css - Is h1 tag that's hidden using display:none given prominence by search engines?

Question

When content is hidden by CSS (display:none), is that read by Search engines or are sites penalised for that ? In my case, due to some CMS and other reasons, I need to serve alternative content to users and hide the H1 tag on the page using display:none. I wanted to know if the Search Engine will still treat the H1 tag with the same prominence as when its not hidden.

Answer 1

It's against Google's policy. It's called keyword stuffing and will get you delisted from Google, which means your site wont even show up on Google anymore. A good rule of thumb is to only show googlebot what users of your site can perceive display.

If you show the information to people at some point, then you can argue you're not keyword stuffing I guess, but Google will delist you first and then you'll have to file an appeal.