There is a big confusion in this experiment. They say it themselves : "Textarea was also a common way of encapsulating text in a restricted area". In this experiment, the texte was encapsulated in a "scrolling" <textarea>. But the "hidden" attribute was never used !
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I wasn't aware that they did not implement it correctly. Still, the main findings of the study prevail: Even though Google does say that hidden content is treated equally, it isn't. I'll amend the article in the next weeks.
Absolutely, the general idea remains valid, the hidden text is devalued.
I was surprised (and enthusiastic !) to read that a simple "textarea hidden" tag would allow to hide text that would nevertheless have the same SEO impact as visible text.
Nice
Hi,
Big mistake in your article...!
For the "textarea" version, the text was not hidden!
Hi Alex
How do you come to that conclusion?
The <textarea> element was used in the study we referenced to hide content.
Hiding content is the main function of it. So I am not sure what mistake you're referring to?
Hi,
Here is the link to the experiment :
https://www.rebootonline.com/blog/hidden-text-experiment/
See by yourself, the following 5 domains were created :
acquarbour.co.uk
batringies.co.uk
cheurebiti.co.uk
doncernuti.co.uk
jehostrasa.co.uk.
They use <textarea>, and not <textarea hidden> !
There is a big confusion in this experiment. They say it themselves : "Textarea was also a common way of encapsulating text in a restricted area". In this experiment, the texte was encapsulated in a "scrolling" <textarea>. But the "hidden" attribute was never used !
Hi Alex
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I wasn't aware that they did not implement it correctly. Still, the main findings of the study prevail: Even though Google does say that hidden content is treated equally, it isn't. I'll amend the article in the next weeks.
Thank you, Marco
Absolutely, the general idea remains valid, the hidden text is devalued.
I was surprised (and enthusiastic !) to read that a simple "textarea hidden" tag would allow to hide text that would nevertheless have the same SEO impact as visible text.
Disappointing, but ultimately very logical :)