The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • My Q&A
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. SEO and Digital Marketing Q&A Forum
    2. Categories
    3. White Hat / Black Hat SEO
    4. Is Google not Penalizing aggressively anymore for on page manipulation?

    Is Google not Penalizing aggressively anymore for on page manipulation?

    White Hat / Black Hat SEO
    3 3 95
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • BCutrer
      BCutrer last edited by

      I wanted to throw this out where we have been seeing so much emphasis on Google cracking down on bad linking, have they let up enforcement on manipulative on-page tactics that have faded in current years? I've been seeing hidden text popping up again and ranking. Here is an example. Google "landscaping Portsmouth NH" and find the #1 result. Now find "Portsmouth" on the page. So what I find interesting, the site has a clean backilnk profile, but that's a pretty blatant manipulation hiding those keywords.

      What I find interesting is I filled out a report on it a year ago. (I'm not a big "fill out spam report" guy, I was curious if Google would take action). A year later it is still #1 for the competitive keyword. So I'm curious if others have seemed similar trends like font-size:0px, or text color as the background popping back up and ranking.

      I would love other's thoughts on it.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Andy.Drinkwater
        Andy.Drinkwater last edited by

        I didn't think Google still let anything like this though any more? I have tweeted Matt Cutts with this and a link to this post as I hate to see anything like that myself.

        -Andy

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • PaddyDisplays
          PaddyDisplays last edited by

          I would be very surprised that the hidden text is actually working, and I would think that google is just ignoring it and other factors are making it rank. Something like font size = 0 or same colour as the background, would be so easily picked up by a bot/algorithm compared  to some complex things it can pickup on.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • 1 / 1
          • First post
            Last post
          • Hacked Websites (Doorways) Ranking First Page of Google
            monarkg
            monarkg
            0
            3
            82

          • Has my site been penalized by google
            Godad
            Godad
            0
            4
            681

          • If Google Authorship is used for every page of your website, will it be penalized?
            SearchOfficeSpace23
            SearchOfficeSpace23
            0
            5
            949

          • Passing page rank with frames - Is this within Google Guidelines?
            irvingw
            irvingw
            0
            2
            329

          • Google Results Pages. after the bomb
            TheGrid
            TheGrid
            0
            3
            273

          • Does Google Penalize for Managing multiple Google Places from the same IP Address? Can you manage from same google account or separate? Or does it matter since it's created from the same IP?
            SEOKeith
            SEOKeith
            0
            3
            1.5k

          • Penalized In Google ?
            maty
            maty
            0
            5
            489

          • From page 3 to page 75 on Google. Is my site really so bad?
            SteveOllington
            SteveOllington
            1
            8
            1.4k

          Get started with Moz Pro!

          Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

          Start my free trial
          Products
          • Moz Pro
          • Moz Local
          • Moz API
          • Moz Data
          • STAT
          • Product Updates
          Moz Solutions
          • SMB Solutions
          • Agency Solutions
          • Enterprise Solutions
          • Digital Marketers
          Free SEO Tools
          • Domain Authority Checker
          • Link Explorer
          • Keyword Explorer
          • Competitive Research
          • Brand Authority Checker
          • Local Citation Checker
          • MozBar Extension
          • MozCast
          Resources
          • Blog
          • SEO Learning Center
          • Help Hub
          • Beginner's Guide to SEO
          • How-to Guides
          • Moz Academy
          • API Docs
          About Moz
          • About
          • Team
          • Careers
          • Contact
          Why Moz
          • Case Studies
          • Testimonials
          Get Involved
          • Become an Affiliate
          • MozCon
          • Webinars
          • Practical Marketer Series
          • MozPod
          Connect with us

          Contact the Help team

          Join our newsletter
          Moz logo
          © 2021 - 2026 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
          • Accessibility
          • Terms of Use
          • Privacy