Earlier today I has working on one of my high content websites that targets Free Recipes: in the process of upgrading from around 11,000 recipes to over 100,000 using WordPress as the backend (added almost 160,00 recipes to a database and in the process of making them WordPress compatible)!
Checked SERPs on Google.co.uk and my site is 1st for Free Recipes, but on Google.com it’s around 12th. Not a big surprise I’ve pretty much neglected the site for over a year (despite it making a lot of AdSense revenue, soooo busy with SEO clients, rarely find the time for my own sites) and it’s PR has dropped (PR4 down from PR6) so needs more TLC (Text Links and something begining with C 
).
I checked the 1st page in Google.com (freecookingrecipes.net) and it’s PR7 (which is very hard to get to PR7).
Thought I’d check the sites backlinks see if I can get a few of those links to my recently updated recipe site (35,000 recipes and growing making it attractive link bait).
Assumed I’d find some directories, recipricol links and related sites that I could approach for links. Was very surprised to find hidden text links from quality high PR sites like these-
imara.csail.mit.edu PR8
ahead.org PR6
gearthblog.com PR7
and many, many more
Which explains the PR7 and the page one Free Recipe SERP.
You can see one of the hidden image links in the screenshot below, I loaded one of the sites above and viewed source (text file).
What is happening here is someone has added a hidden link (image link) in the form of a small 1 pixel x 1 pixel image that during the normal viewing on the page won’t be seen or clicked on by visitors (or seen by the owner either). But Google and other search engines will find and follow the hidden link and give it a boost in the search engines for having quality links.
It’s a very old blackhat SEO technique that is very easy to spot and when Google stumbles upon it will take action.
Based on the quality of the sites that hold these hidden links I’m sure the owners are unaware of these hidden links and so do not deserve a Google penalty (have emailed over 20 of them to warn them to remove the hidden links ASAP).
Unethical SEOs and Web Designers
I’ve seen a lot of hidden links in my time, but these are by far some of the best sites (quality wise) I’ve found them on. What’s probably happened here is a SEO consultant or web designer hired to work on these sites has taken advantage by adding a hidden link to one of his own websites without informing the owner!
As an SEO consultant who wants his clients to do well I’ve never added a link from a site I’ve worked on. My job is to gain my clients better rankings, not be paid to improve my own sites rankings by adding hidden (or visible) links from their sites. If someone wants to give me a PR7 link I’ll do the SEO work for free
Be aware if an SEO or web designer adds a link to a site of theirs from your site it is taking SEO benefit away from your site. This means your site will have a little less Google juice for no beneficial return (if the SEO/designer gives a discount for the link, fair deal). You’ve paid them for their work, you should not be paying them over and over again, if you find links like this on your site (hidden or visible) I’d strongly advise removing them.
Should I use Hidden Links?
To anyone reading this considering adding hidden links to/within their sites.
This technique does work, but it is very easy to spot and eventually Google will penalise some/all of the the sites involved. Might take 3 months to a year for Google to act, but trust me when I say they will eventually act and there’s a damn good chance when caught your site will never recover. Look at the site I’m referring to above it’s going to be a victim of it’s own success, number 1 for Free Recipes Google will find this one.
Before becoming an SEO consultant I used blackhat SEO techniques on my first website. The site was banned from Google about a year after purchasing it. I’d put a LOT of time into that site and that was all thrown away when Google rightly banned it for blackhat SEO techniques.
In the short term I made a lot of money from the site, but currently the site makes no real money and considering what I made short term to what I could have made long term (could still be making money today) had I not used blackhat techniques I’ve lost at least £50,000 in lost revenue over the years!
Better to build a site with whitehat (safe) SEO techniques and reap the rewards for years to come than cut corners and risk loosing all Google traffic for short term gain.
Title : Blackhat SEO Hidden Links
Description : Earlier today I has working on one of my high content websites that targets Free Recipes : in the process of upgrading from around 11,000 ...