Hi,

We work with a SEO company as an added value of service offerings for our client. When a client hires us, we will search WordTracker to compile a list of keywords, write copy and the description for our client websites, then submit the information to the SEO company to insert the code and place the submissions.

I have an unusual situation where one of our clients has their own webmaster managing the website. It is a heavy image based shopping cart with minimal text on the pages. The website is built in Cold Fusion and sits on a Cluster of ColdFusion servers, so when we make updates I have to click on mirrorFiles.pl script (provided by their webmaster) to replicate the files across the servers. In addition, because we do not have access to their ftp, he created include files to give us access to specific pages to insert keywords, meta tags, h1, etc.

We recently experienced a problem where the client dropped from Google. I found that the webmaster had aprox 9 domains with 301 redirects to the main domain. I was told that usually the max domains you should have redirecting are 3. Now, in my discussion with their webmaster he felt that the text placed in the page under the h1 tag was the problem becuase Google considered it hidden text. My assumption was the 9 domains he had redirecting.

I'm not sure what caused the drop - but we got them back in right away.

So I guess my question is was the drop due to the 9 domains or our H1 tag? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Brownie

First question: why would Google (or anyone) think the text under the H1 was hidden in this case? Is it visible in both a normal browser and a text only browser? Is it actually hidden or difficult to see? What would make him use the "hidden" word?

Ian

Well, becuase it is not visible in the browser. I've never recieved any problems with optimizing our websites this way using the H1 tag.

Can I post the website address on this thread for you to view? Not sure what the rules are here.

Brownie

I've never heard of any limits to redirects, and I don't believe there are. Otherwise I could register a 100 spam domains, redirect them to a competitor, and blow them out of the water.

If you are adding search engine intended content that is not visible in a browser, that is FAR more likely to be an issue than redirects of any sort. As a matter of fact, I'd bet on it. Search engines hate that on principle.

If you are not seeing this on other sites, it's probably just a matter of time, rather than an indication that it's considered to be OK.

To put it bluntly, it's spam. ESPECIALLY if you are putting it into an H1 tag, since that removes the "it was an accident" option and moves it directly into the "manipulating search engines" area.

I would suggest coming up with a different tactic, if you are looking for long term results.

Ian