White Text / Black Background & SEO Impact

[Bromtec]

Does anyone know of any testing / studies with evidence that Google prefers dark text on a light background vs. light text on a dark background?

I have a website that currently has light text on a black background, and really like the way it looks, but am concerned that the style may be hurting SEO.

Moreover, redesigning something inverse with the same quality would be a large project and fairly costly, so I'd like to make sure the benefit will really be worth the cost before moving forward.

[KevinBudzynski]

No evidence on this.

As long as the text and background isn't the same color you are safe. Also, the more contrast the better for usability sake.

[JCurrier]

I don't think this will have any effect at all in terms of how the search engines view your site. However, something to consider is that if your visitors are turned off by it and your time on site is less or your pages have a high bounce rate, this may factor into your rankings.

I have heard that some splitting done in regards to white text on a black background revealed lower conversion rates and higher bounce rates.

Just something to consider.

[KarlBantleman]

There is no harm that it can do to your SEO but, in my opinion, dark text on light background is just easier on the eye. What is your bounce rate like? If it's quite high (50%+) then it may be worth looking at.