Text On Invisible Layers

[Deanx]

Hi

Is text on invisable layers seen by search engines (google bots)?

I understand keywords should match text content but some of my text is on pop up layers. So i'm wonderig if these are seen or skipped over.

Heres a link to an example page in my site

http://www.guitar-rocks.co.uk/services.htm

Also could I get away with putting (relevent) keywords/phrases in the same grey colour as the background?

Many thanks
Dean

[Drwyd]

Hiding text from visitors but not from search engines is a sure way to lose ranking.

[steve.ledger]

Yes, hidden text is easy to detect by spiders.
Text the same colour as the background is easily noticed by aware surfers, there's usual large gaps in the page layout. Ctrl+A will highlight the entire page and reveal text hidden in this way.
As has been said, Google and Yahoo will penalise sites employing this flavor of spam.

[Deanx]

Hi guys

Thank you for the replies.

I best not try to hide keywords with the same colour then.

Steve, not sure how to read this.

Yes, hidden text is easy to detect by spiders.

Is that a positive Yes and that search engines will see this> Or a Yes in agreement to Drwyd's statement

Hiding text from visitors but not from search engines is a sure way to lose ranking.

I mean this with regard to my curernt pop up layers, will serach engines see them as positive or negative?

Thanks again
Dean

[steve.ledger]

I mean that spiders can tell if you trying to trick them

[Drwyd]

Although the pop up layers are hidden they can be revealed by user action so I doubt that the search engines will penalise your page for that. There may be a slight impact on ranking but my guess is that even if there is an effect then it is probably negligible. Google "Matt Cutts" has stated that they are getting quite good at handling JavaScript now.

Drwyd