Hiding <H1> behind background = legal???

We use a h1 background on our fitness and bodybuilding board, is this legal?

I dont think the question of whether it is legal is right, there are no laws on the internet which makes it such an inventive and unique place, but what there are, are conventions and moral wills which we all abide by. And i think tricking a Search Engine via the unethical use of hiding H1 tags isnt the right way to obtain credablity or a professional touch.

I see what you're saying, but it's really not tricking what I want to do. Even on this site, they use this method. Also seochat.com are using this. H1 as logo is not unethical.

The only problem I face is that my logo has a font that most users don't have installed, it's not like the standard fonts (arial/verdana etc)

So what I am doing is just present my logo as a background and don't show the H1 to the public eye.

What I mean with 'legal' is simply: does google have a problem with this. Is it against there quality rules or not.

Thanks for your reply.

Well at first i thougth you where stating that the H1 Logo is actually hiden from view, behind the actual image. It is always helpful to actually provide the forum URL in all circumstances since each support topic requires a different way of resolution. With regards to you "legal" question, i doubt Google would have a problem with this, nor have any algorithms in place to dedect "unusual" use of H1 tags.

ok thanks

my url just to show how I used it now: fitness discussion

(it's the small line below the logo, so it's ok now I think)

Hmm, well as long as your H2 and H3 tags are smaller in font size then your H1 tag there really isnt of you doing anything wrong.

h2 and h3 are not smaller

but really,i don't think that's a problem

Originally Posted by dutchbb

h2 and h3 are not smaller

but really,i don't think that's a problem

Again it is an issue of ethical SEOing, of course whether you think it is a problem isnt really an issue. But the use of the H1, H2 and H3 tags where to define to search engines, and users alike the importance of particular areas of text, now if you are making the text which search engines assign most importance to > the H1 tag smaller than the H2 and H3 tags this presents a sense of unethical SEOing.

But it's not about size, it's about content. If the H1 contains important words for that page than size doesn't matter.


Todays standards in webdesign are a lot different than they used to be and there is no reason why H1 should be at a certain size, that is up to the designer to decide I think.

Actually the issue of "tricking" a search engine into assuming H1 tag is BIG and important when they actually are not is actually a often heavily debated aesthetic issue which many designers and coders have to navigate across.

Well, fitness & dieet tagline is pretty important Thanks for your input