copy below the fold

[shredder]

Hi folks,

I had a quick question. I've recently seen a web site that ranks very well on G for a number of high competition search terms (los angeles real estate for example) and it has a PR of 4. The issue I'm curious about is that this site has a big image or image map above the fold and some white space... If you bother scrolling down you see their text copy that is obviously written for SEO.

Now, I don't see anything deceiving about this site personally (the site is legit and provides what they say they will...), but does G look down on this tactic of sort of hiding text below the fold?

If G does loook down how is this site ranking so well for tons of high competition keywords near los angeles?

the site is here themls . com

Thanks everyone.
Matt

[jessiesc]

Is that a board website or a private website? If it's private that is rich and exactly the issue this thread has been talking about:
http://www.realestatewebmasters.com/thread19714.html

If you look at the code, they're targeted words are through out the document. They move the text down using linefeeds.

I believe there is nothing wrong with this technique.

Spiders do not look at layouts of sites, they interpret the code of a site and the links.

Layouts are primarily for users not for spiders. Although a good layout certainly helps the spiders.

[gregharaksin]

They move the text down using linefeeds.

what are line feeds?

[jessiesc]

what are line feeds?

<br>

[shredder]

I think he meant to say page breaks.... right?

[jessiesc]

I don't look at <br> as a page break, html tutor - The <br> tag inserts a single line break.

It does not cause a new page to be displayed, it forces the text to be on a new line.

Semantics aside they move the text down using that technique, albeit they use alot of them. I use this technique in some pages when images don't display properly.

[Rene Galvan]

Matt, you just described most websites including mine. As long as the text is visible, there should be no problem with Google. You just have to write in a way that does not turn off the human eyes.

If you hide the text, by having it the same color as the background, that violates Google policies.

If you bother scrolling down you see their text copy that is obviously written for SEO. Now, I don't see anything deceiving about this site personally (the site is legit and provides what they say they will...), but does G look down on this tactic of sort of hiding text below the fold?