This morning, Google's John Mueller said on Twitter that Google discounts hidden text for search rankings. John said "we discount hidden text for ranking, so I doubt they're seeing any advantage from that (they can rank for other reasons)." When someone asked why searching for that hidden text on Google returns the page, he said "if you search for quoted text, you'll find quoted text -- just because it's not visible doesn't mean it'll never be found."
In addition, discounting doesn't meant it won't rank at all. It depends on the competition for that text. Of course, if you think about it, if you want to rank for that text, why would you hide it from the content on your page? Why wouldn't you show it and make it significant on your page? For design purposes maybe? Nah.
We do know that using tabs or accordions with the mobile first index is fine but outright hiding text is not the best idea for text you want to rank well for.
Here are those tweets:
We discount hidden text for ranking, so I doubt they're seeing any advantage from that (they can rank for other reasons). It's more like unnecessary cruft on their site.
— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) January 8, 2018
If you search for quoted text, you'll find quoted text -- just because it's not visible doesn't mean it'll never be found.
— John ☆.o(≧▽≦)o.☆ (@JohnMu) January 8, 2018
Forum discussion at Twitter.
