Use of <h2class="hidden">- SEO implications</h2class="hidden">

[McTaggart]

I'm just looking at a website with <h2class="hidden">Main Navigation and <h2class="hidden">Footer inserted on each page, and am wondering about the SEO implications. 
 <a></a><a></a><a></a><a></a></h2class="hidden"></h2class="hidden">

[AlanMosley]

Ypu will get flaged when they catch you, but howgood they are at catching you is another story.

People often hide text and then display it using js, this is ok, so its hard for a machine to tell what is for display and what is spam.

but you have noticed it, you should make a spam report to both google and bing.

[McTaggart]

Just spoken to the developer, who I know, and they told me it's fine as they're not keyword stuffing and Main Navigation and Footer are simply there for accessiblity reasons (screenreaders, etc). Any thoughts on that?

[AlanMosley]

It may be fine by him, but its not fine according to google and bing.

Let me get the facts, can the user see this text?

if not, they you are cloaking, you are shopwing one thing to the Search Engine and another to the user

[McTaggart]

Yes, I agree with you Alan. It's just not worth the risk, it really isn't. The developer might think it is, but it's not his website. Thanks for your advice!

[AlanMosley]

Good to hear