Hiding Content Temporarily Is OKAY, Google Says

Feb 21, 2008 - 8:14 am 4 by

A Google Groups thread asks about hiding content using AJAX and CSS. Google Webmaster Central rep, Wysz, said:

If your text is temporarily "hidden" as part of your site's UI but is still intended for the user to see at some point, you probably don't need to worry about Google mistakenly viewing it as deceptive.

Yes, so my title was a bit deceiving but this question is a common webmaster question.

Many sites deploy styling techniques that only shows content on a specific click. Heck, even Google deploys this on their help content. For example, take a look at this page. Notice that when you click on the links in the middle of the page, you then notice more content appear. Technically, Google is temporarily hiding text from the user until that user clicks on the link.

This is a form of acceptable hidden text, since a user can get to the content while on the same page.

Forum discussion at Google Groups.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 15, 2025

Oct 15, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Ads

Campaign Type Selection In Google Ads Channel Performance Report

Oct 15, 2025 - 7:41 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests Search Refinements Above Shopping Ads Directing To Bing Shopping

Oct 15, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Search Console API Update Speed Unchanged

Oct 15, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google

Google AI Mode Based On Your Google Activity When Signed In

Oct 15, 2025 - 7:11 am
Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 14, 2025

Oct 14, 2025 - 10:00 am
 
Previous Story: First Reports of Google Reader Spam Injection?