Categories: Search Engine Optimization Posted by: CVOS
As reported by Danny and Barry, Volkswagen was busted for using hidden text on their homepage. Instead of creating a search friendly alternative to their unindexable flash homepage, they tried to use a hidden div tag:
<div class=”invisibleContent”>Volkswagen of America presents U.S. vehicle information, pricing, incentives, deals, comparisons on Eos, GTI, Jetta, New Beetle, New Beetle Convertible, Passat, Passat Wagon, Touareg, Rabbit, R32 and the GLI with links to VW dealers, owner information, Volkswagen merchandise, and VW accessories. homepage, volkswagen, volkswagon, vw.com, home, landing, top, volkswagen.com, home page, home, top, back, VWofAmerica, Volkswagen of America, Volkswagon of America, VWoA, VWofA, volkswagon.com</div>
What’s funny is they didn’t even try to hide it, as they named the div “invisibleContent”. It didn’t take Google long to spot this and lay down the law. VW admitted they were in the wrong and quickly remedied the problem by moving the invisible text to the meta description.
The current page <i>disallows caching</i>. This is an interesting development: VW doesn’t want search engines to cache its pages? They go from spamming for dollars to blocking indexing spiders?
their homepage code:
<meta http-equiv=”Pragma” content=”no-cache” />
Check back in 1 week to see if VW is still disallowing cached pages.
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