Would Google think a hidden "skip to content" link is deceptive?

Question

When I tested my website in the past with powermapper tools, It suggested I should add a "skip to content" link hidden off-screen to help people with screen readers use the website.

I can completely relate and so can this website:

http://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/training/accessibility-handbook/skip-to-main-content.html

Then I go look at Google's webmaster quality guidelines at:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66353

and it mentions that hidden text can be seen as deceptive.

The only text I deliberately made hidden on my website is a "Skip to content" link which when clicked takes users to just past the common menu header (a.k.a. straight to where the content starts). I placed the hyperlink tag directly below the body tag, and used CSS to set the link as a block and positioned it to -xxxxpx (some location off screen) so that users with sufficient technologies won't see the skip to content link, but instead see the site as it is meant to be displayed.

I'm curious of the best course of action to take. I could either:

1. remove the "skip to content" link all together and make Google happy and possibly several other advertisers unhappy

Or

2. Make the "skip to content" link visible at the minimum font size acceptable by Google (whatever percent that is) and pray that no user complains.

Or

3. Figure out who runs Google and rant (which I will likely be unsuccessful at).

Answer 1

For what it's worth, I'll offer my own take on this. Hidden text alone is not deceptive. What you do with it is what determines whether it's deceptive.

There are many scenarios in which hidden text is a good thing, both in terms of accessibility, functionality and just pure awesomeness. But there are also some setbacks, and times where hidden text may prevent certain users from being able to use the website as it was intended to be used.

You must always take the common-sense approach. Do what is right for your users, and always follow the standards; if you can do that, nobody has the right to penalise you or your website, and if they do try, fight back.

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This page says that "skip to main content" links are good. Also, Google does not say that hidden text is bad, and it does not say that you will - or may - be penalised for using hidden text on your website.

What Google does say, is:

Hiding text or links in your content to manipulate Google’s search rankings can be seen as deceptive and is a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. Text (such as excessive keywords) can be hidden in several ways...

And a little further down, they say:

However, not all hidden text is considered deceptive.

So basically, Google is saying this: 'Hidden text is only considered bad if you are doing something bad with it (E.g. trying to manipulate the search rankings or trying to deceive your visitors/potential visitors).'

Answer 2

I agree with w3d’s answer, there should be no problem with Google Search or any other search engine.

However, I suggest to make it visible anyway.

Not for SEO, but for accessibility: Screen reader users are not the only users that can benefit from skiplinks. Skiplinks are useful for all users that navigate with the keyboard, and only a subset of those users also have a screen reader.

If you absolutely don’t want to show this link, the least you should do is make it visible when it gets focus (via the :focus pseudo-class). It’s not a good solution, but probably better than keeping it hidden, because otherwise users navigating via keyboard will focus something which they can’t see, which can be confusing.

Answer 3

I can't see any reason why Google would think a hidden "Skip to content" link was deceptive.

• Are you flooding the page with hidden keywords or trying to deceive the search engines? No.
• Google is no doubt very aware of "skip to content"-like links. They have been recommended by the W3C after all.
• Google does state (in the article you link to) that "not all hidden text is considered deceptive". There are many valid reasons for having hidden text on a page.

Answer 4

Other answers say that Google would allow this, but they don't say what hidden text Google penalizes for. Google only considers hidden text deceptive when:

• There are hidden keywords that users might search for but then be upset when they find that your site doesn't have them. Users are not likely to be searching for "skip to content"
• The hidden text contains links designed to pass PageRank. An anchor link to the same page shouldn't pass PageRank. It doesn't try to deceive Googlebot.

Answer 5

if it interests you, even google's search page uses it:

to find it, load a search, then press the "tab" button without clicking on anything else.

Answer 6

If you're ever asking yourself if you should make the user experience worse, the answer should be no, full stop, especially when it would primarily affect users who are already at a disadvantage when navigating the web.

About whether skip links will affect your SEO, the article linked in the question now says:

There are many web design elements today that utilize showing and hiding content in a dynamic way to improve user experience; these elements don't violate our policies: […]

• Text that's only accessible to screen readers and is intended to improve the experience for those using screen readers

While the wording here still isn't great, this must include skip links, which are not only an industry standard intended to help screen reader users (among others) but also look nothing like an attempt at gaming SEO.

Note that skip links are useful to anyone using certain assistive technologies. For example, someone with normal vision but poor coordination may exclusively use a keyboard to navigate but not a screen reader, and will need to see the skip link when it receives keyboard focus.

Answer 7

Google uses "deception" fairly broadly, it can either mean deceiving the user (i.e. if your link that says "skip to text" actually sent you an ad or pop-up or whatever, basically if it does not in fact skip to the text) or it can mean deceiving/manipulating Google (i.e. the example above in @SE505's answer where the hidden text is being used to "deceive"/trick the search algorithm into ranking the page higher for secret/hidden keywords).

In your case, your example of hidden text deceives neither Google nor the user so it seems fine.