Can Hidden Text really get you banned?

[canyonheathmom]

I run a small business selling dental products using Yahoo Store. I have been using Submitnet to help improve my SEO, and the results have been good. When I search on specific key words, my site is usually listed within the first three pages of Google and other top engines, and sometimes is even in the number one position. My products are also in Froogle. I get at least 50% of my sales from the SEs. My business is very profitable and sales have tripled in the past year.

Until recently, I had a large block of hidden text at the very bottom of each page in my store (in Yahoo Store there is a Variables page -- whatever you put on that page shows up on every page).

I had read that hidden text is frowned upon and is considered bad practice. I had also read that it is one reason that SE's may ban your site.

Well of course I don't want to get banned, so I removed the hidden text and replaced it with a large block of visible text -- sentences talking about the site and its products. I titled the text block "About (storename)". It looks a bit cheesy, but at least the key words are there, repeated a few times in a palatable context.

That was a month ago. My sales have dropped in the past couple of weeks (and my page views have dipped slightly), and I'm wondering if it has anything to do with deleting the hidden text. I'm considering putting the hidden text back in. It's hard to tell if my SE positioning/ranking has dropped -- I hadn't been tracking it too precisely.

My main product page is mostly photos -- there isn't a lot of room for content. I have added ALT tags everywhere, made sure proper keywords were in the meta tags, etc. I also added a few visible descriptive sentences with text links to inside pages (products). I think I've done everything I possibly can! I don't use any other "sneaky" tactics, like window pages, redirects, etc.

Do search engines REALLY ban small businesses like mine because of issues like hidden text, or is that a load of bull? Should I put it back in to see if sales improve?

[crankydave]

Tip: Idendtical posts in two different forums is generally not neccessary.

Here's what Google says about hidden text.

http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html

Dave

[cbp]

Please don't start multiple threads on the same topic.
This one is locked.
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=28945

CBP