is google ok with sites that has text link color same as regular text

[deafsinger]

i did some search but couldn't really find much info as until now, is google ok with websites that has text link inside the the webpages with the color that is same as regular texts.? thanks.

on a side note, i know it is not ok to have have text link color same as background of the page.

[Web-Design-Guy]

Yes but it's not very user-friendly or accessible if you don't show links as links, for example with an underline (if you want the colour to be the same as the rest of the text.

Links and text that is the same colour as the background (or hidden with css) is a definite no-no. You might find my article(s) on black-hat SEO interesting.

[RosieD]

I just don't see the point in doing this in all honesty. If you actually want your links to be clicked, then you need them to be seen. Hiding them is counter productive.

[sofomor]

Well not officially branded as "bad technique" but any thing with doubts or seems fishy should be avoided to the fullest. It may raise the alarm bells but IMO it should not be a problem.

Thank you

[cfinlayson]

I can understand why Google would not want links that are the same colour as the background... hiding them from view and all that. But would that mean that the navigation links on this page within WebProWorld would be penalized because the links are white, and the page BG is white, even though the links are on a green background within the table, (or CSS or whatever it is that the navs are laid out in), or does that specific link vs. BG colour rule only apply to outbound links, and not internal links?

[jannmirch]

What are you trying to achieve by having your links look like regular text? As Rosie pointed out, if you want your links to be clicked, you will want them to be seen.

If that's the case, and for whatever reason you want them to be the same color as the rest of the text, you will need them to be underlined or something. But underlining is the most common indicator of a link - which is why you don't want text that's NOT a link to be emphasized using underline.

[cbosleeds]

I've seen a few SEOs use this to preserve a clean appearance on the page while building up internal links (a good tactic for Yahoo). I've not known it to do any damage, and so long as you include the title attribute it is highly debatable whether it ought to be regarded as hidden - just discrete perhaps. Its not really necessary though since you can simply discretely indicate a link by using a dark grey which blends in well with surrounding black text, or hell just make the links obvious which can look quite authoritative on the right web site - has a sort of wikipedia feel to it.

[craigmn3]

There are many "white hat" reasons why one would want to hide links inside a tex box. We always play a balancing game between the end user and the search engine anyway. One reason for doing this would be to have a spiffy flash or graphic navigation system that will hook your user, while still including the text link on the pages for the spiders without making it look like a wikipedia page.

[deepsand]

1) The SEs could care less.

2) Your visitors will care when they're unable to find what they're seeking.

3) You will care very much when visitors fail to make as many page views as you'd like.

[vitaminp]

Not only will the hidden links break one of the fundamentals of web usability,

if you are genuinely linking between your relevant content it will mean users spend longer on your website, finding more articles, which will increase the liklihood of users taking a link and linking back to you.

For example,
Visualizing Links: 7 Design Guidelines (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)