text they are hiding? Not only would the ads be unrelated to the site but because they were unrelated, they would not generate click-thrus.

You see that is the whole thing that makes AdSense so effective is that Google can deliver highly relevant ads that are related to the scope of the site.

Now I don't think that is your intention (to hide unrelated text) but why should Google make an exception to a guideline they have of not hiding text just because you do not want to place any visible text on your pages?

[Shane]

why should Google make an exception to a guideline they have of not hiding text just because you do not want to place any visible text on your pages?

The same reason they allow sites that require registration to serve content to the Google spider that's different from what the user would see: the exception serves the best interest of all affected parties and harms none.

In this case, as long as the hidden text was very relevant, the ads would be clicked more which benefits:
1. Google (because they get more ad revenue)
2. The advertiser (because they got just what they were looking for: visitors)
3. The web site owner (because they get more ad revenue as well)
4. The web site visitor (because they found something interesting to them, otherwise they wouldn't have clicked)

Now, Google may indeed decide to enforce the letter of their law, but it doesn't seem like the spirit of the law is being broken here.

[torka]

But since it's Google's law and solely their decision as to whether to enforce, the discussion of whether they should enforce it or not is moot. It's very unlikely that a thread here is going to change Google corporate policy, whatever that policy might be...

The question is whether it's worth the risk of being dropped from the AdSense program, not knowing what Google's response would be to the hidden text, given that hidden text is technically a no-no with them.

My If it were my site, I wouldn't do it. I'd try to find ways of optimizing what's visible on the page. YMMV.

--Torka

[BobetteKyle]

Wouldn't hiding text also endanger Google rankings? And what about other search engines? More to consider here than only AdSense, IMO.

[oscarzhou]

First of all, the invisible texts certainly are highly relevant to the audience and trigger the ads that touch visitor's interest. Otherwise nobody clicks the ads. The reason that I am thinking about hidden texts is, in some cases, you have difficulty to display the content to exhibitors.

BuBobetteKyle, I buy your concern. However, first, as mentioned above, the hidden texts are relevant; second, there's no need to spam the keywords. You can put a hidden sentence with good keyword variety.

[Connie]

I think you should think seriously about what Bobette said. Hidden text can cause the site to be banned by SEs. Then where are the visitors going to come from to click on the adds. I don't know a lot about Adsense but I thought if you were a first time user the site had to be reviewed to be approved. Could be wrong about that.

I don't think your intentions are bad, but I think the outcome could be bad.

[Jill]

Welcome oscarzhou!

Since it doesn't sound like you're actually interested in anyone's opinion, I suggest you try it out and let us know how it goes.

Jill

[BobetteKyle]

There is always more than one solution to a problem. In this case, I have a feeling putting hidden text to steer AdSense in the right direction is not the best answer. If it were me, I'd think more about how I could put text for the visitors, along with the pics...I'm not understanding why you've decided it's such a bad thing to put visible text on the pages, but it's OK to show ads.

Also, from Google webmaster guidelines at http://www.google.co...guidelines.html :

Quality Guidelines - Specific recommendations:

    * Avoid hidden text or hidden links.

There are red flags right and left on this one.

[oscarzhou]

thanks for everyone's comment. i think the risk is worth taking. i'll try hidden texts on some pages first and let you guys know result.

[Scottie]

Why not just put some real text on the page? It doesn't have to be a lot, and it doesn't have to be "in your face". There are more options than simply choosing the easy way.

[Shane]

Torka, Bobette, Connie & Scottie bring up some very good points. Despite the fact that relevant hidden text would very much be within the spirit of the rules, the risks seem to be far greater than the rewards in this case.

You can't fully appreciate the pain of having a site blacklisted by the SE's unless you've been through it. There's no appeals process, and you're left to start over from scratch. Based on that alone, I would do everything I could to stay within the rules. You don't want to wake up one day, as many have related here, to find that your site is suddenly nowhere to be found in the search engines.

[Scottie]

Even if you don't care about search listings, you will probably find your Adsense account closed. That hits in the wallet.

When it comes to dealing with AdSense, I imagine the thought process is that if you are willing to cheat in one area, you'd be more likely to cheat in all areas (read clickfraud) and I don't think they'd see it "in the spirit of the law".

If your page has no content other than images, it's not very useful to the search engines either as it's pretty much invisible. I would find a way to incorporate text into the page or forget putting AdSense on it (or put it on there and not worry about what ads it pulls.)