CSS and H1 tags

On some sites I work on, I see the coders have used CSS to format the site’s H1 tags to not show the text but, instead, display an image in the text’s place. This is commonly called the “display:none” trick. The advantage is that it allows you to use an image as a header while, at the same time, keeping the text “version” behind the scenes. Spiders see the text, end-users see the image. Matt Cutts makes it clear Google is watching this “trick”… the biggest thing they’re watching is keyword spamming and multiple instances of the trick.

I’ve recommended a few sites use the trick when a client insists on a crazy font for their content headers but always use real, CSS formatted text in the H1 tag when you can. If you do have to use the display:none trick, make sure what’s inside the H1 tag is pretty well 1 phrase… 3-4 words at most… and reflects the content of the page. No matter what, be careful!

[tags]SEO tricks, h1 tag, CSS[/tags]

Written by jclayc on February 6th, 2007 with 1 comment.
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