Does text, initially hidden within a tabbed structure, carry the same weight in Google?

[mjk26]

Hi everyone,

my site has suffered from a number of organic drops this year, following a redesign, panda, and penguin.  An example of one of my key pages is shown below:

http://www.concerthotels.com/venue-hotels/bridgestone-arena-hotels/326895

Earlier this year, I redesigned my site, so that, for example, 4 pages associated with each Bridgestone Arena (a page with nearby hotels, one for user reviews, one for upcoming events, one for general information) were combined into one "Bridgestone Arena Hotels" page.  The reason I did this is because I felt that many of the pages were very thin.  My new page has tabs for reviews, tickets etc., with the default tab listing nearby hotel information - the primary aim of my website.

I'm worried that all the great unique user review information that I'm collecting is not being given the weighting it deserves, because it is content that is not immediately visible when the user lands on the page - only click the Reviews tab makes the content visible.

The hidden content is definitely being picked up by Google e.g. searching for a portion of the review content in Google such as "We were here for the Aerosmith concert. The workers were so friendly and helpful - great experience!" serves up the Bridgestone Arena page in the results.

But do you think Google still sees the page as being pretty thin in content, because much of the unique content is initially hidden?

I am considering introducing a little featured reviews section to the visible content, that just includes a couple of the latest venue reviews, with a link to open the reviews tab.  But if I have some review content here, and the same reviews in a hidden section of the same page, is Google likely to treat this as spammy?

Thanks for your help and advice,

Mike

[MichaelC-15022]

So I think what's important here is to distinguish between a couple of different measurements that Google is going to make on your page in order to determine its quality (i.e. Panda evaluation of the page).  One of the measurements is going to be of the total content on the page, and here you're going to do pretty well, as you've got a lot of text, some photos, an embedded map, marked-up reviews, etc.

One of the other measurements Panda does is of what percentage of the screen real estate "above the fold" is CONTENT, and here you're not going to do so well.  While we don't know exactly how Panda determines what's content and what's template, navigation, etc., it's likely that they're looking at least partially at what's clickable on the screen (that's navigation, ads, etc.) vs. non-clickable.  And really, on that page, you have just a couple of phrases and really no images that aren't clickable (except for tiny logos).

My suggestions:

• re-layout the page to increase the % of the page above the fold that's content...whether that means making the initial tab the Overview tab, or adjusting white space, etc.
• use the larger hotel images rather than the smaller thumbnails, and use a little button or link to launch the entire gallery...this way you'll have a moderate-sized image on the page that's NOT clickable, so it's more likely to be seen as content
• I'd really recommend renaming the Jscript function that pops up the image.  Calling anything "cloaking" on the page is really poking Google in the eye with a stick, if you know what I mean!
• if you want to keep the Hotels list page as the initial tab, then how about starting with the map of all of the hotel locations?  You have that built already anyway, and it's surely one of the more important things people would be looking at when coming to this page.

[mjk26]

Hi Michael,

firstly, thanks so much for your very thorough reply - I really appreciate it.

I really think it's fundamental that the Hotels tab remains as the initial tab, simply because it's what the main aim of the user's visit is likely to be - I think that immediately presenting the user with the key information is pretty essential, and will hopefully keep bounce rate and conversion rate at respectable levels.  However, displaying the map by default could be a good move - I think the reason against doing this in the past was that I might not be able to rely on the map being served up immediately, as it could be fetched slowly from Google - I guess that's still something to consider - if the user is greeted with an empty screen (where the map should be), then they are pretty likely to bounce.

Good point about the cloaking function name - not the most sensible idea I've ever had

How important do you think "above the fold" content is?  I mean, would it make sense to somehow include the venue reviews information at the bottom of the page, rather than on the separate tab?  Although this review content wouldn't be above the fold, it would be visible to the user (albeit further down the page).  Do you think that is likely to carry more weight in Google's eyes than having the same content, but not immediately visible to the user (hidden in tabs).

I think this is my main problem - combining my pages together into this new design is great, since it eliminates the likelihood of thin pages.  However, I've now got so much information on each venue that it's difficult to find a clear way to present it, at the same time as satisfying the search engines.  My user's like the Hotels tab at the minute (reflected in a high conversion rate, and low bounce rate), as it's really clear - the relative lack of text makes it pretty clear and easy to use.  However, while user's are liking it, the search engines aren't.

I hate the fact that I might have to sacrifice user friendliness in order to satisfy the needs of the search engines, but I guess that's part of running a business that relies on SEO.

Thanks again,

Mike

[MichaelC-15022]

Hey Mike, if you'd like to see how important rich content, and content above-the-fold is, turn on the SERP overlay and do a Google search for "best time of year to go to Tahiti".  Have a look at the backlinks data for the #1 result (that's me), and compare that to the ones below (TripAdvisor, Frommers, USA Today, etc.).  Now, look at my page, and then look at the TripAdvisor page, paying attention to what non-template, non-navigation, non-clickable content is above the fold.  And look at the size of the images

I trust you're convinced now so let's move on to your next question.

Google has spent a lot of time analyzing what users respond well to, and I'd say if their data shows that it's big images and more text, they're probably right.  Keep in mind, you'll have a very low bounce rate if users do NOT find what they want on that page, but think they might by clicking the button next to one of the hotels.  If they bail out after that, it still won't look like a bounce in the stats.

You could also consider changing up the layout a bit so that the search hotels form is off to the right (maybe 1000 pixel mark or so), pull in the first sentence or so from the hotel description, and use the larger image of the hotel there.

You also have a lot of vertical whitespace in there.  While your style is very Web 2.0 and clean, an open style with a lot of whitespace unfortunately does push most of the content a fair bit down the page.