Can DIVS that look like frames hurt?

[siteoptimized]

We are working with a site that has what appears to be a frame in the middle but it is not targeting a new html page it is just a div hiding content until you use the scroll bar.

What are best practices for working with this?

[Cyrus-Shepard]

The answer is... it depends.

In general, Google doesn't like hidden content - but search engines won't penalize you for it unless they find that the hidden content is meant to deceive. In this case it doesn't sound like it's meant to deceive, but there are a few things to check to make sure the content is being indexed properly.

1. Does the content require javascript or flash to become visible? If so, it's possible for search engines to disregard it.

2. While it's common to place content in divs with CSS attributes set to 'hidden' (for usability purposes) and it's common for Google to index this content, it's hard to say how much seach engines will "weight" this content in it's ranking algorithms.

3. Check Google's cache of the page, and click the text-only link (for example, here's Google's text-only cache of this page. Is there any text visible that's not visible to the user under normal circumstances? This text may not be treated the same way by search engines as completely visible text.

Best practice is to view your site with javascript disabled (you can do this with the MozBar) and make sure everything is visible. If not, you may want to make sure everything degrades gracefully to ensure maximum accessibility, and maximum indexation by search engines.

[donford]

Hello,

Hidden Divs or interactive content is okay as long as its there for enhancing the user experience. A good example would be a thumbnail image, upon click or rollover the image enlarges with some text describing the picture. A bad example would be a highlighted word when rolled over provides an tool tip with an ad or keyword spam in it.

Always design with User experience as a priority, then Search Engine. What you will find is that the more people who enjoy and talk about your site, the better the search engines will rank your site. That is how it is suppose to work, search engines want to return the most relative and best website for every query they receive, by focusing on the user first your are in essence doing SEO.

Hope that helps,

Don